A look behind the curtains of GoAugie
Running the Viking’s published athletic stats, sports rosters and game recaps is the athletic communications department, the team responsible for GoAugie and social media content.
GoAugie is a place that students and parents alike can go for any Augustana athletic information, but the communications team does much more than that.
The GoAugie team consists of four content creators. Ryan Hilgemann leads as the assistant athletic director for communications, and Savannah Asmann and Matt Taylor each cover a number of designated teams with tasks that include the team’s stats and game recaps. Trae Harrell is the director of video and creative content.
Asmann explained what it means to be “paid to watch sports,” which is how she describes her job.
“We’re the communications contact for [our sports],” Asmann said. “At the home events, we’ll do [live] stats for the team, so people can follow along on GoAugie, and then afterwards we’ll write the recap. At away events, sometimes we’ll travel depending on how close it is. We follow along with stats and everything and then do all the social media.”
Harrell’s contribution is the video content that gets posted to the website as well as social media. He sees GoAugie as a centralized location where all of the information that students and parents want to know about Augustana athletics can be found.
“The balance of coverage is another thing that we’ve been trying to put focus on and make sure all our teams feel the love and give the parents what they deserve,” Harrell said. “You know, they send their kids off here, states away, and we need them to have as much info and a lot of content as well.”
The media team works together to produce content that connects the Augustana community with the athletic department.
“Twenty five percent of the student body at Augustana is a student athlete, and so [GoAugie] draws a connection between one side of campus to another,” Hilgemann said. “Hopefully, it gives [students] something to do outside of class because [they’re] rooting for a friend, rooting for somebody else. It provides another atmosphere for everyone to feel a part of.”
The communications team does more than just content within GoAugie and social media, however. They also act as media liaisons for Augustana athletics.
“If the Argus Leader, KELOLAND, Dakota News Now, wants to talk to somebody, they come through us, and we set up those interviews,” Hilgemann said. “We pitch stories to them if there’s something big going on.”
Along with that, they handle communication with opposing teams and the stats for each of the games that they cover.
“It’s a lot more than a website,” Hilgemann said. “It’s a lot more than social media. It’s a lot more than just straight up media. It’s everything all-encompassed.”
