By Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville University’s Tiger athletics Web site has received a fourth place among all National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) schools.
The award was given by the NAIA Sports Information Directors Association.
“It’s a real honor to be recognized as having the fourth best Web site out of nearly 300 NAIA institutions,” said Bryan Blair, director of sports information.
“I knew that our new page was pretty good when comparing it to some others, but there are also a lot of other really good pages out there too.”
Blair said, “Although the Sports Information Office is responsible for several different aspects of the marketing of the CU Athletics Department, its teams and its athletes, a large part of what goes on is maintaining the Web site and it is good to be recognized from my peers for the work I’ve accomplished.”
“We are very pleased with the design of our Web site and have heard many positive comments from both our athletic supporters and our students,” said Rusty Hollingsworth, director of athletics.
“It’s a great accomplishment that our Sports Information Department has been recognized on a national level in this way for the new site. Bryan Blair has worked hard to make the Web site one that is both appealing and functional.”
The new Web site, www.campbellsvilletigers.com, went live in late January 2008. Blair said the decision to design a new site came after a few years of discussing the need for a more user friendly Web site that contained more information.
The sports department partnered with Greg Black at SID Help to design the new site. Blair said they spent the fall of 2007 coming up with basic design elements and from there the new site was born.
Blair said the site provides the Sports Information Office with an easy to update interface that is accessible from anywhere in the world via the Internet.
“That in itself has allowed us to get updates on the site immediately at the conclusion of games,” Blair said.
Another improvement has been the quality of the streaming audio of football and basketball broadcasts and the addition of the capability of streaming live video for home football and basketball games as well.
Blair said there aren’t a lot of schools in the NAIA that have the ability to put live streaming video of their games on the Internet for free, and, “We’ve been able to monitor the number of people who watch and listen to those games as well.”
He said the Web site has had nearly 400,000 page views from 89 countries and all 50 states in the United States.
“The new page has made it so much easier to provide almost instantaneous updates,” said Blair, “and has allowed us to provide many new features such as updated blogs from the National Tournaments that our teams have participated in this year.”
He said they started with the CU golf team in May and will continue to have behind-the-scene blogs from any National Tournaments that CU participates in from this point forward.
“There are also many features that we have yet untapped as our page is a work in progress constantly,” he said.
Blair said SID Help is a company that Black founded that provides a working interface between the NAIA and its member schools. It allows member schools to report scores and statistics directly to the NAIA’s main Web site, and if any individual athletic conference decides to use the software, directly to the conference as well.
“It made sense for us to partner with SID Help to design our site since we were already using their interface to report scores and statistics to the Mid-South Conference and the NAIA,” Blair said.
“Now, when we update our site with scores or schedules, they are automatically updated on those sites as well,” he said.
To see the new site, go to www.campbellsvilletigers.com. The university’s Web site can also link you to the site by going to www.campbellsville.edu and clicking on Athletics.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,405 students who represent 98 Kentucky counties, 25 states and 36 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South and eighth in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” CU has been ranked 15 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America’s Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his tenth year as president.