Weston is the new sports guru

The GCSU Athletics Department has launched a new era in media relations with the hiring of Al Weston as the new sports information director.
Weston replaces Brad Muller who left in October to pursue a job as the communications director for the alumni association at his alma mater, the University of South Carolina, after spending 10 years in GCSU’s Athletics Department.
“The precedent has been set,” Weston said of Muller. “He obviously did an excellent job here and I hope to fill his shoes.”
The sports information director is a multi-faceted job that includes such responsibilities as maintaining and updating the athletics website, keeping track of in-game and seasonal statistics, managing media contacts, and supervising two graduate assistants.
Women’s Basketball Head Coach John Carrick said that Weston has his work cut out for him.
“He’s replacing a legend,” Carrick said. “Brad was the best everything that you could ever come up with, so Al’s got a tough job and I think he knows it.”
Carrick sees Weston fitting in well with the athletics department.
“Al has hit the ground running, I mean he’s done a whole lot of things already, stepping in in the middle of a season is tough and he’s started off well.”
According to Athletics Director Dr. Stan Aldridge, Weston was chosen from about 50 candidates who applied for the job during a three-month national search.
“We narrowed it down to three really good candidates and Al was the best fit,” Aldridge said. “He had the best skills and experience with the Web page and media.”
Weston, who has degrees in public relations and sports management from Kent State University in Ohio, comes to GCSU after serving as the sports information director at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania for the past two and a half years.
Lock Haven is a Division II school with 18 varsity sports.
Weston said he chose to leave Lock Haven because he was ready for a “new challenge.”
“I had revamped their Web site and felt comfortable where everything was,” Weston said.
Weston was immediately impressed with GCSU when he began his interview process and jumped at the opportunity to make it his new home when it was offered.
“They seemed to have a good, close-knit athletics department here, an element that wasn’t at Lock Haven,” Weston said.
Weston was also impressed with how good each of the 10 varsity sports teams are at GCSU.
“They are fighting for regional and national attention every year,” Weston said. “And it’s starting again this year.”
Each basketball team has already tallied ten wins and the baseball team has been ranked number two in the Collegiate Magazine Division II Preseason Poll.
Weston also noted the top-notch athletic facilities as a reason he was drawn to GCSU.
“The Centennial Center rivals the gym at Kent State (a Division I school) and the facilities for the other sports are as good as I have seen,” Weston said.
Weston said his goal is to eventually become an athletic director and he sees GCSU as an excellent opportunity to get the experience necessary to achieve that goal.
Weston is excited to be a part of the athletics tradition  at GCSU.
“You get the feeling they are doing things the right way, both athletically and academically,” said Weston.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 19 2007. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry