Kirk Sampson, Auburn University's Assistant AD for Media Relations is profiled in a January 10th feature story in his hometown newspaper, the Times-Republican of Marshalltown, Iowa, leading into the Jan. 10 BCS Championship Game featuring Auburn and Oregon. Sampson administers the media and public relations efforts for the Auburn Tigers and is the primary football contact. Prior to becoming Auburn's associate media relations director in 1998 (promoted to his current position in 2005), Sampson, a University of Iowa graduate, served as Director of Media Relations for the Philadelphia Rage of the American Basketball League (1997-98) and was a graduate assistant for the Tennessee women's media relations department (1994-96), handling publicity for women's golf, swimming and diving, and assisting with publicity of Lady Vol basketball.
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Auburn’s Sampson contributing behind the scenes: Marshalltown, Iowa native otherwise unknown in Tigers’ title chase, by Travis Hines, Times-Republican (IA) sports
photo: Kirk Sampson (l) and Auburn football head coach Gene Chizik (courtesy of Todd Van Emst/Auburn University Athletics)
At some point in tonight's BCS National Championship game, ESPN announcers Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will relay some behind-the-scenes tidbit, an interesting stat or a little-known storyline about either Auburn or Oregon.
If it's about the Tigers, there's a good chance their source was Kirk Sampson.
In Sampson's role as the Auburn assistant athletic director for media relations, the Marshalltown
native's job is to provide the likes of Herbstreit, Musburger and the rest of the assorted media - both locally and nationally - insight and information about the top-ranked Auburn program.
With a Heisman Trophy winner in tow and the Tigers on the precipice of their second-ever national title when they face No. 2 Oregon tonight at 7:30 p.m., Sampson is at a career high point.
"I really pinch myself sometimes because it doesn't seem real," said the 1987 Marshalltown High School graduate in a phone interview Sunday. "Now we're sitting here the day before the national championship game. I'm just trying to soak it all in because I don't know if I'll ever get back to this point professionally or not."
Sampson, who played basketball for two years at Marshalltown Community College, is "one of the best sports information directors there is," according to Herbstreit.
"He really does a good job of helping me, as a national guy, giving me relevant information that's going to help me for a broadcast," the ESPN analyst said Sunday in a phone interview.
"You're always going to get spin at a certain university," the former Ohio State quarterback added. "With Kirk, I get real conversation. He knows he can get real with me, and then I'll talk about these topics on air in a way he can respect.
"That, to me, is very, very important."
Auburn's dream season hasn't been without controversy, namely with pay-for-play allegations surrounding electric quarterback Cam Newton and his father, Cecil, in November.
Newton was ruled ineligible by the school in early December, only to be reinstated by the NCAA the next day. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy award in landslide fashion later in the month.
Sampson, 41, was on the frontline of the university's response to the allegations as the national media levied charge after charge against Newton, who is in his first year at Auburn after a two-year stint at Florida and one year at Blinn College, a two-year school in Texas.
"When you garner success and have success, it's going to bring increased attention," said Sampson, who has been at Auburn since 1998. "A lot of times it's positive, sometimes it's negative."
"It's certainly not something you want to deal with, but it comes with the territory," he said. "We got to the point also with dealing with that particular situation where we felt it was best to basically go into lock-down mode, and we didn't really say anything publicly for a while and felt that was the best way to handle it from our perspective."
With Newton's presence a vital component of Auburn's title hopes, the matter consumed college football for the better part of a month and still generates plenty of conversation.
"That was really starting to become a situation that was unraveling right in front of them," said Herbstreit, "and I thought Kirk did a really good job of being able to handle (it) in almost a crisis mode."
"He was put in a tough position," he continued. "The entire football program was put in a tough position, but I thought they handled it as best as they could have hoped for."
Sampson's previous experience as a graduate assistant at Tennessee with its national-powerhouse women's basketball program gave him a glimpse of how bright the spotlight can be - to a point.
"I did get to see what it was like to experience a high level of success and the media attention and the exposure that programs get," Sampson said, "but this is truly at a different level."
"This isn't my first rodeo," added the University of Iowa graduate, "but this year ... has certainly been a challenge, and it's been a lot of fun, a lot of work.
"This is why we do what we do, to hopefully get to this level - personally and professionally - and work with the best of the best."
Working alongside the best earned Sampson trips to the White House in Washington, D.C. (where he met President Barack Obama), Atlanta for the SEC championship game, New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony and now to college football's biggest stage, the national title game in Glendale, Ariz.
"I think for people in my profession, the goal is to work for a team that competes for a national championship, a conference championship and you have individuals who win awards," Sampson said. "It was really a thrill of a lifetime for me to work with a Heisman Trophy winner, to work with a Lombardi winner (for college football's best lineman), Nick Fairley."
The culmination of all the accolades and awards will come tonight, when Sampson hopes he'll be orchestrating the "organized confusion" of an on-field celebration of a national title, which would be Auburn's first since 1957.
The Tigers finished undefeated in 2004, but ended the season ranked second.
"I hope the highlight of this whole year is (tonight), I really do," Sampson said. "We'll see what happens."
Sampson's grandparents, Jack and Barb Hayes, still live in Marshalltown, where they previously owned Jax Steak House and Lounge - Sampson's place of employment in high school. His parents live in the Des Moines area.
"Drawing back to my time in Marshalltown, in high school and college and being around good people," said Sampson, "when times are tough they taught me how to handle situations and do it in a professional way."
"I think all of those people and the experiences I had growing up," added the married father of two, "helped me get to where I'm at today."
Even if where he's at seems a bit surreal at the moment.
"We're going to get to (University of Phoenix Stadium) a little early (today),"said Sampson, "just to get our bearings straight and take it all in, smell the roses and just enjoy what I'm a part of for a little bit."