Holtz Named Assistant SID at Slippery Rock University (Pa.)
Jon Holtz, formerly the sports information director at Lycoming College (Pa.), has been hired as Assistant Sports Information Director at Slippery Rock University (Pa.).
A native of Shortsville, N.Y., Holtz served one year as sports information director at Lycoming and one year as an athletic communications assistant at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point prior to joining the SRU staff.
"We are extremely happy and proud to have Jon Holtz join our team," Rock Sports Information Director Bob McComas said. "Jon is one of the top young SIDs in the business today and will be a valuable asset to our operation."
Holtz is "returning home" to the NCAA Division II fraternity and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. He got his start in sports information while working toward an undergraduate degree in Liberal Studies with a minor in English at Mansfield. After spending one year as a student assistant, he assumed the primary responsibilities for covering the women’s soccer, women’s basketball, cross country, and track and field programs, while serving as a statistician for all home contests in all sports.
During his senior year, Holtz took on the majority of the duties in the office while MU sports information director Steve McCloskey handled the fallout from the school’s decision to drop its storied football program.
For his outstanding efforts at Mansfield, Holtz was awarded the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Director’s Association (ECAC-SIDA) Bill Esposito Memorial Award. The prestigious award recognizes the top graduating student assistant on the East Coast, in all divisions. Holtz accepted the award at the ESPN Awards Banquet in Baltimore as part of the annual ECAC-SIDA workshop.
Holtz handled all media relations for Lycoming's 17 NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletic sports programs and, while at Army, handled all media relations for the Black Knights’ NCAA Division I cross country, track and field, men’s tennis and sprint football programs. He also worked extensively with the nationally-acclaimed football program, as well as volleyball, soccer, basketball and hockey.
Holtz is a former PSAC student-athlete; he served as the captain of the cross country and track and field programs at Mansfield and was active in the Mansfield University Literary Society and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Holtz has professional credentials from the ECAC-SIDA and CoSIDA and a coaching certification from the U.S. Track and Field Association.