In the world of college soccer, Irish coach Randy Waldrum is known as a successful coach, a strong tactician and a national champion. To an increasing number of online followers though, he's also known by another title: @NDCoachWaldrum.
Waldrum and the Irish have embraced Twitter as a way to reach out to fans and give people an inside look at the team. Waldrum said he was introduced to the power and reach of the website several years ago.
"What got me started in on Twitter was a convention a couple of years ago when I was president of the National Soccer Coaches Association," he said. "One of our board members told us how significant it was going to be and set us up an account. Within two days, we had 25,000 hits, and I realized that it was just marketing. It was just a matter of time after that until I brought it to Notre Dame."
In addition to Waldrum, many Irish players have also taken to tweeting. Senior captains Melissa Henderson and Jessica Schuveiller, freshman Taylor Schneider and sophomores Kecia Morway and Adriana Leon can be found on the site, and their back and forth with Waldrum is always entertaining.
"We have some good ones between us," Waldrum said. "Unfortunately, you have to monitor them in this day and age, but so far the kids have been nothing but classy and funny."
With its candid and humorous tweets, the team has attracted a large online following. Waldrum alone has over 1,400 followers and 2,500 tweets, and has reached an entire new set of fans.
"There's been so much response to it," Waldrum said. "I hope it has [brought in more fans]. We've gone back up this year, and it's probably been a factor in that."
For Waldrum, though, the biggest appeal of the site is the ability to keep in touch with the soccer community around the country.
"I think the best part of the whole thing is just the bantering that goes on around the country," he said. "I decided to change it up this weekend, and I wore a suit and tie on the sidelines for our game against UConn on TV. I was inundated with tweets about how I was the [Portuguese team manager] Jose Mourinho of Notre Dame."
Notre Dame will be back in action at Seton Hall on Friday at 7 p.m., where they hope to continue their #winning ways.
Contact Jack Hefferon at wheffero@nd.edu
