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Launch of redesigned athletics website continues forward momentum

By Jacob Knabel on Dec. 21, 2015 in Athletic Announcements

A switch was flipped and launch of Concordia University’s redesigned athletics website occurred on Friday, Dec. 18. We are excited to present a website that we believe will continue the forward momentum of a thriving athletic department that captured the 2014-15 GPAC all-sports trophy during a year that featured a men’s outdoor track and field national title and women’s basketball national runner-up claim. We’ve continued to see great things this fall. A historic three-day period saw three different Bulldog athletic teams play in GPAC championship games in consecutive days.

We needed a website to equal our competitive greatness on the playing surfaces! Not only was it time for a new look, the new site allows for enhanced compatibility with mobile devices, better access to timely events through the home page and ease of social media sharing while putting a focus on news, game recaps and feature stories. Gone are the rotating photo slideshows that used to run on the home page and on each individual sport page. Features, designed to tell the behind-the-box score stories of coaches and student-athletes, now get bigger play and prominent placement on the site. You will also find that team-specific Twitter accounts are integrated into their corresponding web pages.

Navigation has also changed. Users will notice two main areas of navigation – one on the left and one on the right of the page. The left side navigation includes links to the Concordia Sports Network, recruit forms, Booster Club information and other essential pages. The far right side of the page displays icons that link directly to specific sports pages. Contained on these sport pages are familiar links to coaching bios, schedules, past seasons, rosters, etc. The same great information and content will remain a key part of the Concordia athletics website.

There are many thanks to go around for the production of the site with greater visual appeal and graphics that match our promotional team posters. In effort to separate ourselves from our local and national competition, a decision was made to produce everything in house instead of using a vendor that many NAIA institutions employ. Web Producer Melissa Timmons played the starring role in the redesign and put in many long hours along with Director of Marketing Seth Meranda. Other key contributors were Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Amanda Gubbels, Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management and Marketing Scott Seevers, Director of Athletics Devin Smith and Associate Director of Athletics Angela Muller.

It took the minds of many to see through a vision to take the website to another level. That’s not to say the previous website was flawed. It was functional, easy to get around and served Concordia athletics well for several years. We simply wanted to provide a new experience, freshen the site up and get up to speed with an increasingly mobile world.

This is also a good time to remind Bulldog fans and alums that our social media accounts serve as extensions that complement the website. We’re prevalent on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Through all of these mediums, we want you to live Bulldog athletics through our coaches and student-athletes like never before. Fans also have another avenue to follow Concordia football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball with the school’s partnership with 104.9 Max Country that began this fall.

Should you have any problems navigating the website as you get used to the new look and feel, please contact myself (jacob.knabel@cune.edu) for assistance.

Consider this our Christmas gift to Bulldog fans everywhere! It’s an exciting time to be part of Concordia athletics, either as a fan, coach, athlete, staff member or parent. Enjoy the new site and Go Bulldogs!