ABILENE, Texas – In following with other NCAA schools’ lead, McMurry University’s sports information department will no longer be printing media guides beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

The transition from paper-printed to digital forms of media guides and recruiting was a decision made by McMurry to keep up with the ongoing technological transitions of a more digital age as well as an economical decision.

“That’s how we communicate with kids now,” said McMurry athletics director Ron Holmes on digital communication. “A hard copy to this visual generation means information on a cell phone or a lap top. If you don’t believe me, take a cell phone away for 24 hours and you’ve basically cut off their social life.”

During the 2007-08 school year, McMurry’s sports information department spent $13,937.23 on printing costs.  For the upcoming year, instead of spending dollars on both online communication and printed communication, McMurry will go strictly digital.

In association with the athletic web site’s provider Internet Consulting Services (New York), sports will have Digital Media Guides (DMG’s | Click Here for an example) where fans, alumni, and media alike can get all the pertinent information they would get from a media guide, and in addition, receive up to date information in a more timely manner.

In addition to going paperless, the McMurry sports information department introduced its Twitter (http://twitter.com/mcmsports) page and the new McMurry Sports Blog (http://mcmurrysports.blogspot.com/) Monday. The Twitter page will allow interested fans to get information from the athletics department instantaneously through cell phone updates including scores, breaking news and feature story links.

The McMurry Sports Blog will be edited by the sports information office and will include a “Senior Diary” section from each sport as the school year progresses, audio interviews, and side articles about the happenings in the McMurry athletics department that don’t always qualify as press releases or game stories.

More changes are coming to the way McMurry’s athletic department provides its news and game coverage. Plans are in the works for a subscription package to watch McMurry sporting events both at home and on the road via the Internet.

On May 28, NCAA Division I schools Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin (all Big 10 schools) made waves by announcing that they would no longer print media guides. Although some schools had already made this decision, the magnitude of these schools’ names brought the issue to the forefront.

Since then, other schools from all divisions have made the decision as well, including:

Texas Tech
Ball State
UNC-Asheville
Missouri
Iowa State
Southern Methodist University
University of South Florida
West Virginia Wesleyan
Fresno State

“McMurry is proud to join other schools in utilizing innovative technological approaches to communicate with alumni, media partners, and friends of the University,” said Nancy Smith, Executive Director of University Relations. “This is the way people will communicate in the future and McMurry is taking a leading role in this transition.”