Behind the curtain with Carolina Panthers stats guy Will Bryan
Q&A with Carolina Panthers staff member Will Bryan – Part 2
DC: You have been with the Carolina Panthers a little under five years. Even in that timeframe, technology has improved, athlete access is more open than ever with social media, and information is instant. What is the biggest challenge someone in this role faces?
WB: I think there is a constant challenge to figure out what’s next and be in a position to take advantage. For folks on the social team, that’s being nimble as our fans and users may migrate from one social platform to another and make sure there’s content tailored to that platform that’s there for them.
In my world, it’s anticipating the way we use mobile technology in apps, gamification, and e-commerce and how that can change quickly with new best practices each year.
DC: Let’s look back for a moment. Has a role in sports always been a passion of yours, or did you initially want to pursue a different field?
WB: When I was a freshman in college, I began writing for the Davidson College student newspaper. As a lifelong Panthers fan, I came to games with a college hallmate and remember thinking to myself, “I don’t know who all those people on the sideline are, but I want to find out and be one of them one day”. As someone that grew up around sports as a kid, I certainly dreamed of being close to it, but I think I’ve come to find that I appreciate the industry for different reasons now than I had back then.
DC: You were a communications intern with the team back in 2008. Did you ever think you would be back here in a full-time role eight years later?
WB: I certainly hoped so. I had a chance to work under Charlie Dayton and Steven Drummond as an intern that year, and there were a number of incredible communications professionals in the NFL that had once worked in that role in Carolina. They instilled professionalism and a high standard that I hope that I’ve carried through my career.
DC: Between your time as an intern and coming back, you spent some time with the New York Jets and three college athletic departments working in SID/media relations. What similarities exist between the college and professional levels? What are the biggest differences?
WB: Working in sports at any level requires a level of versatility and openness of spirit. The cliché of “other duties as assigned” is pretty firmly rooted in reality. In one weekend as the baseball media relations director at College of Charleston, I helped pull the tarp on the field, did P.A. announcements, called play-by-play on the radio, served as the official scorer, and ran three social media accounts.
Professional sports are a little more specialized and there’s also a different level of depth that you can get to when covering one team versus 23 or 24 teams. I had responsibilities with men’s basketball and baseball as well as field hockey and women’s golf and volleyball. While I tried to devote as much energy to each sport individually, there were always difficult conversations around why certain sports got more attention than others. Those inequalities continue to be a difficult reality.