Assistant Director, Athletic Media Relations

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Oversee media relations for the department's 18-sport athletic program, including direct day-to-day involvement with at least two programs.

• Promote the assigned sports through traditional media relations means, including press releases, notes, previews, and recaps, using Adobe InDesign desktop publishing software.

• Maintain and upkeep the assigned sports pages on the official website of EMU Athletics, EMUEagles.com.

• Create, edit and produce video content for the website, social media, and ESPN3/ESPN+

• Supervise the press operations for the assigned sports. Ensure that an adequate staff of student-assistant workers are assigned specific roles and are available to assist with media coverage of the home events.

• Coordinate the publicity efforts to direct media attention toward student-athletes and coaches being considered or nominated for special awards or recognition.

• Report statistics and award nominations to the conference and national offices.

• Travel with EMU teams as needed to handle media relations.

• Prepare game notes packets for assigned sport(s).

• Serve as the assigned sports statistician, historian and photo archivist.

• Work closely with other departments in developing an overall content management strategy for the assigned sports.

• Serve as University liaison with other institutions that we compete against.

• Approve media credential requests as needed.

• Serve as department's secondary spokesperson in crisis situations.

• Serve as liaison with the Division of Communications.

• Carry a cell phone and be available to media and athletics staff at all hours, including holidays.

• Adhere to any and all NCAA, Mid-American Conference and Eastern Michigan University policies, rules, regulations, and operational procedures.

• Attend meetings and represent the Department on committees and planning groups.

• Perform related departmental duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree is required.

• A minimum of two years full-time collegiate or professional sports information, media relations or public relations experience required.

• Graphic design experience and working knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud is required.

• Ability to create and update graphics using Adobe Photoshop and documents using Adobe InDesign is required.

• Direct experience with Stat Crew (Automated Scorebook) and/or NCAA Live Stats (Genius) is required.

• Experience with SIDEARM web-editing software is required.

• Ability to shoot and edit video is required.

• Demonstrated knowledge of NCAA rules and regulations as they pertain to athletic communications along with NCAA approved statistical procedures for basketball, football, and volleyball is required.

• Experience with interview techniques and the ability to define and deliver media messages is necessary.

• Demonstrated ability to maintain professional relationships with external media outlets is necessary

• Must possess strong written and verbal communication skills, game-day management experience, and a proficiency in InDesign, Photoshop and social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

• Some experience with managing media relations for a high-profile sport at the NCAA Division I level is highly desired.

• Understanding of other external related functions in athletics including marketing, development, and licensing are desirable.