Ohio Picks Brian Gunning to Head Media Relations

The Ohio University Athletics Department announced that Brian Gunning has been named director of media relations.

"I'm excited for this opportunity. I believe there are great things in store for the Ohio athletics department and I can't wait to be a part of it," Gunning said.  "I'm looking forward to getting started and contributing to Bobcat athletics."

Gunning comes to Ohio after serving the past five years as assistant director of athletic communications at Syracuse University.  While at Syracuse, Gunning acted as the department's primary media contact for women's basketball, men's soccer and softball.  In addition to coordinating all media activities for those three sports, Gunning also assisted in the handling of media relations for football and he supervised the production of the Orange Sports Spotlight, a weekly recap of the program's Olympic sports.

Prior to Syracuse, Gunning served two years at Marshall University, the first as a graduate assistant and the second as associate sports information director.  As a member of the Marshall staff, Gunning was the primary media contact for volleyball for two years and also covered women's basketball, baseball, softball and cross country.  He also assisted in the media relations coverage for football and was an integral part of the 1998 and 1999 Heisman Trophy campaigns for former Thundering Herd quarterback Chad Pennington.

Gunning got his start in sports information as a student assistant at Ithaca College, where he served as the primary media contact for five different sports.  During his time at Ithaca he also completed an internship with the Major League Baseball Public Relations department.

Also experienced in event management, Gunning has worked four NCAA Men's Basketball Tournaments, three bowl games, two Big East Championships and the 1996 World Series.

Gunning graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ithaca in 1998 with a bachelor of science in sports information and communication and he completed a master of science in physical education and recreation in 2000 from Marshall.

In addition to his responsibilities as the director of all aspects of media relations at Ohio, Gunning will serve as the primary media contact for football.