Large Research University — Intercollegiate Athletics Program

A major university’s intercollegiate athletics program needed a digital presence that worked for multiple distinct audiences — student-athletes, coaches, prospective recruits, and administrative staff — each with different goals, different entry points, and different definitions of what useful looked like.

Highdive conducted stakeholder interviews and CX research across all four groups, mapping how each audience actually moved through the site and where the experience broke down. What the analytics couldn’t show — and the research could — was the difference between what each group was looking for and what the site assumed they wanted. Coaches needed quick access to compliance and scheduling information. Prospective recruits needed a reason to believe. Student-athletes needed resources they could find mid-season without asking anyone for help. Administrative staff needed a backend they could actually maintain.

Recommendations addressed information architecture, content hierarchy, and audience-specific pathways — giving each group a coherent experience without fragmenting the site into four separate destinations. The result was a digital presence that reflected the program’s stature and served the people who depended on it daily.