June 22, 2005

BALTIMORE, Md. - The Johns Hopkins University Department of Athletics relaunched its web site today with a new look and added features. The redesign of the site coincides with the department's renewal of its web hosting agreement with CSTV's College Sports Online. The new agreement between Johns Hopkins and College Sports Online (CSO) runs through July, 2010.

"As part of the renewal process we were given the option of redesigning the site," Associate Director of Athletics/SID Ernie Larossa noted. "After a lengthy period of research we worked closely with representatives of CSO to produce a design that is consistent with the standards of Johns Hopkins University. We are thrilled with the new look of the site and have added content areas that we believe our fans will enjoy. An increase in the number of feature stories about our teams and athletes and an expanded history section for each sport are among the many things we look forward to further developing."

Each of the 24 varsity sports at Johns Hopkins will have its own dedicated page, which will include team rosters, schedules, up-to-date statistics, all-time records and the most recent news items. Most of this information has been readily available for the last six years, but an increased emphasis on the graphic design and a simplified set of navigation items will provide fans with easier access to the areas of interest.

In addition to the team pages there will continue to be information sections that cover Blue Jays Unlimited (the official booster club of Hopkins Athletics), Sponsorship Opportunities, the Junior Jays (the official Kid's Club of Hopkins Lacrosse) and much more. Newer sections will include more information about the rich history and tradition of Hopkins Athletics. From a list of JHU's all-time Academic All-Americans and NCAA Postgraduate Scholars to a soon-to-be expanded section about the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame, the site will provide a complete look inside Blue Jay Athletics.

One of the highlights of the site will be the "View From the Box," which will provide fans with a behind-the-scenes look at the people (athletes and coaches) who constitute Hopkins Athletics. From simple Q&As to in-depth feature stories this section promises to be one of the most popular on the site. All content on the site will be generated by the Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office under the direction of Larossa and Assistant Director of Sports Information Kim Milardo. Larossa and Milardo represented Johns Hopkins in the renegotiation and redesign of the site.

"Representatives from CSO have indicated repeatedly that the traffic we generate on our site rivals that of many of the larger schools they represent," Larossa stated. "We received over 100,000 more page views in May when we won the national championship in men's lacrosse than we had in any other month since we initially joined CSO in 2001. We have also recently set records for business in the online store. We have a tremendous fan base and it is our responsibility to meet the needs of that fan base."