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Boston College Introduction

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion.

Job Description

Summary

The Assistant/Associate Director, Athletic Communications (Football) position is to serve as a senior member of the athletics communications team; the position will report to the Associate AD for Communications and will work directly with the head coach and leadership of the football program. In this role, the Associate Director, Athletic Communications (Football) position will serve as a primary communications contact and media advisor for the football program, coaching staff, and student-athletes.

Job Description

Boston College Athletics is accepting applications for the position of Assistant/Associate Director, Athletic Communications (Football) position. This position is responsible for providing coordination for all communications efforts for the football program. Under the direction of the Associate AD / Communications, this position helps to strategically shape and execute the vision for all external communications regarding the Boston College football program.

This position will serve as the primary day-to-day media contact for the football program, consulting with and advising the head coach, staff, and student-athletes on all issues pertaining to the media, including but not limited to: official statements, press releases, game notes and television production prep, social media posts, videos, and other external communications; schedule and manage interviews; build and manage relations with the local and national media, pitch stories and narratives to promote the program; lead and manage operations with the press box and field-level media; hiring of student staff and game management personnel; handle sensitive and confidential information with head coach, athletics department administration, and university leadership; responsible for making multiple decisions that must be made quickly and collaboratively while directing staff at athletics competitions and events; representing the department in meetings and strategy sessions in which philosophy, strategy and programming decisions are made; work collaboratively on a daily basis with coaches, student-athletes, and staff on creative content (social media, videos, graphics, photography) and communications strategies and concepts; positively and proactively telling the story of Boston College football through social media, video, graphics, web stories, podcasts, and traditional media; work directly with team recruiting staff to guide narrative surrounding program and provide guidance and assistance with messaging.

Administers media relations activities for football; serves as liaison between coaching staff, student-athletes, and the news media; collaborate with the football program and all aspects of athletics external relations to promote the Boston College football brand; arranges and supervises player interviews, team media and photo day activities, and digital photography; researches, writes, edits and maintains electronic biographical files on all coaches and student-athletes; creates, updates and maintains statistical records and files; travels with team to all road games to facilitate PR & game operations procedures; interfaces with conference and national governing bodies for reporting of statistics, game results, player of the week nominations; responds to questionnaires and inquiries from news media and opponents; writes, edits and supervises production of team media guide, weekly game notes, home game programs, other printed and electronic communications; daily updates of the Athletics website; crafts and implements social media campaigns; recruits and supervises media relations game personnel for home events; personnel might include statisticians, public address announcers or other game operations personnel; develops public relations strategies and writes press releases on breaking news stories as warranted; supervises media attendance/coverage at team practices and postgame press events; coordinates nominations for academic awards and postseason honors; sets up and supervises statistical and media areas (press row, press rooms) at home events; supervises interns and student assistants in sports coverage; oversees season and game-by-game credentialing process; supervises pregame venue setup, including press box, seating charts, postgame areas, media room; stat computers, stat monitors, press row; interfaces with national TV broadcast crews and participates in TV production meetings; develops and maintains up-to-date email distribution lists for all media; track all media reports on teams; develops and maintains trusting relationships with sports editors and reporters; entertains at various times (home and road); supervise media training, social media training for student-athletes; attends multiple meetings per week; work with facilities staff in creating and maintaining environmental graphics in various areas; maintains strict standards for injury reporting and compliance issues; organizes special events, including Pro Day, championship celebrations, fan days, etc.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree

Minimum 3 to 5 years’ full-time experience in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics or professional sports communications or media relations; work experience to include football experience

Ability to creatively tell stories about student-athletes, coaches, and teams using all methods of communications (social media, graphic design, video, and written content)

Excellent collaboration and listening skills

Strong verbal and written skills.

Excellent organization, interpersonal and self-management skills

Ability to prioritize and effectively manage multiple projects

Ability to work in a fast-paced environment

Ability to be availability 24/7 to assist with emergency/crisis management situations related to BC Athletics, athletic management, coaches, and student-athletes requiring communications management.

Position Details:

Department: 011002 - Media Relations

Position: 00012864 - Assistant Director, Media Relations

Grade: 3RD

Title and salary commensurate with relevant experience based on the following titles and hiring ranges:

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree required.

Minimum 3 to 5 years’ full-time experience in NCAA Division I college or professional sports communications or media relations; master’s or advanced degree preferred

The individual must possess strong communications skills and training/background in journalism, news writing/reporting; a thorough command of the English language (including grammar, punctuation and spelling skills); working knowledge of several computer programs (Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Creative suite (i.e. InDesign, Photoshop), all NCAA Live Stats statistical programs); extensive background and knowledge of rules/regulations of a wide variety of sports; knowledge and understanding of the news reporting business (both print and electronic); ability to develop and post stories to Athletics website; understanding of social media skills and ability to craft and implement social media campaigns and generate content for social media platforms and the website.

The position requires the ability to work evenings and weekends on a frequent basis, particularly during the academic year (September through May). 60- to 80-hour work weeks are common. Frequent travel is required. In addition, members of the Communications staff are essentially “on call” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to media inquiries on a timely basis, especially in emergency and crisis situations.

Closing Statement

Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:

+ Tuition remission for Employees

+ Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements

+ Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

+ Low-Cost Life Insurance

+ Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans

+ Paid Holidays Annually

+ Generous Sick and Vacation Pay

+ Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook

Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process.

Boston College is an equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/diversity .

Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination .