Responsibilities - Athletic Communications Leadership: Provide leadership and strategic direction for the Athletic Communications office and related external communication initiatives. - Athletics administrative leadership: Serve as a member of the Athletics administrative leadership team. - Branding strategies: Develop and implement comprehensive communication and branding strategies that elevate the University’s athletics profile locally, regionally, and nationally. - Branding consistency: Ensure consistent institutional and athletics branding across all communication platforms. - Staff management: Supervise full-time staff, graduate assistants, student workers, interns, freelancers, and game day personnel within Athletic Communications. - Hiring and development: Hire, train, mentor, schedule, and evaluate staff and student employees. - Media Relations & Publicity: Serve as the primary athletics media contact for designated sports and departmental initiatives. - Publications: Write, edit, and distribute press releases, feature stories, game recaps, statistics, and promotional materials. - Event media coordination: Coordinate media coverage, interviews, press conferences, and photography for athletic events and special initiatives. - Media relationships: Cultivate positive working relationships with local, regional, and national media outlets. - Reporting: Manage conference and NCAA reporting requirements, including statistical submissions and awards nominations. - Awards: Coordinate and submit nominations for conference, regional, and national honors and awards for student-athletes, coaches, and staff. - NIL Communications Support: Support student-athlete personal brand development and NIL communications in accordance with NCAA Division II rules and University policy. - Compliance collaboration: Collaborate with Athletics compliance staff to ensure NIL-related content and promotional activities remain within applicable regulatory guidelines. - Guidance: Provide guidance to student-athletes and coaches on social media best practices, personal branding, and public-facing communications consistent with institutional values. - Digital & Social Media Strategy: Oversee and manage the athletics website and all official athletics social media platforms. - Content strategy: Develop creative digital content strategies that increase engagement, visibility, recruitment impact, and brand awareness. - Multimedia content: Create and supervise multimedia content including graphics, photography, video features, interviews, and promotional campaigns. - Analytics: Monitor analytics and engagement metrics to assess effectiveness and improve communication strategies. - Digital Accessibility: Ensure digital content meets accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA or equivalent).