Richard Kilwien, who worked the past six years at Santa Clara University, was hired as the associate athletic director for communications at the University of Washington.
Kilwien will supervise the athletic communications staff that coordinates communication, media relations and public relations for Washingtons 23 intercollegiate sports. His responsibilities also include overseeing the official athletic department website (www.gohuskies.com) and managing UWs radio and television contracts.
Were fortunate indeed to have a professional of Richards background join our staff, Turner exclaimed. Richard has a wide variety of experiences, both on the collegiate level and in private business, that make him uniquely qualified to implement our communications strategy for athletics.
Kilwien worked six years on the department of athletics senior staff at Santa Clara University, the last five as associate director of athletics for external services. He was responsible for managing a staff that handled the departments media relations, marketing, promotions, ticket sales, community relations and fulfillment of corporate partnerships. He also served as the primary media relations contact for mens basketball and was the athletic departments liaison for SCU and West Coast Conference marketing initiatives. In addition, he served on the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame committee and managed the athletic departments licensing program.
Kilwien oversaw the formation of the external services area to tie all media relations and marketing functions into one unit and reorganized all corporate sales efforts. He also expanded the departments official athletic website and publishing agreements, implemented live web event coverage of six sports and expanded the departments merchandise sales program.
Kilwien began working at Santa Clara in August, 2000, following a one-year stint at the FANSonly Network (now CSTV Online) where he was responsible for managing the companys public relations, business development and marketing efforts as well as working closely with the university development staffs to develop web marketing strategies for athletic departments.
Prior to his tenure at FANSonly, Kilwien served as the assistant director of athletics for media relations at his alma mater, Texas Tech from 1996-99. He conducted a successful campaign to promote Byron Hanspard for the Doak Walker Award and sixth-place finish in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.
Kilwien joined the Texas Tech staff from Raycom, Inc., where he was director of media relations and promotions between 1994-96. Before that, he worked in the sports information departments at Houston, Duke and the Southwest Conference. He also served as a student assistant at Texas Tech before graduating in 1988.
The University of Washington has one of the premier athletic programs in the country and I am thrilled to be joining the Husky family, said Kilwien. It is obvious that UW is deeply engrained in the culture of the city of Seattle as well as the entire Northwest and UW alumni, fans and students expect excellence and integrity in all areas of their athletic program. I am looking forward to joining a team that is truly dedicated to these principles in all phases of its operation.
Kilwien is married to the former Karen Yee, a womens basketball standout at the University of Houston. They have one son, Preston. Kilwien replaces Jim Daves who left UW in December to become the assistant athletic director for media relations at the University of Virginia.