According to Sacred Heart Athletics, on Oct. 22, Michael Smoose was added as the new Director of Athletic Communications and Marketing.
Smoose has worked in athletics for 20 years. Prior to coming to Sacred Heart University, Smoose was the Associate Athletics Director of Communications and Operations at Johnson and Wales University. Prior to that, he was at Armstrong University, Ohio University, Fresno State University, and Florida State University.
“While most private universities are seeing drops in enrollment, Sacred Heart keeps growing. In addition to the university growing, the athletics department keeps expanding with the addition of new sports,” said Smoose.
Smoose will oversee all of SHU’s Division I athletic programs and report to the university’s Communications and Marketing division. He will also serve as SHU’s primary media contact, supervise broadcast and media coverage, oversee athletic websites and social media accounts, and manage promotional efforts for all sports.
“I oversee all the communications and marketing for the athletics department. That includes working with the media and promoting the athletics department through social media and the department’s website, as well as coordinating home game broadcasts,” said Smoose.
In addition, Smoose will write press releases and feature stories that will be published on the Sacred Heart Athletics website and will also be promoted on social media platforms.
“We also create graphics, videos and content specific to social media. For games that are broadcasted, we produce game notes that are distributed to the media and then to the staff at the home games where we are responsible for stats, photographs, video, social media and the post-game recap,” said Smoose.
Smoose is also in charge of the university’s liaison to the media, and he pitches stories as well as sets up interviews. Another part of his job is accepting the role of Director of Marketing.
“From the marketing end, our job is to bring fans to the game, then provide a great atmosphere while they’re there. Before the season, we put together a promotional schedule with various giveaways and themes to bring people to the game,” said Smoose.
Smoose and his staff are also in charge of broadcasting the games. They are responsible for creating the content for the video boards at basketball, football, wrestling and other sports games.
“We also produce the content for the video boards at football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling and lacrosse, as well as highlight videos,” said Smoose.
Smoose’s job is to do everything he can to promote athletes’ accomplishments not only during games and practices, but also in the classroom. Additionally, he strives to prepare them for the future.
“We have a great school of communications and sports management program, and I want to incorporate them into what we’re doing in order to help them build their resumes,” said Smoose.
Through his new position, Smoose will work to support athletes’ successes in the classroom, on the field and in the community.