Creating innovative content across multiple platforms has earned the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Athletics Department national recognition. UH Mānoa is one of two recipients of the 2021–22 CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) ChangeMaker Innovation Award, created to, “recognize forward-thinkers who bring new ideas to life” through special content, branding, messaging, new storytelling, social media initiatives and more.
UH Mānoa’s winning entry was titled “Operation Greg Luzinski” (Oppo Grego) and submitted by Assistant Media Relations Director Eric Mathews. The goal was to elevate social media content and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to continue telling the stories of UH Mānoa’s student-athletes and showcase the beauty of the islands. The project title was developed from an inside joke that Mathews resembled former Major League Baseball player Greg Luzinski.
The department launched several successful campaigns, including “Coming Home,” a series showcasing the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, the current home stadium for UH Mānoa football, which was fast-tracked for completion after Aloha Stadium shut down in December 2020. It also featured the weekly “Rainbow Roundup” broadcast, featuring highlights of the week in UH sports. Other projects called “My Story” and “BowsStories” showcased the hardships of student-athletes overcoming the odds to play in college athletics. Student-athletes were also featured through campus photoshoots to show their personalities, style and the beauty of the campus.
Four former student contributors to the athletics communications staff, who were interested in social media, broadcasting and journalism, landed their first jobs out of school through their work with project “Oppo Grego.” Project leaders include Mathews; Trevor Camello, multimedia specialist; Derek Inouchi, director of media relations; and Troy Yamamoto, director of digital media.
“I am proud of the work our athletics team has done with enhancing our presence and reach on our digital platforms,” UH Mānoa Athletics Director David Matlin said. “Our student-athletes work extremely hard in their respective sports and many have very interesting and inspiring stories to get to the Division One college level. It is great to see their stories being told through our innovative and emerging platforms, and I look forward to seeing what our communications team has planned in the future.”
UH Mānoa athletics has been consistently ranked in the top 50 in the nation for social media engagement since July 2021 by Skullsparks and recently had its best-ever ranking of No. 12 in May 2022. Skullsparks partners with college sports brands across the country on digital strategy and promotes digital/video job opportunities while working with the nation’s network of sports creatives.
“CoSIDA represents a profession that epitomizes creativity and collaboration. The ChangeMaker Award acknowledges and honors those CoSIDA members who have opened the door to ingenuity, resourcefulness and originality in their work,” CoSIDA Executive Director Doug Vance said. “We congratulate Utah Valley and University of Hawaiʻi athletic communications staffs and their colleagues this year as they rolled out creative and meaningful content, which captured the attention of many.”
