College Sports Information Directors of America

St. John's University will be getting a new sports information director.

Michael Hemmesch, the school's current director of communication/sports information, has been promoted to the newly-created position of director of media relations for both St. John's and the College of St. Benedict.

"It's a newly structured position," said Hemmesch, who plans to continue handling sports information duties until a replacement is in place. "I've already had news responsibilities at St. John's, but someone else has been handling most of those duties at St. Benedict. Now there will be one director of media relations for both schools."

St. Benedict basketball coach Mike Durbin remains the sports information director at that school. Whomever is hired to fill the sports information director job at St. John's will be reporting directly to Hemmesch.

Hemmesch, who got married last summer, said his new position will allow him to work more family-friendly hours.

"They came to me with this opportunity," Hemmesch said. "I've spent nine years as a sports information director and it was just time for a change.

"I love college athletics. That hasn't changed. But the job required me to work a lot of evenings and weekends, which was hard."

St. John's athletic director Fr. Tim Backous said Hemmesch's presence as sports information director will be missed.

"What Michael Hemmesch brought to the department was a standard of excellence that will be hard to match," Backous said. "His work ethic was so strong, his attention to detail was impeccable, and besides that, everybody he worked with really liked him."

St. Benedict athletic director Carol Howe-Veenstra said the promotion was well-deserved. Hemmesch has previously helped out with sports information duties when Durbin had to focus on his duties as basketball coach.

"Michael is the ultimate professional," Howe-Veenstra said. "He's extremely competent in whatever he does. He's so respectful of the needs of the people he's serving, and he has such a deep respect for the college. I think he'll do a great job."

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