How much damage could have been avoided if Barta, Ferentz said this last week?

[tweeterhawk]

UI: All 13 players released for UIHC (Ferentz, Barta statements) | TheGazette

Some version of these statements should have been made last Tuesday or Wednesday by Kirk Ferentz and/or Gary Barta in person or, if they were traveling on official business and couldn't make it back in time, via remote camera. Presumably the university has the facilities to handle this.

If Barta, Phil Haddy & Co. would have gotten out AHEAD of this story, imagine how much grief and bad national PR could have been avoided the past five or six days? Sally Mason should do herself a favor and order a separate investigation into how the university flubbed this.

(Ferentz): “These young men and their families have been through a difficult and trying time. They are under my supervision and watch, and I am truly sorry for what they’ve experienced. They trained extremely hard and ended up in the hospital, and there is no indication they did anything wrong. So, I’m pleased they are progressing well and I look forward to seeing all of them being back to normal.â€

(Ferentz) "(W)e can devote our full attention to determining what happened, and making sure it does not happen again,†Ferentz said. “There has been a lot of speculation by those who don’t have the facts and it is unfair and inappropriate for anyone to make wild guesses about what happened.â€

(Barta) “We will review every aspect of the workouts and talk with everyone involved. The staff and coaches who work with these young men are highly respected professionals who are dedicated and care deeply about our student-athletes. I hope those who follow our program will respect this process moving forward and refrain from any further unproductive rush to judgment.â€

Getting out in front of a story -- making the message yours, not someone else's. That's PR 101. Really poor performance by someone last week.

 

[edgyhawk]

My take is that someone told them to get out of town, stay out of town, and keep your mouth shut. The HIPPA laws had everyone headed for higher ground - the potential for major lawsuits was at an all time high.

 

[BALDIES7980]

Nothing would be different regardless of what was done.
Between $$$ hungry people and today's social media networks it would have been worked into a froth under any circumstances.

 

[RADMAN]

UI: All 13 players released for UIHC (Ferentz, Barta statements) | TheGazette

Some version of these statements should have been made last Tuesday or Wednesday by Kirk Ferentz and/or Gary Barta in person or, if they were traveling on official business and couldn't make it back in time, via remote camera. Presumably the university has the facilities to handle this.

If Barta, Phil Haddy & Co. would have gotten out AHEAD of this story, imagine how much grief and bad national PR could have been avoided the past five or six days? Sally Mason should do herself a favor and order a separate investigation into how the university flubbed this.

(Ferentz): “These young men and their families have been through a difficult and trying time. They are under my supervision and watch, and I am truly sorry for what they’ve experienced. They trained extremely hard and ended up in the hospital, and there is no indication they did anything wrong. So, I’m pleased they are progressing well and I look forward to seeing all of them being back to normal.â€

(Ferentz) "(W)e can devote our full attention to determining what happened, and making sure it does not happen again,†Ferentz said. “There has been a lot of speculation by those who don’t have the facts and it is unfair and inappropriate for anyone to make wild guesses about what happened.â€

(Barta) “We will review every aspect of the workouts and talk with everyone involved. The staff and coaches who work with these young men are highly respected professionals who are dedicated and care deeply about our student-athletes. I hope those who follow our program will respect this process moving forward and refrain from any further unproductive rush to judgment.â€

Getting out in front of a story -- making the message yours, not someone else's. That's PR 101. Really poor performance by someone last week.

You need to first point out the damage and then it can be assessed.

 

[hawkeyegrant]

Not sure what the damage is at this point? We still don't know the details and would not have had they faced the media last week. That being said, I do agree they should have been present. I just don't see it as all that damaging. Damaging would be lawsuits, players leaving, players unable to play football, etc.

 

[jameskalina]

Due to the sensitive nature of the event it was probably best to wait until facts have been gathered to make a statement.

Rushing into a press conference could have made matters worse.

I totally support the timing of the press release by Barta and Ferentz and how they responded. They are both professionals with high morals and ethics. We need to trust their judgment on the timing and content of the press release.

 

[tweeterhawk]

Not sure what the damage is at this point? We still don't know the details and would not have had they faced the media last week. That being said, I do agree they should have been present. I just don't see it as all that damaging. Damaging would be lawsuits, players leaving, players unable to play football, etc.

Damage? Damage? How about the columns, tweets, comments on national TV broadcasts, suggesting that the rigorous training was done to punish the players for what turned out to be a disappointing season; that Kirk Ferentz was too busy recruiting and didn't care enough to come back to see the players he already had; that this was just part of a bigger problem in the Iowa football program that included players transferring and getting busted for marijuana and cocaine possession. The very unfair and unjustified assumptions Barta mentioned in the latest release.

Iowa got a huge black eye last week, largely because the coach and athletic director were absent and made little to no comment in the early days as the story was breaking. Certainly the folks over at Sports Illustrated, ESPN and CBS Sportsline had a field day with it. In PR, perception is everything.

We probably won't know until Wednesday or perhaps later whether the unflattering attention caused recruits to change their minds. But it's a pretty safe assumption that the Ron Zooks and Bret Bielemas and Pat Fitzgeralds and Brady Hokes of the college football world will be sure to mention it to prospects that we're also in on now and for 2012.

My sense is that had Ferentz and Barta spoken out a bit earlier using the language they did in Sunday's release, this wouldn't have blown up quite as badly as it has.

 

[CAARHawk]

I don't know if they could have made the comment about the players bot having done anything wrong at that point, as I am not sure they would have had that info.

My advice from a PR perspective would have been to say, "Our world renowned medical staff and training staff are working aggressively to both treat these young men and diagnose causes of this ailment. As the health of these players is far more important than football matters right now, we will ask you to direct your questions to the hospital medical staff until the athletes are released from the hospital"

 

[DodgerHawki]

This is exactly right...

Damage? Damage? How about the columns, tweets, comments on national TV broadcasts, suggesting that the rigorous training was done to punish the players for what turned out to be a disappointing season; that Kirk Ferentz was too busy recruiting and didn't care enough to come back to see the players he already had; that this was just part of a bigger problem in the Iowa football program that included players transferring and getting busted for marijuana and cocaine possession. The very unfair and unjustified assumptions Barta mentioned in the latest release.

Iowa got a huge black eye last week, largely because the coach and athletic director were absent and made little to no comment in the early days as the story was breaking. Certainly the folks over at Sports Illustrated, ESPN and CBS Sportsline had a field day with it. In PR, perception is everything.

We probably won't know until Wednesday or perhaps later whether the unflattering attention caused recruits to change their minds. But it's a pretty safe assumption that the Ron Zooks and Bret Bielemas and Pat Fitzgeralds and Brady Hokes of the college football world will be sure to mention it to prospects that we're also in on now and for 2012.

My sense is that had Ferentz and Barta spoken out a bit earlier using the language they did in Sunday's release, this wouldn't have blown up quite as badly as it has.

I guess I don't see how scathing articles written by people like Greg Doyel and Pat Forde don't count as damage. Yes, both Forde and Doyel rushed to judgment with over the top opinions, but between the two of them they have hundreds of thousands of people who read their opinion pieces. Not to mention that the hospitalization was mentioned on SportsCenter two different days.

The "damage" will have ramifications in years to come if there are kids Iowa was recruiting who strike Iowa from their list of schools just because of this. At a time when there was rampant national speculation about the Iowa program, the two most visible faces of the program were not put in front of the cameras. That was an extremely poor decision. Borderline idiotic.