Like other athletics administrators, Princeton’s Mike Cross has many responsibilities. But what sets the executive associate athletics director apart is what he does off the clock but still “on the job.”

In November 2008, Cross began a blog called Ultimate Sports Insider that chronicles interesting budgetary information he finds during his day job. To date, he has published 49 “Athletics Budget Updates,” detailing what different institutions have done to contain costs. He also opines on other subjects, such as why he thinks the football poll ballots should be public and recruiting trends.

Cross hopes his blogs are helpful, in addition to being entertaining.

“In the course of my day here (in the athletics department), I’ll jot some notes down to myself or send my boss a note,” said Cross, who currently serves on the Division I Committee on Academic Performance and is a former member of the Baseball Academic Enhancement Working Group and the Research Committee. “I thought, ‘Why not put that out there in a way that people might find helpful?’ I like to read, and I try to read a lot of different things. Maybe I will find things that I can share. If it resonates with people, great. If it doesn’t, that’s fine, too.”

It seems to be resonating. Cross said readership continues to grow. He’s been called on by several news organizations (including The NCAA News) to comment on the economic situations facing athletics administrators.

Blogging became an easier way for Cross to share his thoughts than getting published in a professional journal, something he did frequently while a doctoral student in higher education at Michigan. His interest at that time was how higher education and college athletics work together, a topic that still fascinates him. But when he moved to Princeton in 1999, he found his job responsibilities prevented him from devoting time to getting this thoughts published. The blog seemed a simple way to share information and analysis relevant to his job and interests.

But he has discovered that even a blog takes time.

“The challenge of doing a blog is the same as treading water,” he said. “If you stop treading water, you’re going to start to sink. If you stop adding content, people are going to stop going to your site.”

Cross operates the Ultimate Sports Insider mostly through his own research and writing. He has had contributions from an Elon professor and a student-athlete guest post, and he is interested in expanding his guest contributions.

“But the trick is finding people you are philosophically aligned with and who understand the purpose of the site,” he said.

Ultimate Sports Insider is not a place for gossip about sports stars or a site to bash intercollegiate athletics, Cross said, and he does not plan to appeal to the “lowest common denominator” of sports fans.

“I’m doing what I’m doing, and we’ll just see where it goes,” he said. “It’s not a money-making venture by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it can be helpful.”