Martin named new Cameron Sports Information Director

Since August 8, the position of Sports Information Director here at Cameron has been vacant. The vacancy was filled this past week with the hiring of new SID Craig Martin. Martin fills the post formerly held for eight seasons by Steve Doughty.

Martin comes to Cameron after earning his bachelor’s degree at the University of Oklahoma. While at Oklahoma, Martin participated in marketing and promotional work for the athletics office. Some of the work he did was to help establish a car show that is now an annual event and a “tax night” theme at one of the OU baseball games, which was featured in USA Today. Martin also gained experience working as an intern for minor league baseball teams.

“I always wanted to work in sports,” Martin said. “After working at OU for a few years, I decided to stick with college, and I saw the opening at Cameron and just thought it sounded too good to be true.”

The past year has seen it’s share of vacancies in the Cameron athletic department. According to Athletic Director Jim Jackson, the process of hiring a new SID wasn’t too different than hiring a coach.

“It’s the same process. We do a national search,” Jackson said. “You look for the same characteristics. Somebody who is bright, energetic, and somebody who is willing to do things right and not take shortcuts.”

Although Martin is young in age and experience, this didn’t shy Jackson away from hiring him.

“In Craig’s presentation during the interview process, I checked with his references, and they just raved about his energy level and his willingness,” Jackson said. “His attitude has been great. He is trying to put a positive spin on things, and people want to be around positive people.”

Martin grew up in Colleyville, Texas, and attended Texas A&M University for two years before deciding to transfer to Norman and attend OU, where he graduated last year.

Steve Doughty, CU’s previous Sports Information Director, certainly left some big shoes to fill. Among the jobs he performed were keeping game statistics and box scores, sending out press releases and updating the ever-changing Aggie athletics web site. Doughty left his post at Cameron for a teaching position with Lawton Public Schools.

“I had the pleasure of working with Steve for one year,” Jackson said. “Steve did a fabulous job for us in all areas, getting statistics, press releases, and coordinating everything. Steve did an outstanding job with all of those and we are really going to miss him.”

In addition to the statistics, Martin will write game stories to be put on the web site, a job that could keep him in the office until 10 or 11 p.m. He will also help set up interviews with Aggie coaches and players with the media outlets. With the large number of coaching changes, player awards, and other important information, press releases and yearly media guides have been added to the job.

Martin is adjusting to his new position quickly, meeting with coaches and athletes, something that has made him feel welcome.

“Everybody has been real accommodating. Once I moved in here, they all helped me out within the office,” Martin said. “It’s been kind of slow-going, but once everything gets settled I think I’m really going to enjoy it.”

With the fall sports season just now kicking off and the website being updated a few weeks ago, Martin has time to ease into the position. He will have to get acclimated to working on the web site, and life in the Lonestar Conference in general. There to help him is assistant Brent Russell, who has helped Doughty the past few seasons. Martin knows once he gets going, he will face a whole new challenge.

“When I first get everything put together, everybody’s gonna come, and I might be bombarded with stuff, but in the meantime I’m just trying to get my feet wet and get settled in here,” Martin said.

While he doesn’t plan to change much, there are a few subtle differences Martin hopes to make, one of which will be a shorter media guide than in the past. He also hopes to add more pictures and player bio’s to what he considers one of the best athletic websites in the collegiate ranks.