What would you do if a national media personality made insulting and racists comments about the student-athletes on one of your athletics teams when your campus is celebrating that team's accomplishments?

Greg Trevor, senior director of media relations at Rutgers, knows.

What would you do if a bus carrying one of your athletics teams careened off an highway overpass, killing seven, injuring many more and plunging your small, faith-based school into the national spotlight?

Bluffton President James Harder knows.

What if your campus were the site of the worst mass killing in American history?

Virginia Tech Athletics Director James Weaver knows how to handle that.

In the "Crisis Communication Planning Strategies and Tools" education session January 12 at the NCAA Convention in Nashville, those three men shared tips for providing focused and clear communication in the aftermath of tragedies and other intense moments.

All three indicated that a team approach, with representatives from all campus areas, was effective and useful. Trevor said hiring a good support team, but also knowing when to make team members take a break and step back from the crisis, were important.

"You need to avoid the 'hero syndrome,'" Trevor said. "You need to let everybody rest. People don't want to do it, but you need to be aware of the effect an extended crisis takes on the physical and mental health of people who work with you in order to avoid mistakes."

The trio also advocated keeping things in perspective - both during the crisis and afterward.

"A tragedy likes this really helps you put other things in perspective," Harder said. "We are not the same institution we were (before the bus accident). … We work more closely together, we have built trust and we understand the importance of relationships. Good things can happen through tragedies."

For Weaver, whose athletics department was not directly impacted by the shootings at Virginia Tech, providing support and assistance where needed - including readying the basketball arena and football stadium for a Convocation the day after the tragedy - allowed him to help the community heal. He warned the audience that Blacksburg, Virginia, was the proverbial last place anyone would expect something like this to happen, and he urged the group to prepare as much as they can for a crisis.

"If a tragedy can happen in our environment," he said. "It can happen anywhere."