Social Media

Rick Pitino recently sounded off about social media especially twitter calling social media "poison."  All of Louisville players are banned from using twitter and specifically sending tweets.  Pitino claims his players spend four hours a day on social media.  If true that is an alarming amount of time.  There's got to be something more productive to do with that 4 hours of time.  Pitino's biggest issue with social media is its diminishing people's communication skills and worries his players won't be able to get in front of an actual human and articulate their passion for wanting a job. 

We certainly had our issues with social media this season (twitter and instagram).  Players upset and in the frustration of a moment announce via twitter they are quiting or wishing they had went to another school or giving other schools bulletin board material.  Instagram videos of players rolling in the snow with no shoes or shirt, running on iced over water and throwing snowballs at passing highway cars.  Such is the culture we are coaching in today.  We addressed social media throughout the year with our team and cautioned against some of the negative results from using twitter, but it clearly wasn't enough to avoid several in-season distractions. 

Our social media policy will be changing again next season as we hope to avoid situations that produce negative energy within our program.  Whether you use social media or not, you must have a plan in place for your team.