Twitter 101

I'll admit, when Twitter first came out, I didn't give a damn. What do I need that, for? But, then it seemed like everybody was on Twitter. So I signed up for a Twitter account and started tweeting. Then all of a sudden people followed me. Then I followed more and more people.

I like Twitter, because I get a behind the scenes account of what coaches have to go through putting a team together. I love seeing the passion of so many coaches to improve kids lives. As I have tweeted often, assistant coaches are the unsung heroes of college programs. Believe it or not, that passion showed me, I need to quit a job I hate and find what I really want to do!! Oh, the best time to be on Twitter, in my opinion, is during the July recruiting period. You see the passion, hard work, stress, and logistical nightmare of recruiting in July!

But, as we have seen recently, there is a dark side to Twitter, tweets can come back to haunt you. So, everybody, whether a coach or professional athlete, needs to be careful what they tweet.

Twitter needs to:

1. Set up a way so that people can approve followers, BUT not make their tweets private. This would prevent those spammers from following you. Right now, you have to make your Twitter account private.

2. When somebody sends a direct message to another person, the person who received that direct message, should be able to reply in a direct message. The way Twitter works now, if I follow somebody, they can send me a direct message. But, I can't send them a direct message, even if they sent me a direct message first.

Nobody asked, but here is my guide to Twitter for women's basketball programs:

1. I can't say this enough, but put a damn link to your school's athletic website or your WBB homepage, on your Twitter account. Yes, it's easy to google and find a school's website, but why should followers, go to another page and type in the search words; when with one click from your Twitter account, followers will get to the same place? Remember, a Twitter account without a link to your school's website, is like a business card without an address or phone number.

2. I don't care if a coach drinks. They are adults, who are legally able to drink, and as long as it doesn't become a problem and/or they don't get busted for a DUI, it's not a big deal. But, pictures of a college coach drinking or tweets saying they are drinking, just isn't a good idea.

3. Don't be a panhandler. What is a panhandler? A coach who rarely tweets, but when they do, they ask for something. "Come to the game tonight." "Camp sign ups, start now." I mean, throw your followers a bone or two, by tweeting something about your program, before asking them for something.

4. God Squad. Everybody has the right to practice whatever religion, he or she chooses. But, my personal feeling is that, your relationship with God, is a private matter. If you feel the need to tweet about your relationship with God, you are too insecure about your relationship with God. Are you a coach or a preacher? But, to each his or her own. I follow many coaches who belong to the God Squad, and if it becomes overbearing, I will stop following them.

5. Place to vent? I'll admit, I use Twitter as a place to vent. But, should a coach, use Twitter as a place to vent? I think it depends on how the coach vents. Calling out a player shouldn't be done. But, a coach could tweet; "Practice was a struggle today. We need to do better tomorrow."

6. Power of Positive Thinkers: Judging by the tweets of some coaches, you would think everything is going great. They always tweet, great practice or great works. I understand, this PC world we live in now, but give me a break. We are talking about 17-22 year old kids. They aren't great everyday. They have their bad moments, practices, workouts, etc. Again coaches can use Twitter anyway they want, but these always positive coaches, quickly get deleted from my follow list.

7. I'm a foodie who hates the chains!! I love seeing Tweets about foods. While I understand, feeding the chains, maybe necessary when feeding the entire team, I hate seeing coaches feed the chains, when they are out on the road. Be like Cal State Northridge head coach, Jason Flowers, who frequents the mom and pop restaurants!!

8. I love seeing new trends on Twitter: When Lindsay Gottlieb, became the new head coach at Cal, she did a "Twitter Tour" She took pictures of places around Cal. I thought that was awesome!!

9. Develop thick skin and don't be a jerk like Kenny Brooks, the JMU head coach. That jerk is such a no class loser. I just tweeted a comment about karma; The jerk misspelled Hofstra, and his JMU team lost to Hofstra. I'm not a spell checker and it wasn't that big of a deal. But, that was proof, of karma. Anyways that loser coach, started bragging about winning back to back CAA championships and I called him out on that. Instead of being humble, he was a no class jerk, taking a cheap shot at me. Anyways, I stopped following that jerk and what little respect I had for that loser, is now totally gone.

10. If you're a young assistant coach or somebody wanting to get into college coaching, don't come off like a resident genius. That means don't criticize other coaches on Twitter. I've seen tweets by young assistant coaches, just ripping the game plan or adjustments of well established coaches. Those well established coaches, have lots and lots of friends in the coaching ranks. If you're just starting out as an assistant coach, it would be in your best interest, not to tweet critical comments about other coaches.

I fully expect the NCAA, to regulate Twitter, soon. I bet they will make a stupid rule, like, recruits can't follow coaches on Twitter. Just what women's college basketball needs; more NCAA involvement!!