How a smaller DI department uses FanWord to give every sport the coverage it deserves
July 7, 2026
There’s the easy way to use a tool like FanWord, and there’s the Stetson way.
The easy way is to point it at the sports that already draw the eyes — basketball, baseball, football — and churn out even more content for the programs that have never struggled for attention in the first place. It’s the path of least resistance, and for many in college sports, it’s the status quo.
The Stetson Hatters went the other direction.
For Richard Kilwien, Associate AD for External Operations, the value of FanWord was never about producing more of what was already getting produced. It was about reaching the athletes and programs that a small communications staff could never quite get to.
“It would be simple to use FanWord to create additional content for the sports that receive the most attention,” Kilwien said. “However, one of the benefits of the platform is the ability to efficiently create content that benefits sports that might not receive as high of a level of service.”
Who: Stetson University
Nickname: Hatters
Division: NCAA Division I
Conference: ASUN (Atlantic Sun)
Varsity Sports: 18 teams (plus cheerleading)
Location: DeLand, Florida
FanWord Partner Since: September 2025
Fun Fact: Renamed in 1889 after renowned hat maker John B. Stetson. It’s the oldest private college in the state of Florida.
Challenge: A small staff, a full athletic department
Stetson competes at the NCAA Division I level, but its communications operation runs closer to what you’d find at a much smaller school.
“There are 2.5 of us in communications at Stetson,” said Norbert Savard, one of two Assistant Directors of Communications, along with Ryan Marks. “So finding a product that was more efficient and consistent was important.”
“We’re a small department at a small school, so there’s only two or three of us doing all the work for all 18 teams that we have,” said Marks. “Timing, staff, all the turnaround — all of that helped with what we needed from FanWord just to be able to get stuff out there in a timely manner.”
The math is unforgiving.
A handful of staff, a full slate of DI programs, and the same relentless content demands as departments three times the size. Before FanWord, the postgame process meant staying sharp through a long game night and then sitting down to write — a routine that could stretch well past midnight.
“A game day and post-game was a lot of diligent note-taking and just writing down a lot of stuff so I could remember it,” Marks said. “It would usually take me a couple hours at least, if not more. We were actually hiring somebody to take notes at some point during the game because we were so hands-on with stats.”
When the humans covering 18 sports are also the humans running the stats, something has to give. Usually, it was the coverage of the programs that needed it most.
Solution: Reduce busy work, expand reach
The Hatters started using FanWord Assist to solve the time problem first, and then discovered how far the tool could stretch.
“Initially, the biggest thing was for bios and recaps,” Marks said. “But over time, the more we had to tinker around and learn, it really became useful for interviews and helping write releases outside of recaps as well.”
Instead of hours of note-taking and writing in the postgame process, Marks could select the stats and players he wanted to highlight elevated through features like Trends and move quickly from box score to published recap.
“After FanWord, it helped really expedite everything and make it so much quicker and easier,” he said. “I can just select what stats I want to include or what players to focus on. It definitely changed the whole process.”
Stetson had tried to solve the time problem before. The department previously used Data Skrive to generate baseline content through its website, but the results didn’t hold up once FanWord entered the picture.
“We had used Data Skrive through our website prior to give us a baseline, but FanWord is a much better product,” said Savard. Their newfound efficiency delivered a significant boost to the entire department’s capacity.
“Our communications staff has posted nearly 800 editorial stories to GoHatters.com over the last 12 months, a significant increase over the previous several years. I’d like to believe the introduction of FanWord to their daily operation has contributed to this,” Kilwien said.
In ten months as a FanWord partner, Stetson has produced 373 game recaps, 79 player bios, 41 feature stories, 5 news stories, and 10 online interviews across its athletic programs — over 50% of all of their written content.
Bonus: Telling the stories that don’t usually get told
The clearest expression of Stetson’s approach is the content nobody else was making.
With recaps handled efficiently, the staff turned its attention to the programs that historically sat outside the spotlight — and to feature storytelling that had always felt out of reach.
“We’ve been able to churn out feature stories like nobody’s business,” Marks said. “Before FanWord, it was always an ordeal. Nobody really wanted to do it. But now I think we’ve churned out at least one or two stories per team every semester.”
The Olympic and non-revenue sports that, at most schools, get a recap and little else. At Stetson, they started getting features — and the visibility that comes with them.
“A lot of these sports are smaller,” Marks said. “We were getting out volleyball, women’s golf, men’s golf, all those kinds of stories. That also helps improve the visibility of their brands too. We’re not always just focusing on basketball, baseball, football.”
The most distinctive example came from a program that doesn’t fit the traditional recap model at all: the cheerleading team. The staff used FanWord’s Feature Stories tool to build roster bios that captured personality and made the athletes feel seen.
See the finished product: Sydney Bishop (Jr.), Alyssa Melani (Sr.), Katelyn Belle Karstedt (Fr.)
“The focus was to create content that expressed personality and made the student-athletes feel proud that they were recognized and appreciated,” Kilwien said.
The idea is already spreading to other corners of the department. What started with cheerleading is becoming a template for the programs that fit the same mold.
“That was Richard’s idea, and we’re thinking of doing the same thing for sports like tennis and golf moving forward,” Savard said.
For a Women in Sports Day initiative, the staff produced a series of features spotlighting Stetson’s female student-athletes. It’s the kind of timely, mission-driven content that’s the first thing to get cut when a department is underwater.
Result: 320 hours saved
Stetson has saved 320 hours since partnering with FanWord. Their team has used that time to reinvest into prep, social content, and the storytelling that continues to elevate the Hatters brand.
“A lot of that free time goes toward more prep — setting up graphics for the future, doing social media work, anything I can reassess my time to that’s not just busy work,” Marks said. “I also get a lot more free time in my personal life, which is great. That work-life balance can be a struggle, so anytime I can get a few hours back in my day, that’s always great.”
For Kilwien, the payoff extends past the content itself to the standing of the communications staff within the department.
“FanWord is an effective tool that has far-reaching benefits, well beyond simply posting recaps,” he said. “It helps increase the credibility of the communications staff to coaches and administrators.”
When all programs get covered well, the communications staff stops being something akin to a service desk and more like a partner that both coaches and administrators trust.
“FanWord has increased the communications staff’s efficiency and effectiveness,” Kilwien said, “enabling the team to dedicate more time and resources to developing impactful stories that elevate the student-athlete experience and the Stetson Athletics brand.”
For Marks, the recommendation to peers is simple:
“It improves efficiency and improves morale. It makes so many things easier in your day-to-day life that it would be foolish not to use it. With recaps as a must-perform duty and feature stories as something to promote the brand — [FanWord Assist] has everything you need, really.”
Behind every program is a story worth telling
The story of the Stetson Hatters is a familiar one.
Athletics communicators at every level are doing more with less. FanWord Assist is built to help, with sport-specific game recaps for 19 sports, automated player bios (including Non-XML sports) and award nominations, and a suite of storytelling features designed to deliver impactful long-form written content.
Not to mention FanWord’s support crew — like another member of your team, helping partners win inside the platform and always showing up when they need it.
From major Division I departments to Stetson and to the rest of small colleges in America, the time savings add up. And now, every sport (not just the headliners) finally gets the coverage their student-athletes have earned.
See what FanWord can do for your communications team:
➡️ Request a demo using the contact form below
➡️ Reach out to our CEO directly to talk through your team’s workflow
➡️ Read more case studies: Florida Southern — Tulsa — Illinois Tech — Hamline — KCKCC — Northwestern College
