Media Covering Blue Dragon Athletics
Head coaches John Ontjes, Steve Eck and Rion Rhoades talk with Wichita TV stations.  

 

BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

Main Office Phone Number: (620) 665-3593
Fax Number: (620) 665-3394
E-mail: carpenters@hutchcc.edu
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/BlueDragonSports
Twitter: @bluedragonsport

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION STAFF? CLICK HERE

BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

The Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragon Sports Information Office is at your service to assist you with coverage of HutchCC athletics.

Sports Information Director Steve Carpenter and his staff will be happy to serve you in coverage of all 12 Blue Dragon intercollegiate athletic teams during the 2023-24 season.

The Blue Dragon Sports Information Office is located inside the Blue Dragon Athletic Offices located on the second level of the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The Sports Information office phone number is 620-665-3593. If you need to reach SID Steve Carpenter after hours, call his cell phone at 620-921-1242.

Office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.


Credential requests

Season or per-game media credentials for newspaper/magazine, radio and television and are required to cover all 12 Blue Dragon intercollegiate athletic teams.

Requests can be made by calling the HutchCC Sports Information Office or by faxing or emailing on company letterhead a request signed by the sports editor/director to 620-665-3394 or to carpenters@hutchcc.edu.

Per-game credential requests must be made no later than two days prior to the event to be covered.


Media Will Call

If possible, credentials will be mailed, but in case media members must pick them up at the site, please read the following procedures:

Gowans Stadium – Media Will Call is located at the west ticket window of Gowans Stadium. The west ticket window will have direct access to the press box elevator.

Sports Arena – Media Will Call is located at the pass gate on the northwest corner door of the main arena (not the new entrance further north).

Media Parking

Gowans Stadium – There is very limited parking for media members on the west side of Gowans Stadium. Parking is not reserved and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional parking is located south of the stadium and south of 11th Avenue.

Sports Arena – Parking is free on the east and west sides of the Sports Arena for Hutchinson Community College basketball and volleyball.

Interview Policy

Requests for interviews by all media must be made through the HutchCC Sports Information Office. All requests will be forwarded to the head coach for approval.

This policy applies to weekly and postgame interviews for all Blue Dragon student athletes throughout the entire athletic/academic season.

Media members who do not follow this policy will be subject to revocation of credentials for the entire season.

If a special interview session needs to be arraigned, all requests must be made through the Sports Information Office.

 

Postgame Interviews

Football: All media members will give a list of players they wish to interview to Sports Information personnel no later than two minutes before the end of the game. There will be no more interviews done on the field with the exception of head coach Rion Rhoades’ postgame radio interview. The interview room for football will be located in the Dragon Den of the Mull Family Football Complex (Sports Information Personnel will take all media members to the interview room immediately after the game). The interview session will start 10-15 minutes after the game and last until all media requests are concluded.

Men’s and women’s basketball: All media members will give a list of players they wish to interview to Sports Information personnel no later than 2 minutes before the end of the game. There will be no more interviews done outside the locker rooms or on the court. The interview room for basketball will be located in the media work room on the northwest corner of the concourse level of the Sports Arena. The interview session will start five minutes after the game and last until all media requests are concluded. Women’s interviews will be expedited because of the short window of time between games.

Volleyball: All media members will give a list of players they wish to interview to Sports Information personnel immediately after the match. There will be no more interviews done outside the locker rooms or on the court. The interview room for volleyball will be located in the media work room on the northwest corner of the concourse level of the Sports Arena. The interview session will start 5-10 minutes after the match and last until all media requests are concluded.

Other Sports: For postgame interviews for baseball, softball, track, cross country women’s soccer and men’s golf, those will be done on site at or near where the HutchCC Sports Information Department is set up. Again, all requests must be made to Sports Information personnel immediately after the contest is complete.

Weekly News Conferences

Each week through the 2018-19 athletic season, Blue Dragon Athletics will have a weekly news conference in which all in-season head coaches and selected athletes will be available for interviews. This will be the only time during the week other than postgame for media to speak with the coaches and athletes as there will be no media interviews allowed after practices this season. The weekly interview sessions will be at 1:00 p.m. each Monday in the media work room on the northwest corner of the concourse level of the Sports Arena.

Any media person who wishes to speak with a specific athlete must make that request, in writing, by 9:00 a.m. on the Monday of the news conference of that week.

Media members who do not follow these policies will be subject to revocation of credentials for the entire season.

 

Livestream/Live Broadcast Policy

Sports Information Departments of opposing teams and primary radio stations who provide primary videostreaming as part of their broadcasts are allowed to do so at the Sports Arena without being subject to paying a broadcast rights fee.

Any outside media sources who aren’t primary videostream providers of either the Blue Dragons or an opposing team must pay a $500 broadcast rights fee per game to videostream Blue Dragon events at any home venue. Hutchinson Community College owns the broadcast rights to all Blue Dragon athletic events.


Visiting Radio Stations

A courtesy radio line is available to the primary radio station of the visiting team. That phone line is located on seats 1 and 2 of the scorer’s table. Primary radio stations need to contact Glen Grunwald at (316) 617-7004 for information about the phone line. Any other radio stations granted credentials must install their own phone lines at their own cost or use cellular technology to broadcast games. The sports information director will make seating assignments for media.