DURHAM, N.C. – Equipped with a laptop and baseball bats, helmets and balls, Maurice Williams accomplished a rare feat in the athletic communications world.
Williams, the North Carolina Central Deputy Athletic Director for Strategic Communications, kept statistics and coached in the same game, a rarity among athletic communicators.
This past April, Williams was a team player in the truest sense. During a three-game weekend softball series against MEAC foe South Carolina State, Williams was an Eagles' assistant coach and official game statistician. There are many people who possess either skill, but few can do both – much less simultaneously.
Williams managed dual roles due to unforeseen circumstances. In addition to assisting the head coach on a short-handed staff, Williams stepped in as statistician as a favor to his peer at South Carolina State, who, ironically, was in Cary, N.C, to cover the MEAC Tennis Championships for his school's powerful tennis program. The home athletic communicator is responsible for statistics during an NCAA game.
Like many athletic communicators, Williams is used to multi-tasking but never kept stats and coached in the same contest.
"I have done the scoreboard, P.A., and stats before, but never anything on the field, said Williams, a 20-year veteran in athletic communications. He was the recipient of the CoSIDA (now College Sports Communicators) Rising Star Award in 2012 and the organization's President Award in 2016.
Williams handled both jobs flawlessly. He gave instructions to players while inputting statistics on his laptop in the dugout. When the Eagles batted, Williams trotted on the field as first base coach. Amazingly, Williams inputted the stats when he returned to the dugout.
"Whenever I do statistics for any game, I always keep a scorebook to help me follow along in case the computer crashes or shuts down," Williams said. "For the first game, I would write down what each player did on a small piece of paper that I kept in my pocket. When I returned to the dugout, I would record it in the book and then enter it into the computer. I had a really quick turnaround time, so I wanted to get it in the book first."
Relying on his previous coaching experience, Williams wore two hats the entire weekend to much success. The statistics were correct and fans could follow the softball series on live stats. On the field, the Eagles won two of three games.
"Well, I started "coaching" when I was in college as a student assistant at Livingstone, doing softball," Williams said. "I played baseball in high school and wanted to continue playing in college, but Livingstone didn't have a team, so the athletic director said they were starting a softball team and told me to work with them. I have been involved in the game and worked with softball for years in the SEC and ACC."
The biggest challenge was the final day during the Eagles' 16-4 victory. Keeping statistics can be difficult in a high-scoring game where there is more to keep track of but the stats were accurate.
Though rare for a person to fulfill both coaching and communication duties, it has been done. The biggest example is Dan Mara, who was conference coach of the year during his tenure as head softball coach and sports information director at Mitchell Junior College in Connecticut in the early 1990s.
Williams was in the dugout for several softball games this spring while fulfilling his communication responsibilities. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the NCCU strategic communications office and serves as the primary media contact for the football team.
"The team's practice time was at 3 p.m. each day, so I would try to arrive at the office around 8 a.m. and work through everything until 2:30 p.m., at which time I would leave the office to head to practice." Williams said. "In an ideal world, I tried to focus on all communications during my time in the office, but softball and other matters would often arise, as I have an open-door policy for the student-athletes. I never want to turn them away, as I have always wanted to be there for them whenever they walk through the door."
Though logging many hours, Williams is open to pulling double duty again as coach and statistician.
"I have said that I would not, but I think that if the need arose, I would help out whenever necessary," Williams said.
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