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Randy York N-Sider

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One of the five core values in the University of Nebraska’s Department of Athletics is TEAMWORK, and the culmination of the Huskers’ first-ever 3½-hour live online Football Signing Day (FSD) Show Wednesday is a perfect example.

The Huskers blended our athletic administration with multi-media partner IMG, development, facilities, the Husker football staff, and our communications team. “Working together toward a common goal, we accomplished something this department had not experienced before,” said Steve Waterfield, Nebraska’s executive associate athletic director for performance and research.

"The live show helps brand the football program and the University of Nebraska," Waterfield said. “It also showcases the wonderful, talented people we have working in the Athletics Department, including HuskerVision, athletic communications, digital communications, the football staff and everyone’s hard work with the recruiting class.

“The show is also a way to communicate all the great information to our loyal fans across the state and throughout the country,” Waterfield said. “Whenever Nebraska does anything in the Athletics Department, we do it well. This was the brain child of David Witty, and he worked closely with Kelly Mosier, Keith Mann, Shot Kleen and Kirk Hartman. They, in turn, partnered with Chris Davis and his staff at IMG. It was a really effective, first-class way to come together. This ended up being an A-plus. Listed on paper, the concept looked great and seeing it in person was even better.”

According to those involved, the A-plus result was a team honor, not an individual accolade. To prove my point, I asked the following 13 individuals to share their thoughts about how a powerful, pioneering brand produced something that will fortify its reputation and launch what Big Red fans everywhere now expect – an annual live, online FSD Show that will be like no other, reinforcing the classic There is NO PLACE like Nebraska tagline. For Husker football faithful, today's N-Sider describes the puzzle pieces of another trailblazing Husker moment that reflects the very essence of teamwork. Please read on so you get the gist:

Dave Witty, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Marketing/Communications

“We look at everything in terms of how we can enhance the Nebraska brand and assist with recruiting for all 24 varsity sports. We haven’t done a lot on signing day in the past, so we were looking for how we could get our message out there and show the country and the world online what Nebraska football is all about. We’re a leader in so many things that we do here. We have first-class facilities, first-class coaches and this is a chance to show off the Nebraska football program. We have the best fans in college football and we wanted to do whatever we could to make signing day more special than it’s ever been. It’s really about our fans getting to know the players better that they will be cheering for over the next four or five years. We have a great group here. If you look at our departments of Communications, Digital Communications, HuskerVision and Marketing, everyone pitched in with their ideas.

"Basically, we took the talents of all 40 people in our area and got together with the football staff and the development office. Together, we were able to put on this event. If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it the best way possible. Our goal is to be leaders in the industry, and this was just another way we could deliver on that. This became a new way for us to tell our story. The coaches are all great to work with, and we couldn’t do any of it without them. We asked DVD (Dan Van De Riet) and Andy Vaughn and they both wanted to do it, and we’re glad they did.” 

Kirk Hartman, Executive Director-Video Production, HuskerVision

“Doing a 3½-hour live show is an undertaking, and if it wasn’t for all of the departments working together, we would never do it. Everybody just blended together, including Kelly Mosier and his crew, David Witty and his staff and our HuskerVision team. We probably created a new era in National Signing Day that will keep going on and on. From the set design to everyone else, it just all worked. It’s a big project. A lot of work went into it, but the results were there. To pull off something like that excites everyone. It really gets the juices flowing creatively. We have the staff to do it. Shot Kleen, Scott Guthrie and Mike Hodges set up the studio. Our HuskerVision crew is outstanding, so I knew we’d be able to do it. All of the video and graphic content was a group effort from Tyler Bassinger, Kevin Raguse, Keegan Wilson, Ridge Barber, Chris Pankonin and Andy Wenstrand with Amanda Holzwarth serving as our location producer and Bridget Nelson updating the live graphic content

"It was a very clean show from beginning to end. The coaches did a great job. They’re so dynamic and fun to interview and really took over the show. Our IMG talent was great. We lean on Greg Sharpe and Lane Grindle and they just make everything seamless. The flow was great. You can tell why the coaches recruited so well. They’re so energetic and willing. When they talk about their players, you can tell the love and the passion they have for the kids they recruited. It’ll be interesting to see how these relationships build in the next couple of years. They’re just going to get better and better. With recruits and coaches watching, it can only improve our recruiting and the branding of the University of Nebraska because it represented us and the way we do things.” 

Keith Mann, Assistant Athletic Director, Communications

“Actually, we started talking about doing something like this a year ago because we have the resources to do it. We had good traffic from what we did last year, but it was pretty basic. When Dave (Witty),  Kelly (Mosier) and I started discussing this, we knew we would get good traffic. When you have HuskerVision and a digital team that we feel are the best in the country, we knew we could do more, so we started brainstorming almost immediately after beating UCLA in the bowl game. Once we figured out how to do it and where to do it, it worked out well.

“I wasn’t watching from the front end like people on their computers at home, but even behind the scenes, I thought the setup and the show were good. The coaches see the value of celebrating Signing Day. I think everyone bought in and supported celebrating this class like we did. Lane did a great job giving Patrick O’Brien and Derrion Grim a tour of our facilities. There are a lot of pieces from this show that we can use in a lot of different areas. The tours and the film room stuff are both interesting pieces.”  

Shot Kleen, Assistant Athletic Director, HuskerVision

“We looked at some of the schools that streamed signing day last year. It was pretty cool, but there were a lot of static shots with very little audio and commentary. We thought it would be best to have a studio setting with anchors conducting live interviews and introducing pre-produced features.

“In essence, we took the models we watched and upgraded the format to suit our needs. IMG and our HuskerVision team transformed the player’s lounge into a production studio. The studio set is lit with professional lighting and includes a desk for our announcers. We have a point-of-view camera installed in the coaches’ conference room where the signed faxes come in. We also have a separate area in the lobby for stand-up interviews and a poster board that is upgraded as recruits’ letters are faxed in. This temporary studio is connected to our HuskerVision control room in West Stadium through fiber-optic cable, enabling the show to be produced in the same manner as all of our other events. This was a fun and challenging project for us, and I really appreciate the spirit of cooperation from everyone involved.” 

Kelly Mosier, Assistant Athletic Director, Digital Communications

“We pretty much started planning for this live stream since we got back from the bowl game. It went very, very well. We always say that you play like you practice, and there was a lot of prep work from a lot of different people that went into this live show. HuskerVision put a lot of time into getting the set ready, running through technical problems and getting everybody on the staff keyed into the outline. We have hiccups in social media all the time. I always look at social media as being like a live TV show. Any time you go live, you’re going to have hiccups and things go wrong, and you have to work through them. We didn’t have any major hiccups in this one. A couple of minor things happened, but for the most part, it was incredibly smooth. I just think it’s really cool to show future prospective student-athletes to people across the country.

“What has always made Nebraska special is everybody pulling together and pushing in the same direction, and a show like this really exemplifies that. We have so many people across so many departments, all pulling in the exact same direction. They want to make this program look great. When you get everybody in line and push together, great things happen. I just think it’s really a microcosm of what makes Nebraska special, and the ability to show that off to everyone around the nation is really special. We’ve done other live shows in the past but this was the longest one and one that had all the right stuff to capitalize on. When you talk about live productions, HuskerVision is no stranger to that. We’ve the skipped the crawl and walking stages and are ready to take that next step for Nebraska football recruits, families and fans.”

Mike Riley, Head Football Coach

“It’s a year-long process. I think we’ve learned more about recruiting to the University. We’ve learned more about our team and our needs. You combine a bunch of thoughts because you have to evaluate and get the right player and the right person and then you have to recruit, so it all fits together. The process has to all work together, so you end up with the right people on Signing Day. This was a nice way for the fans to feel a part of the recruiting process because they love it so much. This environment was unique to the presentation of our recruiting class. I like what happens immediately because these guys get a taste of what they signed on for. They watch and they know this is the realization of something really special here, and we’re proud of the young men who signed to join our family. They will represent our state, our University and our athletics program well, and I hope all have an opportunity to positively impact their time as a Husker.”

Danny Langsdorf, Offensive Coordinator

“I think there’s a lot of fan interest in recruiting, and it’s good to reach out to our fan base because they’re   curious and want to be a part of it. They want to know what’s going on. We have a chance to kind of brag about our class, so it’s fun for each coach to talk about their area. This event draws a lot of interest, and we have a full setup in there broadcasting and some seats right next to the fax machine players are using to confirm they’re coming to Nebraska. That’s pretty neat to share that experience with our fans. I think it generates a lot of excitement to find out who these kids are, get to know them early so they can follow them for the rest of their careers here at Nebraska.”

Dan Van De Riet, Associate Athletic Director – Football Operations

Since I’ve been at Nebraska for more than a year now, there’s no doubt in my mind that everything done here is first class. When you have people like Dave Witty, Kelly Mosier, Andy Wenstrand, Keith Mann, Kirk Hartman, Shot Kleen and all the people in HuskerVision, you quickly learn that they’re all pros and excellent at what they do. What everyone saw streamed live on Huskers.com is proof of how great they all are. Fifteen years ago, you didn’t hear much about signing day other than the coaches’ press conferences. The technological evolution, along with the interest and coverage through 24/7, Rivals, Scout, ESPN and others who report on recruiting, has really sparked the interest on a whole new level. This keeps the fans’ blood flowing year-round and gives great exposure to prospective athletes around the country. Fans love to interact with recruits on social media and like to hear the head coach and assistants share all the stories about what took place during the recruiting process. To be able to showcase the recruits who signed with us is a great thing, and our departmental teams have done a phenomenal job of helping us tell those stories.”

Andy Vaughn, Director, Football and Recruiting Operations

“This is ground-breaking for Nebraska. It’s happened other places, but we’ve taken it to a different level with Dave Witty and the teams up on the third floor. They decided to put a Nebraska spin on this and discussed the idea with us after we got back from the bowl game. It was a good way to start a new year. Guys at HuskerVision and guys like Eric Haynes and Steve Torske in Facilities put together an awesome show in a short amount time. I think this recruiting celebration show is only going to grow in a short amount of time as we move forward. It’s important for recruits and their families because it’s a turning point in their lives. This is their day and they deserve all the recognition they get.” 

Tate Guillotte, Assistant Director, Video/Football

“I think it’s great that we went for something different that was a whole new production that we haven’t done before and used a room like we haven’t used before. Ridge Barber did a lot of work helping us produce the videos. My job for the live online show was to be the utility infielder, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that pulling things together from the football side of the production. Knock on wood, it came across seamlessly despite using the players’ lounge, a room that’s not built to be live TV. We brought the lights in, the cameras in and wired everything up. It’s a credit to the thought process between HuskerVision, Kelly Mosier in Digital Media and football collaborating and communicating with everyone who put it all together. Football capured all the video highlights from high school and HuskerVision shot the featured players in the studio with their new coaches, using the telestrator. It was very cool. The live 3½-hour show was a huge, huge demonstration of keeping all the moving parts together. It worked well and was almost a proof of concept. I think the sky’s the limit for what we can pull off next year.”

Kevin Kugler, National NCAA Sportscaster, BTN Play-by-Play

“What Nebraska did on signing day keeps it up with the top schools in the country trying to do this – Nebraska is doing it right and staying on the cutting edge of it. Everybody wants to be at the top of the game, and Nebraska has what it takes to be there. Look at this recruiting class…14 states are represented for Nebraska. You have to have a national approach if you’re Nebraska, and this is a great way to keep a national feel. You have your own program going on that reaches out nationally to anybody who wants to log onto the website and see what’s going on. If they want an inside look at the program, Nebraska has that kind of accessibility for recruits across the country for the next class going forward, so they can look at Nebraska and see its national leadership. Nebraska was the first college in America to put the big screens up in 1994, and when HuskerVision became a big thing, other schools followed it. This is the natural evolution of having the ability to work with BTN and do stuff with them back and forth – the ability to put your own product out there. This is the logical next step for Nebraska, which is B1G! I mean, Nebraska’s been staying ahead of the game for 25 years and remains right up there near the top.”

Greg Sharpe, Voice of Nebraska Football/Play-by-Play

Kelly Mosier did a great job organizing all of this and getting all the parts involved, including HuskerVision. We have such a luxury here at Nebraska when you have a group like HuskerVision that can put all of this stuff together and pull it off. We were able to get first-hand talks with the coaches and their thoughts about the young men they recruited. I don’t think you can get that anywhere else rather than right here, and I’m just delighted to be a part of it. You have to have the infrastructure to pull something like this off. A lot of places just don’t have that. It’s great to share these videos. I know a lot of fans out there are so rabid, they’ve already seen a good number of videos. But to see them at the same that they’re getting the inside track from the coaches is fun. With this live feed, we’re showing fans the coaches’ rooms and going inside the players’ lounge. Lane Grindle gave fans a walking tour with the Patrick O’Riley and Darrion Grim and led viewers around different parts of the football facility. You’re just not going to get that anywhere else.”   

Lane Grindle, Husker IMG Sports Network Football Analyst

“It’s been fun to watch the way Nebraska finished in the bowl game and people are really pumped up while expecting good things to transpire in 2016. In a lot of ways, this recruiting class wrapped up in a similar fashion. The last three weeks have been a flurry. Nebraska’s done a good job identifying the guys that they wanted and getting them to pull the trigger, which tells you this group understands Nebraska and knows how to sell this place. I think there’s every reason to be optimistic right now. The Signing Day Show was pivotal to recruiting because everyone wants to get to know you better, and doing these types of things open the doors to the recruiting offices and lets you get to know who these guys are. Football recruiting and the fans go hand-in-hand at Nebraska. Whether they are official stockholders for Nebraska Football or not, they feel ownership in it, and it’s one of the special things about this place. The more we let them feel like a part of it and see what else goes on beyond the 12 Saturdays they play football games every year, the better off we are as a program, so it’s fun to provide this kind of coverage for them.”

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