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SALT LAKE CITY — The use of social media is ubiquitous — it’s everywhere and not going away anytime soon. In the world of sports, social media is often a means for fans to interact with athletes — for positive or negative — and to give feedback. But oftentimes it can be a distraction to athletes in a variety of ways.
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said he’s learned from past seasons that athletes often go to Twitter or other social media platforms to get more feedback, recognition or praise from more than just the coaching staff. But that feedback isn’t always the most constructive or helpful for young athletes, he said.
“I think sometimes if you’re not getting the kind of feedback that you need from that group, whether it’s a teammate or a coach or whoever it might be, then I noticed last year one of the first things would happen when a game would be over is we’d have the phones light up in the locker room and it was everybody trying to seek out whether it was an opinion of how they played,” Krystkowiak said.
To overcome the distractions and need to look elsewhere for feedback, Krystkowiak said he has pledged an “allegiance” to the team, promising to give his players all the feedback they’re looking for.
“I was going to try to provide more feedback for them, whether it’s positive or negative,” he said. “I wasn’t relying on any outside source to tell me if I was doing a good job or if I should be fired. A lot of that stuff can be pretty venomous, and you have to be able to take the good with the bad.
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“Sometimes that hurts, especially when you’re 20 years old; you think you’ve got allies and people that are in your corner, but the first minute things don’t go well all the sudden something can be said, and it can have a crazy effect, not just on 20-year-olds, but 50-year-olds like myself,” he added. “It’s not worth taking a chance. I’m trying to build this report within our group; that any feedback you need that really counts, and opinions that count, are going to come from within.”
“Some interaction with fans can be bad,” junior Jordan Loveridge said. “It just depends on what you’re saying or what you’re doing on there.”
Loveridge said he doesn’t pay attention to Twitter much anymore, despite having an account, after actively using it prior to the 2014-15 season. Last year, some users took to Twitter to criticize Loveridge after a game, using racial epithets as a way to disparage his game. The tweets “upset” Loveridge’s mother and caused her to question the use of Twitter for a few days.
“She doesn’t care if anyone says anything about my game,” Loveridge said. “But when it becomes racial, that’s when it upsets her. But that’s any situations, that’s not just basketball.”
The Loveridge family has since moved on from the criticism, but Loveridge said it was a good reminder about who he should listen to when it comes to feedback.
I wasn't relying on any outside source to tell me if I was doing a good job or if I should be fired. A lot of that stuff can be pretty venomous, and you have to be able to take the good with the bad.
–Larry Krystkowiak
Krystkowiak, who also has a Twitter account, committed to the players to avoid social media during the season and has asked them to do the same. So far, the players have abided by the request and have avoided Twitter — at least tweeting from their accounts. The commitment, however, was voluntary and not a rule for his team, but one Krystkowiak said would help the team come together.
“I don’t think you need to have a big rulebook, you just kinda know how we do things around here and hopefully guys aren’t making mistakes in their use of it,” Krystkowiak said.
“There were a number of guys that said they weren’t going to do social media; I haven’t followed it to find out if people have kept up on their little pledges with it,” he added. “I think we’re trying to provide more feedback for our guys and pat them on the back a little bit more when they need it, and kick them in the rump when they need it. Hopefully they’re trusting our opinion more than that of a total stranger.”
Krystkowiak said his team’s focus is only on winning basketball games and the goals they established before the season started of going deep in the Pac-12 tournament and the NCAA tournament.
“I think it’s important for us to see some goals are within reach and are really important,” he said. “There’s not enough time, nor do we have enough energy, to focus outside of our little circle. It’s imperative right now that everybody stays focused."
