Case Study: St. Francis Basketball
The Challenge: Too Many Responsibilities
St. Francis High School Boys Basketball in Illinois joined Story of the Season for the 2023-2024 winter season. Head Coach Erin Dwyer wanted full season media coverage and a keepsake for his players. For the 2023-2024 season Erin Dwyer took on the full responsibility of content submission, social media and fundraising. This was on top of all his head coaching responsibilities. This is a lot to take on as a head coach especially when your main focus should be on practice planning, game strategy and scouting. Unfortunately, the Story of the Season weekly digital magazines had to take the back seat. St. Francis raised $3,900 for their program which was right around the average amount of money raised that season. Their weekly media guides had the standard content including game recaps, stats, and players of the week without much more. While they got media coverage every week of the season the content in each chapter was limited. This meant that not all players were highlighted and some important moments were not captured within the pages. Parents and players weren’t quite sure what Story of the Season was and didn’t always know when chapters were released. Overall with all the responsibilities falling solely on Head Coach Erin Dwyer, their Story of the Season experience left more to be desired. When the Head Coach has to take on more responsibilities other than coaching, it creates more stress and a less engaging media guide.
Doing Things Different: Divide and Conquer
For the 2025-2026 Season St. Francis was ready to try again and reach the full potential of their Story of the Season media guides. This time led by Assistant Coach, Connor O’Keefe, St Francis saw a huge improvement in their media guide quality and fundraising. Coach O’Keefe connected with student photographers to their pre-game, in-game and post-game photos into each chapter. The booster club was brought in to help sell ads and get family donations. O’Keefe also connected with all the seniors to create senior spotlight pages for senior night. With an assistant coach at the helm, other parties within the community were able to get involved, share the load and create an even better media guide. It was a great way to connect Story of the Season with the school community. By taking the media guide responsibilities away from the head coach he could focus on the team and let everyone else focus on creating the best possible media experience.
The Outcome: Better Content and More Engagement
St. Francis was able to raise over $7,000 which was almost double what they raised previously. Their chapters went from a modest 20 pages to 50 pages with photos, video highlights, player awards, alumni spotlights, community nights, specialized senior pages and more. They were able to get content not just for varsity but also for the JV and Freshman teams. Every player was represented and showcased through photos, videos, awards and game recaps. Parents and players now knew what Story of the Season was and valued each chapter. St. Francis also took advantage of Story of the Season’s free graphic package and got custom game day, stats, final score, players of the game and championship graphics for their social media. They also got a great digital and printed yearbook for the end of the season as well. They truly were able to take advantage of everything Story of the Season had to offer from fundraising to social media to weekly media coverage and a great end of season keepsake.
The Spartans were Regional and Sectional Championships only falling short to the State Runner-ups in the Super Sectional Championship. Having Story of the Season for the 2025-2026 season ensured that those players, parents and coaches would never forget such a successful season.
The Key Takeaway
Divide up the media guide responsibilities and don’t let them just fall solely on the head coach. Divide and conquer and your media guide can capture the entire season forever.
