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While Jeff Weiss may be logging his 25th year as a professional member of Co
SIDA, his love of sports and his experience in the field dates back even farther.
As a 13-year old eighth grader in 1978, Weiss started running stats in the football press box at Bowling Green State University under the direction of Sports Information Director Dave Senko. And for the past 36 years, he has barely stopped running.
Weiss grew up in Bowling Green and was raised on Falcon sports. The great BGSU names from the past from football stars Phil Villapiano and Dave Preston to basketball Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond as well as hockey greats George McPhee and Brian Hills are a part of Weiss’ history. And the love of sports information/media relations work was a natural transition for this life-long sports fan.
“When I served as the SID at Bowling Green State University, I remember his father asking me if Jeff, could help out in some capacity at some of our games,” recalled Senko. “Little did I know that it would inspire a career in sports information years later. The demands on an SID are numerous and it takes a great deal of dedication and love of sports to serve in that role. The job can be a thankless one at times. You are the first one there and usually the last one to leave. I applaud Jeff on reaching this milestone and I hope he enjoys many m
ore years in the profession."
Weiss eventually graduated from running stats to keeping them once he reached high school. He then spent four years as a student assistant at BGSU before graduating in 1987.
“Besides my love of sports, the other thing that kept me coming back to sports information was the chemistry of the sports information staff and students,” commented Weiss.
There was one sport that Weiss did not cover on a game-by-game basis while serving as an undergraduate student assistant. That was hockey which Weiss followed devotedly as a fan, cheering on the Falcons en route to winning the 1984 NCAA Championship with an epic 5-4 four-overtime win over Minnesota-Duluth in Lake Placid, N.Y.
“That was probably my biggest thrill,” said Weiss. “There were so many great players on that team and they overcame a lot of adversity to win that championship.”
Even as a senior in college, he parlayed an internship with the Toledo Pride, a professional indoor soccer team, into a paid public relations position while he completed his undergraduate degree.
Weiss was able to combine his love of hockey and SID work into his first full-time job as the public relations director/assistant commissioner for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
“I owe quite a bit of where I am today to former CCHA Commissioner Bill Beagan,” said Weiss. “He took a chance on a 22-year-old kid six months out of college in 1988, and we ended up working together for 10 years.”
He eventually returned to Bowling Green as a full-time assistant for two-and-a-half years before moving onto a marketing/public relations role with the American Heart Association in Toledo.
Weiss signed on at Wayne State University in Detroit in 2001, as t
he sports information director and was promoted to associate athletic director for sports information in 2011. Among his thrills with the Warriors was seeing the softball team win a regional on the road to advance to the NCAA Division II Women’s College World Series as well as the 2011 football national championship run, which saw the Warriors win four consecutive road games to reach the national championship game in Florence, Ala.
“I greatly appreciate Rob Fournier giving me the opportunity to return to the sports information field after my stint with the Heart Association, especially considering the fact I drive 110 mile round-trip daily,” added
Weiss. “I can’t believe how fast the last 12 years have flown by as a member of the WSU Athletic Department.”
In addition to his duties at WSU, he also served as the public relations director for both the College Hockey America
(CHA) men’s and women’s leagues (2006-10) and later spent 19 months (Jan. 2009-July 2010) as interim commissioner of the CHA women’s league. Weiss also served as the media coordinator for the 2007 Frozen Four in St. Louis.
He served on the CoSIDA publications contest committee for two yea
rs and has been on the Academic All-America®
committee for 10 years.
Weiss promoted the 2009 Harlon Hill Award winner (Joique Bell), the 2011 Gene Upshaw Award winner (Joe Long), along with 22 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans including the 2012 CoSIDA At-Large Female Academic All-American of the Year (Catherine Leix). He is pictured, above, with Bell.
He and his wife Christy reside in Temperance, Mich., with daughters Jillian, 21, and Madison, 16.
“As is the case with most of us who have been in this field for a significant amount of time, I am very thankful for the support I have received from my wife and daughters, as well as my parents who assisted me in pursuing my passion as a teenager,” said Weiss.