TicketsJuly 16, 2009
(10:17 a.m.): When Jamelle Elliott took the UC women's basketball coaching job, she was besieged with Follow-me-on-Twitter requests. Her first reaction? What in the heck is Twitter?
While Twitter is silly, a time-waster and self-promoting – and this coming from a guy who's on Twitter for much of the day – it also can be rather useful. For a coach like Elliott, who is searching for ways to build interest in her program, Twitter is a much-needed commodity.
"In talking to my coaching friends, they feel like it's a good way to market yourself and get your basketball program out in the cyber world," said Elliott, also known as @JamelleElliott http://twitter.com/JamelleElliott. "It shows the positive things you're doing with your program. Just getting publicity and exposure for your program. As far as the Internet is concerned, you can't get better access. It's probably better than any advertising or letters that you're writing. It's a way for more people to grasp what I'm trying to do for the program. It's something I wanted to do right away."
So far, she's got 117 followers (though, I imagine, after this blog post hits the airwaves, that total will zoom up to four figures), and truth be told, she's pretty interesting. She just got off the recruiting trail, but for the previous 10 days, she detailed where she was spending her time. It gives you a pretty good sense of all the traveling coaches must do in July, and, you know, she's kind of funny about it.
Some recent examples: July 7, 8:34 a.m.; Next stop. Allentown, PA. I'm hoping to find a "diamond in the rough" today. Shining for only the Cincinnati staff to see :-)
July 11, 10:03 p.m.; Just landed in Chicago for a tournament that starts tomorrow. I love the windy city. Having dinner with Oprah tonight (Not!)
And my personal favorite, perhaps because I've been through Murfreesboro.
July 13, 6:25 p.m.; Leaving Chicago and heading to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I'm soooooooo excited. Ok maybe not that excited.
"People want to know what it is you're doing," Elliott said. "I'm just trying to be as honest as possible and try to say it in a way that's very soft and very happy-go-lucky. I love what I do. I love my job and I love building this program. I want as many people as possible to see what I'm doing and hoping to turn this program into a Big East powerhouse. I've been doing some things in the month or so."