Strategic Communications

Style Guide for Writers

The Manchester Style a guide for consistency in punctuation and grammar, sets parameters for copy editing and writing University publications, the University website and other nonacademic materials.

Although the guide is not comprehensive, it does provide answers to questions and directives for use, particularly of terms unique to Manchester University. With intentional use, these guidelines will help tell the Manchester story in a consistent way.

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Grammar Style

Athletic Guidelines & Style

Punctuation

Athletic Guidelines & Style

A

Academic All-American(s)

All-American(s)
Use All-American when referring to an individual; use All-America when referring to the team.

All-Conference

C

Carl W. Burt Memorial Field
The football field north of the Athletic Stadium is named in honor of this former coach. Burt Memorial Field is acceptable as first reference.

coach
Capitalize when substituting for a name or as a title preceding a name. • He had a meeting with Coach Jensen.
• He had a meeting with Coach Nate Jensen.

Lowercase other modifiers when used before a name.
• The award went to first-year football Coach Nate Jensen. Lowercase when used as a title after a name. • Nate Jensen, football coach, won the award.

Lowercase when used alone, as a job description.
• Nate Jensen is the coach. Designate gender first (if applicable) then the sport, then the title.
• Men’s basketball head Coach Nate Conley

In most cases, coach is preferable to head coach. It is necessary, however, to distinguish that someone is an assistant coach.

cross country
Do not hyphenate.

D

Division III
Div. III or DIII acceptable on second reference.

F

freshman
Use this term only when referring to the eligibility status of a student- athlete. Otherwise, use first-year student.

G

Gratz Field
The baseball field is named in honor of former Coach Jim Gratz.

H

Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
HCAC is acceptable as second reference. Since the second C in the acronym stands for Conference, avoid the redundancy of HCAC Conference.

HCAC Championship
Use instead of conference championship. Capitalize Championship. This refers to the regular season championship.

HCAC Coach of the Year

HCAC Player of the Week

HCAC Tournament Championship
Capitalize Championship.This refers to the post-season tournament championship.

honorable mention
Lowercase when referring to a general honor bestowed on a student-athlete. Capitalize when the title of a specific award.
• She received an honorable mention from the HCAC for an outstanding season.
• He was named First Team Honorable Mention by the NCAA.

I

intercollegiate
Do not hyphenate.

M

Manchester University Athletics Hall of Fame
or MU Athletics Hall of Fame

Mascot
Manny is the name of the MU Spartan mascot.

N

NCAA Division III
Div. III or DIII is acceptable on second reference.

NCAA Championship
Use instead of NCAA tournament. Capitalize Championship.

National Scholar Athlete

nationals
This can be used as a second reference for the NCAA Championship.

O

Ohio Athletic Conference

S

Spartans

Spartan Stadium
The newer football stadium immediately south of Carl W. Burt Memorial Field.

Stauffer-Wolfe Arena
The basketball arena is named in honor of Robert Stauffer and Claude Wolfe, former coaches.

student-athlete
Hyphenate.

Swimming
• Men’s swimming and diving team.
• Women’s swimming and diving team.

T

tournament
Lowercase if not listed as specific name. Capitalize if proper name of the tournament.
• wrestling tournament
• HCAC Tournament Championship