Assistant Director of Athletics Communications/Operations - Athletics - West Virginia University

Description

The Department of Athletics at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for an Assistant Director of Athletics Communications/Operations.

About the Opportunity

Assist, plan and implement public relations for West Virginia University’s intercollegiate athletics program. Ensure the University and its athletic achievements are presented in a consistent and favorable way to a wide-ranging audience.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week 

• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)

• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year (employee leave)

• 18 sick days per year (for when you’re ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family’s, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)

• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits

• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ’s.

• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

• Develop and implement strategies to enhance the visibility of the Athletics Department across traditional media, digital platforms, websites, marketing campaigns, and social media. Ensure all communications are accurate, professional, and aligned with the department's image and branding standards. 
• Serve as a key representative of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, ensuring high standards of public relations and professionalism in all interactions.
• Maintain accuracy and sound judgment in daily operations to protect the department’s reputation and enhance stakeholder trust.
• Identify and mitigate potential risks or errors that could result in revenue loss, operational inefficiencies, or disruptions to affected areas.
• Support the department’s public relations strategies to strengthen relationships with the community, alumni, and other stakeholders.
• Contribute to the efficient execution of tasks and initiatives, recognizing their direct impact on the department’s success and financial stability.
• Direct and manage the University’s official athletic website (WVUSports.com). Maintain a schedule of timely and responsible postings, updating, information placement, advertising placement and video placement.
• Create and generate high quality content for the University’s official athletic web site (WVUsports.com) and in addition to daily web management, provide occasional designed specialty pages for required events.  
• Assist in the public relations and content of assigned athletic social media sites.
• Direct and coordinate the overall setup and management of game day operations for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball events. This includes as many as 150 national, regional, state and local media. Must ensure that athletic venues, are prepared for data distribution, and technical requirements are media-ready for above sporting events. Duties also include hiring, training, and oversight of work schedules along with managing payroll reporting for 10 game workers.
• Assist the marketing staff with ticket trade agreements with radio, television, newspaper and billboard outlets for department advertising. Create advertising placements and insertion run schedules for all forms of traditional advertising while maintaining budget allocations. 
• Serve as primary marketing and communications representative for Olympic sports as assigned. Oversee the publicity, social media accounts and traditional media efforts.
• Assist the communications staff in the public relations and publicity efforts for WVU football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. Duties include but not limited to distributing and managing game credentials, media parking passes and credential assignment for above athletic events.
• Assist the creative staff with the scheduling and creation of videos for the overall benefit of the Athletics Department. Duties include but not limited to acquiring and scheduling interviews, posting for web page, social media accounts and media distribution.
• Ensure that all media operations are maintained and operated in an effective manner that is commensurate with applicable NCAA, Big 12 and WVU Athletics Department rules, regulations and operational efficiency. 
• Serve as the department’s primary administrator for memorabilia requests. Coordinate with the appropriate parties to review and fulfill or decline requests in a timely manner.  Communicate internally and externally surrounding the process with the marketing, ticketing and compliance departments. Maintain a master summary of requests for annual review and cost savings. 
• Communication via telephone, face-to-face, mail and email, with public, media, university staff, fans and others, being mindful of NCAA compliance issues and FERPA privacy.  Conduct all communication in a professional and friendly manner and manage office operations in absence of certain personnel.
• Required to work evenings, holidays and weekends to fulfill athletic event home schedules of football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and department specialty events.
• Perform other job-related assignments as assigned by the Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications, Deputy Athletic Director for External Affairs, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Marketing, Associate Athletics Director for Communications and Communications Business Manager II. Maintain knowledge of and comply with all rules, regulations, policies and guidelines of West Virginia University, the Big 12 Conference and the NCAA; must adhere to NCAA Bylaw 11.1 Conduct of Athletic Personnel. Failure to adhere to these policies will result in appropriate disciplinary action including possible suspension and termination.   
• Represent the University on the highest professional level with dignity, integrity, and strength of character and will exhibit ethical behavior; must respect the rights and dignity of individuals with sensitivity to problems that may arise from racial, ethnical and sexual orientation differences.   
• Demonstrate a cooperative attitude towards all sports within the intercollegiate athletic program.   
• Possess the ability to adapt to any situation, make decisions and work independently; position must have the ability to build and maintain relationships with student-athletes, coaches, staff members, fans and contractors; required to use creative abilities to develop new techniques and approaches in dealing with many issues controlled by this position; responsibilities of the position are ever-changing and require constant research and education; requires the ability to adapt to any situation and make decisions.    
• Manage sensitive and confidential information related to student-athletes, coaches and staff utilizing discretion and correct decisions. Failure to use proper discretion at required level could result in major and significant embarrassment to the University and/or have a significant impact on image, revenues and eligibility of student-athletes.
• Manage professional and personal time to handle time sensitive-issues, tight deadlines, extended hours beyond the normal workday, weekend work, and regular travel in-season and on-call availability.
• Faithfully and diligently execute related duties of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as requested or assigned by the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director/ Communications and the Deputy Athletics Director for External Affairs. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• A minimum of one (1) year of operations, multimedia and communication experience, preferably at the Division I collegiate level.  
• Experience as a graduate assistant is acceptable. 
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All requirements must be met by the time of employment.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Maintain high standard of ethics and integrity related to intercollegiate athletics
• Knowledge of NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics
• Strong working kKnowledge of NCAA and conference rules, regulations, policies and guidelines and the ability to apply those rules
• Demonstrated knowledge of median, particularly sports media
• Demonstrated knowledge of writing, editing, media relations practices and public relations skills
• Demonstrated knowledge of sports communications practices and procedures. 
• Exhibit strong creative, organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated skills in writing and editing copy, news releases and features. 
• Demonstrated knowledge of correct English, grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.
• Demonstrated ability in public speaking skills. 
• Maintain knowledge of state and University policies and procedures
• Demonstrated ability to communicate in English complex information or instructions
• Demonstrated knowledge of correct English, grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure
• Ability to function professionally under high stress and confrontational circumstances
• Ability to manage multiple tasks for extended period of time
• Ability to independently plan and organize work
• Proactive attitude towards work and assignments
• Demonstrated ability to maintain and develop personal contacts with outside groups, i.e. fans, media, sponsors, University community.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in a diverse community
• Demonstrated knowledge of record keeping and adherence to schedule
• Ability to stay abreast of information impacting the affected area. 
• Ability to travel. 
• Demonstrated ability to organize and motivate individuals.
• Ability to maintain proper unit attendance and punctuality standards, work extended hours including nights and weekends (often with extensive walking and standing)
• Knowledge and ability to write creatively. 
• Demonstrated ability to operate a personal computer and possess advanced skills in word processing, desk publishing and web writing software. 
• Knowledge of compiling game statistics (Stat Crew/Genius) for a variety of sports. 
• Ability to stay abreast of sports information and promotional trends impacting the affected area.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree, preferably in English, journalism, communications, sports administration or similar field.