College Sports Information Directors of America

Related Content

• Learn more about WoSIDA at: CoSIDA.com/WoSIDA
• WoSIDA Women to Watch Feature Archive

WoSIDA Women to Watch

Meghan Ellis, Senior Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

Army West Point

by Danielle Potts – 2020-21 CoSIDA Intern

May marks a month of transition for Meghan Ellis, as she began a new position at Army West Point in early May after serving at Florida Gulf Coast University since February 2019.

At FGCU, Ellis was an Assistant Director of Athletic Communications at Florida Gulf Coast for the last year after joining the department as an athletic communications assistant in February 2019.

A native of Bedford, New Hampshire, Ellis arrived at Fort Myers from her alma mater, the University of Rhode Island, where she was a media relations assistant, with primary responsibilities for women's rowing and swimming and diving. She also served as the on-site media coordinator for the 2018 Atlantic 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships and assisted with men's and women's basketball gamedays.

Ellis was a standout four-year student-athlete on the rowing team at URI. A 2018 graduate, she helped lead the Rams to two Atlantic 10 titles and was a two-time A-10 All-Conference selection, earning first team honors as a senior and second team honors her junior year. As a senior, Ellis was URI’s honoree for the 2018 Rhode Island Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Distinguished Athlete of the Year honor and was also nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.

An A-10 Academic All-Conference selection, Meg graduated magna cum laude from URI’s honors program with a degree in public relations and a minor in leadership studies. She then received her M.S. in sport administration from Arkansas State University in August of 2020.

Meghan Ellis working as Florida Gulf Coast basketball official replay official.

What is the most memorable moment in your career thus far?

ME: Our FGCU baseball team received a substantial donation from an alum and was able to install a brand new Daktronics video board as a result. It took months of planning and setup to get that thing ready for the season and it was the first time that I had ever worked on a project that big. Because of COVID, the installation was slightly delayed and we hit various other snags along the way and I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. One of the final steps was to install the JUGS Radar Gun. My boss, John Sinnett, and I installed it and then took turns throwing pitches off the mound and saw that the board was displaying the pitch speed. While neither of us is going to get offered an MLB contract, it was a signal that we had basically completed the project! It’s one of the things that I’m most proud of in my time at FGCU and I am really glad that I had John by my side throughout it.

You had a very successful career as a student-athlete at the University of Rhode Island. What was that experience like? What is your most memorable moment as a student athlete?

ME: My experience at Rhode Island was fantastic. I was very lucky because I know that I found the perfect fit. From the moment that I stepped on campus for my official visit, I felt like I was at home. I created so many relationships that are important to me while in Kingston and my teammates are like my second family.

My coaches, Shelagh and Jess, took a chance on an athlete from a small high school club and I will always be indebted to them for that. They taught me to never let my foot off the gas and if I could go back to those 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls again, I would in a heartbeat. No question about it! Those two are some of the most fierce competitors that I have ever met and I learned more from them about rowing and life than I could ever fit into one response!

It’s so hard to narrow down the most memorable moment because there were so many, but I would have to pick winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in 2018. I will remember the moment that my boat, the Varsity 8+, crossed the finish line a full length ahead of the competition for the rest of my life! The feeling of getting to the dock and having your whole team waiting and cheering for you is indescribable and I want nothing more than for every Rhody rower to experience it. I still keep up with the team and I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to cheer them on in-person in the near future.

Meghan Ellis with her rowing teammates carrying the URI shell during the 2018 NCAA National Championships.

You were the SAAC President as well as an athletic media relations intern during your undergraduate career. How did you get involved in that side of athletics? What encouraged you to pursue those positions?

ME: I got involved in SAAC as a freshman because one of my teammates, Abbey Page (formerly Miklitsch), was President and she encouraged me to start going. From the first time I went, I was hooked. I loved hearing what was going on in the athletic department, what sorts of legislature the NCAA was working on and having the chance to connect with student-athletes on other teams. I eventually ran for Vice President as a sophomore and then served two terms as President. Mike Scott, who is still the SAAC adviser, worked very closely with me throughout that time and gave me a lot of lee-way to run the group independently, which I am still very grateful for.

I got involved with the media relations team because I needed an on-campus internship and my team’s SID (Shane Donaldson) suggested that I come do some work with him and his staff. I fell in love almost immediately. I remember passing out stats at games and watching Shane do his work and thinking, “he gets to do this full time?!”. Shane, Jodi Pontbriand and Michaela Benford went out of their way to mentor and develop me and they ignited my passion for the work.

What is one aspect of being a former student athlete that has translated into your career as an Assistant Director of Athletic Communication? Any lessons learned?

ME: The importance of teamwork! It may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s something that I think people look past. As a student-athlete, whether you play a team or individual sport, you know that it takes everyone’s buy-in for the group as a whole to succeed. The same can be said for working in college athletics. I pride myself on being a team player. If ticketing needs help before a basketball game, I will happily grab a scanner. When the advancement office needs a few extra hands at a fundraising event, I will be there. It truly does take a team for a college athletic department to maximize its potential and I feel empowered when I am surrounded by people with that same school of thought.

Meghan Ellis attended the NCAA Career Sports Forum in Indianapolis which helped jump-start her career.

How would you recommend encouraging and getting student-athletes involved in the sports information career field?

ME: Any student-athlete that is interested in pursuing a job in sports information should look no further than the path of my great friend, Dani Gariglio (Rhode Island Softball, ‘17) who is currently working at Davidson. She’s passionate about the work, cares about student-athlete experience and is a total rockstar. No matter what the job is, she finds a way to get it done and does so while fielding various questions from me such as “how would you score this play?” She is without a doubt someone to watch in this field and I think a lot of her success can be attributed to the skills she developed as a student-athlete and the experiences that she had at Rhode Island while interning in the sports information office.

Student-athletes that want to step in this field can learn from Dani. She is someone who excelled at her sport and found a way to continue to challenge herself after graduating. All it takes is a five-minute conversation with her and you’ll be sold on wanting to follow in her footsteps. I’m still trying to catch up to her!

I read on your LinkedIn page that you volunteered in South Vietnam for three weeks in the summer of 2016. Can you tell me more about that experience?

ME: The summer that I spent volunteering with the Coach for College program was one of the best of my life. I absolutely adore Seth Napier (the program coordinator) and he remains a close confidante/mentor to me to this day.

To sum it up, I spent a month teaching math, english and baseball at a school in Vietnam. There were about a dozen other NCAA Division I student-athletes on the trip that represented all sorts of different schools and sports. All of us, in addition to teaching English, were tasked with teaching various subjects as well as a sport of our choosing. I taught math alongside a good friend of mine, Nicky Maxwell (Harvard Track & Field), and I coached baseball with Max Schwegmann (Princeton Track & Field) and Biz Waltman (Boston College Rowing), both of whom I also remain good friends with.

The work that Coach for College does is amazing. The impact that the organization has on both the communities in Vietnam and the student-athletes that volunteer is immeasurable. I get pretty emotional thinking about how much that trip meant to me.

The students were some of the sweetest kids I have ever met. Many of them were from families that faced great financial hardship and yet they would offer us gifts (like a favorite pencil of theirs) on a daily basis. They were so eager to learn and were really enthusiastic about sports. When they played baseball, they would pretend to chew bubblegum because that’s what they had seen players do on TV. When they played soccer, they would run around yelling “MESSI!”.

The friendships that I made, the communities that I got to be a part of and the overall experience that I had were life-changing. I would recommend that every student-athlete look into Coach for College and figure out a way to get involved. You will not regret it!

In the summer of 2016, Meghan Ellis volunteered with the Coach for College program and spent a month teaching and coaching youth in Vietnam in what she considers her “life-changing experience.”

You’re a New Hampshire native who went to undergrad in Rhode Island. What was it like moving to South Florida?

ME: My move to Florida was insane! My original flights down to Fort Myers got cancelled because of a blizzard so I had to completely re-plan the trip. I struggled a bit when I first got down here because I didn’t have any family nearby and it was hard to make strong connections at work because we were in the middle of crossover season. Now, I have a second family down here and I have developed a deep appreciation for SPF. For anyone that is considering starting fresh and going off on your own, do it! You’ll learn a lot about yourself.

What is one piece of advice you would give your younger self?

ME: Write things down! I began journaling when quarantine started and it makes me wish I had kept one in college. I have been so lucky to connect with so many amazing people and do some pretty awesome things and I wish I had documented them properly. I move at a pretty fast pace, so I wish I had taken the time to slow down and really appreciate the present as opposed to worrying about my next step.

Once you're finished with work for the day, what do you enjoy doing?

ME: When I’m done work, I will pop my airpods in and listen to the Crime Junkies Podcast or watch a Netflix documentary. I am a self-proclaimed web sleuth and even though I have never taken any sort of criminology or sociology course, I am convinced that I can crack a cold case. I also love cooking and reading and (mostly) enjoy watching the Red Sox.

Meghan Ellis with her Rhode Island rowing teammates after winning Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in 2018. The three were all named 1st Team All-Conference.

Related News

Calendar

Important Dates

All Events +

• 06/23/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W At-Large Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/30/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 07/07/26 / 12:00 P.M. W At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/08/26 / 12:00 P.M. M At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/14/26 / 12:00 P.M. M Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/07/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/08/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / 11:59 P.M. Baseball Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/10/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/16/26 / 12:00 P.M. Softball Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/16/26 / 12:00 P.M. M/W At-Large Academic All-District Released; National Voting Begins (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/16/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Nomination Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/23/26 / 12:00 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-District Released; National Voting Begins (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/23/26 / 12:00 P.M. Baseball Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/23/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W At-Large Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/30/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 07/07/26 / 12:00 P.M. W At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/08/26 / 12:00 P.M. M At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/14/26 / 12:00 P.M. M Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/07/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/08/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / 11:59 P.M. Baseball Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/10/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas