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OUR STORIES
Bryan Salvadore
Sports Information Director, Kutztown University
by Rob Knox, Towson University Associate Director of Athletics Media Relations/
CoSIDA 2nd VP/CoSIDA Week Committee member
Kutztown University is a special place for Bryan Salvadore.
Salvadore earned two degrees, met some of his best friends here, turned his education, and work experience
into a full-time opportunity at his alma mater. Most importantly, Salvadore met his fiancé at Kutztown. They’ll also get married on Kutztown’s bucolic campus in June.
As one of the best and brightest professionals in the athletic communications business, Salvadore is displaying his dedication, passion, and enthusiasm for his student-athletes each day he steps into the office.
“Bryan brings an energy and attitude to the job that is second to none,” Salvadore’s supervisor, Matt Santos said. “His office is already arguably one of the key strengths of the overall university relations and athletic programs. He understands the office’s role, knows the profession, and is extremely proactive in his efforts. He has a great young staff, which he manages like a veteran, and is excellent at embracing and implementing new technology.
"Bryan's work is very “clean” and accurate, which is not always easy given the volume. He has developed strong working relationships with the coaching staff, athletic administration and the media. Ultimately, Kutztown is very fortunate to have landed Bryan as its SID. There is little doubt he will be a key player for the institution for many years to come,” Santos noted.
Salvadore’s road into the profession started as a Kutztown student when he worked games doing statistics, game management, and providing support. He was a graduate assistant in the university's sports information department for two years where he was the primary contact for the football, men’s basketball, wrestling, and baseball teams.
Salvadore was Kutztown’s co-interim Sports Information Director with Britney Reddick, a Langston Rogers
Salvadore at work, photographing a wrestling match.
scholarship winner, from September 2011-November 2011 in which he handled the publicity for the nationally-ranked football team.
One of the best experiences Salvadore had was leaving Kutztown and working at Bloomsburg under Tom Maguire. Salvadore assisted in building Bloomsburg's athletic Facebook and Twitter social media sites into two of the most visited sites within the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). That opportunity prepared him for his role at Kutztown, a position he has been in since March 2013.
“To say that I envisioned being a head SID while in my infant years as a student worker would be a stretch,” Salvadore said. “Working as Tom McGuire's assistant at Bloomsburg for 10 months played a vital role in preparing me to be a head SID. Tom has nearly 20 years of experience at Bloomsburg and in the PSAC, and he has built an extremely reputable office that continues to be innovative. Working under Tom prepared me to move into the field in a full-time role. I gained a great deal of insight working in a different office than I had for the previous five years.”
In addition to McGuire, Salvadore has been in a great position to learn from numerous veterans in the business including Santos, Josh Leiboff and Rob Knox, veterans with a combined 50 years of experience.
“The majority of what I've learned in this industry has come through the guidance and leadership of those four individuals,” Salvadore said. “Matt and Josh – two of KU's previous SID's – still work right down the hall from me. Being able to have them nearby as a resource, for advice and for historical knowledge has been an extremely valuable asset for me. Rob's work-ethic and drive truly inspired me to want to pursue this as a career. He gave me and the other graduate assistant in our office a great deal of responsibility and ownership that put us in great positions entering the work force.”
Salvadore was a key member of Kutztown’s recent celebration of its 100th season of football. The Golden Bears have produced NFL products Doug Denison, Andre Reed, John Mobley and Bruce Harper. He spent lots of time enthusiastically researching historical archives, and reviewing local articles dating back to the 1800s on microfilm.
Salvadore was also part of a sizeable committee that selected 33 players as part of Kutztown’s All-Time Football Team. In addition Salvadore assisted with producing the Top Moments In program history and selecting an All-Decade team dating back to 1895.
“That experience of selecting that team, and being one of the members to contact those individuals, was an invaluable experience that I will carry with me through my career,” Salvadore said. “It ended up being a great season of building pride toward our football program and university.”
Salvadore’s work-ethic has made an impression on the Kutztown coaches.
"One of the things I really appreciate about Bryan is his creativity and willingness to think beyond the traditional ways to promote our student-athletes and programs,” Kutztown head volleyball coach John Gump said. “He seems to be always coming up with new ideas to bring attention to our teams. He’s one of the hardest-working people on our campus. He gets much more done than should be expected based on the staffing and resources his office receives. And, he is genuinely troubled when those limitations prevent him from providing service that he thinks is needed.”
As if overseeing 21 sports and supervising two graduate assistants isn’t enough to keep Salvadore busy, he is adding more on his plate. In addition to getting married, Salvadore is finishing the process of closing on a home. All the while promoting Kutztown’s first-place football team.
“Going through the home-buying process and planning for a wedding – both for the first time – has certainly kept my fiancé and I busy over the past year,” Salvadore said. “We both work in higher education, and knew that the summer would be an ideal time to get married. We will be getting married in June, 2017, at Kutztown University. KU was where my fiancé and I first met, so being able to get married and bring our friends and families back to campus will be an exciting time next June. We both work in the Lehigh Valley, want to build our roots here, and are excited to own our first home in November.”