Director of Athletics Communications

VP Area: Athletics Department: Athletics FLSA Status: Exempt Benefit Eligibility: Yes Position Summary: The Director of Athletics Communications is responsible for overseeing all athletics communications activities for the athletics department including but not limited to: promoting and enhancing the reputation of the athletics program through effective internal and external communication strategies and collaborating closely with various stakeholders including coaches, student-athletes, media outlets, and university administration. The Director will also perform competition management duties for assigned competitions. This role is eligible to serve as the Senior Woman Leader (SWL) if designated by the Director of Athletics. The Director reports to the Assistant Director of Internal Affairs and provides supervisory oversight for a seasonal assistant director of athletics communications position. Minimum Qualifications:

• At least two years of progressively responsible experience in athletics media relations or a related field.
• A suitable combination of education and experience may be substituted for minimum qualifications.

Job Duties:

• Support (may include development, recommendation, collaboration, implementation, and/or assessment) comprehensive communication strategies that align with the athletics department's goals and objectives, effectively promoting teams, events, and achievements.
• Foster strong relationships with local, regional, and national media outlets to enhance coverage of athletic events, student-athletes, and coaches. Serve as a contact for media inquiries and coordinate press conferences and interviews as assigned. Serve as a liaison to various campus departments (e.g., Marketing and Communications, Advancement, Alumni Affairs).
• Create and coordinate engaging and relevant content for various platforms, including press releases, feature stories, social media, website content, and multimedia materials.
• Provide communications support for competition including writing and executing game scripts, compiling competition statistics, producing web streams of competitions,
• Collaborate with coaches, administrators, and student-athletes to ensure consistent internal communication and messaging, facilitating a unified brand identity.
• Protect and enhance the athletics program's brand by ensuring consistent messaging and visual identity across all communication channels.
• Oversee the management of digital and social media platforms to engage fans, increase brand visibility, and provide up-to-date information on games, results, and news.
• Coordinate media coverage for athletic events, including managing press credentials, arranging interviews, and overseeing live event coverage.
• Collaborate with various departments such as marketing, ticketing, and alumni relations to align communication efforts and create synergies.
• Lead, mentor, and develop assigned communications staff, fostering a collaborative and high-performing work environment.
• Coordinate with Athletics leadership regarding the athletics communications budget, allocating resources efficiently to support communication initiatives.
• Assist in community engagement activities.
• Assist with the coordination of special events.
• May serve as a sport administrator for assigned sports.
• May serve as the Senior Woman Leader (SWL) if designated by the Director of Athletics.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Knowledge of NAIA rules or the ability to learn them
• Knowledge of rules, scoring procedures, statistics procedures and ability to enter game statistics during competitions in applicable scoring software for a variety of sports
• Ability to effectively utilize appropriate industry standard software (e.g., Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Production Truck, various statistical software applications, and all necessary Microsoft Office applications)
• Knowledge of and ability to execute web streaming, podcasts, radio and television sports productions
• Strong public relations, verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to operate public address, statistics, website, publishing, video and scoreboard systems
• Attention to detail while maintaining an understanding of the big picture
• Strong organizational skills resulting in the ability to prioritize workload and meet short-term deadlines on a regular basis
• Interpersonal skills necessary to interact with media members, sponsors, students, faculty, staff, donors and the general public
• Ability to handle stressful situations in a professional manner
• Ability to operate a computer, printer, applicable software and multi-function office machine (copy, scan, fax, print)
• Ability to supervise assigned staff
• Ability to work nights and weekends
• Ability to travel for work related activities
• Ability to assist with the management of special events
• Sport administrator skills and abilities
• Valid driver’s license and acceptable driving record

Physical Demands and Working Conditions:

• Work is primarily indoors, but at times may be required to be in an outdoor environment when traveling between campus buildings or off campus, performing game operation duties for outdoor sports and performing outdoor event duties.
• Will be exposed to frequent noise caused by spectators, telephones and office machines.
• Off-campus, state and regional travel is required.

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