College Sports Information Directors of America

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Here are two features - one on current Assistant AD for Media Relations Frank Mercogliano (pictured, left) who is trading in his Idaho State colors for a new position at the University of New Mexico; and another feature on former PR leader and sports information director Craig Thompson (right) who is taking the Mountain West Conference into new areas of growth.

• • Mountain West commish a guiding force: Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson (who began his intercollegiate athletic career as a sports information director) is heralded for making the MWC an automatic-qualifying BCS league and for building a conference TV network, despite heavy criticism at the onset. Thompson was first an assistant SID at Kansas State, then worked in communications for the NBA's Kansas City Kings before serving as Director of Communications for the Metro Conference in Atlanta.
• • From the Idaho State Journal comes this Q&A with former Idaho State longtime Assistant AD for Media Relations Frank Mercogliano, who is leaving ISU to become the University of New Mexico Assistant AD for athletic media relations.

• Mountain West commish a guiding force, by Jake Schaller, The Colorado Springs Gazette read full feature online HERE

Leaving Idaho State: Media relations director for ISU Athletics takes job in New Mexico, by Bob Devine, Idaho State Journal

read full feature online HERE

excerpt:

Time is short now for Mercogliano at ISU. His tenure as media relations director for ISU Athletics is coming to an end this week. He has taken a job at the University of New Mexico to cover media relations for both the Lobos basketball and men’s tennis teams.

KaLee Kopp, director for marketing and promotions for ISU athletics, said, “He takes a lot on his shoulders. Everything that comes through this place, whether it’s media, press releases, new items on the Web sites, that’s Frank. He loves the Bengals and it’s shown in the product he puts out.”

Q: What made you decide to leave Pocatello?

Frank: “I have to tell you it was really, really hard to make this decision. I raised all my kids here in Pocatello. I’ve been here 12 years. My wife has a good job here. It was really a situation of an offer I just could not pass up. Albuquerque is very similar to Pocatello, just bigger in size. Other than more people, it’s the same kind of atmosphere and ironically the weather is kind of similar. It’s a wonderful opportunity to move into a very high level conference and I think ISU’s prepared me well for it.”

Q: Will you be involved in multiple sports or is it just basketball?

Frank: “I’m handling basketball and men’s tennis. The basketball program there is phenomenal. They went 30-5 last year, so it’s really kind of exciting to jump into a place where they’re going to be playing at that high of a level, potentially being in the NCAA tournament every year.”

Q: So what do you think you’ll miss the most about Pocatello?

Frank: “Without a doubt, the people. We have so many good friends and even today I was walking downtown over by Poky High and a person I’ve never seen before says, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ I’ll miss that hominess, that sort of hometown feel. It’s also tough to leave ISU because I really think this is going to be a great year for them. In some of these sports I’ve known the athletes going into their fifth year and it really sucks that I won’t see their last year. But by the same token it’s a smaller world, I can follow them on the internet, on Big Sky TV and Facebook is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch.”

* Q: Now what about that “Dharma van” you won from the show “Lost?” Weren’t you planning on driving that at homecoming? Local 'Lost' contest winner: 'I learned the power of Facebook in getting the message out'

Frank: “You know, that was a difficult thing. I was looking forward to driving the van in the homecoming parade, but the van’s going down there with me. It would be a long drive back in a 40-year-old car to do something like that.”

Q: What are you looking forward to most about New Mexico?

Frank: “I’ve never moved to a place where we were both new to it. When we moved to Pocatello, (my wife) lived here before. I met her in Augusta and she’d lived there before. It’s really a new adventure for the two of us. On a personal level, it’s going to be fun learning about a new town with her, and watching my daughter acclimate herself. The best part about the job for me is that it’s way less travel, so my wife and I will have more time together which is good. I’m also really looking forward to working with people above me who are very experienced in college athletics, where here we have Jeff (Tingey) who’s kind of running things and he’s new to it all. I think he would be the first to admit he’s learning as he goes. In New Mexico there are really experienced people, 25-year veterans, who I can learn from, pick their brains, and who are also open to whatever new ideas I have. It’s just a different environment. I’m not going to say it’s going to be better or going to be worse. It’s just going to be different.”

Q: Is there anything else you wanted to share with people?

Frank: “If you can just let people know we love this town. It’s great and the people are great and we’ve loved every minute we’ve been here. It was really hard to make the decision to try something new. I had met with Dr. Vailas about this, and we talked about how some people view ISU as a stepping stone to other jobs. I didn’t view it that way. For my family it was just time to take a look and this just fell into my lap. There are very few jobs I would have left for and this was one of them.”

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