Saturday, February 14, 2009

Memo to athletic directors

I spent much of Saturday at Ringgold High School for a WPIAL playoff tripleheader featuring the Carmichaels boys and girls and the Burgettstown boys, and one aspect of the day in particular really impressed me.

As writers, we like to be pampered, especially Mike. This includes, but is not limited to, getting us seats in the press box or courtside, having media packets prepared, having a spread of some kind, or ideally, all of the above.

Lloyd Price hasn't been the athletic director at Ringgold very long, but he's already competing with Chartiers Valley's Frank Vulcano for title of "Best Athletic Director in the PIAA."

When I got to my seat on press row for the tripleheader, I saw a packet awaiting me that included, but was not limited to, previews for each game, schedules and rosters for each team, brackets for each classification in boys and girls, scoresheets (one per game), and a detailed history of coal mining in southwestern Pennsylvania. (Okay, maybe that last part wasn't in it.) But the parcel was roughly 241 pages long and was very impressive.

Plus, there was a hospitality room set up for the media's use.

All in all, Lloyd Price's operation gets two thumbs up, and here's one writer hoping Ringgold hosts more WPIAL events.

(There, Mike, I posted, now get off my back.)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kevin glad to hear you loved Ringgold as a host site. The only problem I have is that Lloyd Price appears to be on a mission to destroy the environment. Did you media folk really need to have thick packets of printed materials? Shouldn't you have already had rosters, brackets, and etc beforehand? I'm thrilled that Ringgold went all out, but I am concerned about the environment impact of "pampering" as one person put it "the liberal media." Perhaps Ringgold should stop printing all those materials and invest in pampering the sports writers with food in the future. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

There was food there along with drink and anything else the press needed.The material was there for them if they needed it.Lloyds assistant and secretary also play a part in getting things together.It`s a honor to have a playoff game at your house and to let them know there always welcomed back.I`m surprised R keith you with the food.

mike_kovak said...

On a more serious note, sports writers rely on communication with athletic directors for better coverage and Lloyd Price is doing a fantastic job of promoting Ringgold student-athletes in addition to the hard work that goes into hosting events.

He keeps me posted on the goings on at the school and our coverage of Ringgold athletics has certainly improved since he became the athletic director.

Rod Taylor said...

That was not me that made the first comment.

Anonymous said...

Avoid Lloyd or Pay the Price!

Anonymous said...

In the Doug-Out is a much better blog.

Anonymous said...

Kevin and Mike,

I agree with your comments about Lloyd Price. He certainly is promoting Ringgold and is doing a great job as AD. I could see why you would say that Price is approaching the "best AD in the PIAA" status.

He has also proved that he deserves to be the next coach at Ringgold. It is unbelieveable what he has the players doing and how much participation he is getting. The players have really responded to him. It is exciting!

Ringgold always loses good people because they refuse to pay a fair wage. School board - step up and lock this guy up. I heard USC is interested in Price, since their AD job is open and principal is a Ringgold grad.

Anonymous said...

USC has no interest in Price. They are looking at several former college AD's and some bigger names from the WPIAL (North Allegheny's AD and Blackhawk's AD)

Anonymous said...

I am glad some guy knows who USC is interested in. I am sure if you actually knew you wouldnt be on this message board posting it.

I would really second guess anyone leaving the college scene to go to a high school. Even though USC is a great school its not goign to be able to pay what a college program would pay. Many college AD's make 200K-500K.

Anonymous said...

RJ that person said "Former" college AD's, meaning that they no longer hold those positions and might be interested in ANY job at this point.

Also, there are thousands of college athletic directors out there. Many DO NOT make 200-500K... that's only at the largest schools. If an AD is at a D-3 school making $50,000 are they still a college athletic director? YES

Anonymous said...

Debaldo at south park would be a perfect fit for the A.D. job at USC so much more knowledge than price it`s not about him its about the kids bill is dedicated and brings it all to the table strait up guy that cares for boys and girls doesn`t coach does his job