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This feature is one of the many profiles we are doing to showcase our diverse CoSIDA membership during 2017 CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week. To see all the feature stories, please click HERE.

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Sean Cartell: University of Texas
Associate Media Relations Director

by Barb Kowal, CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Affairs

Even as he professes a deep love of politics and literature, Sean Cartell, an associate media relations director at Texas, was destined as a young teenager to have a career in college athletics.

Before he went to the University of Kentucky where he was a student media relations assistant ... before he served full-time at UCF, the University of Florida, and the Southeastern Conference, Sean honed his passion for college athletics ... by buying and reading team media guides.

He gravitated to them when they were on sale at concession stands at athletic events.

Growing up in a hotbed of college sports - Gainesville, Florida - Cartell and his family were avid attendees at college games. He loved the events, and was intrigued to find out about the people who were on the sidelines and what they were did around the athletes and coaches.

"It's a somewhat unique story I think," noted Cartell, who earned a CoSIDA Rising Star Award in the summer of 2015 while working at the Southeastern Conference.
 

"I knew I wanted to work in athletics since middle school. My family went to all kinds of sporting events and I had an appreciation for all of them. In middle school I liked to go to the concession stand and read the media guides. I read about people supporting the programs and their bios. I wanted to get as much information about their jobs as I could and get some early experience in sports."

As a junior in high school, Cartell took that interest to Santa Fe Community College, three miles away from his home.

"I emailed the sports information director Jim Keans and said I wanted to get involved. Jim said funding was cut for their part-time work study sports information kids, and said I could volunteer. For one year, I did SID work there, modeling off what I saw other schools doing online. I'd attend my high school classes then head straight to SFCC. Depending on the day, I'd do office work, or work a game, or travel with a team, and then head home to finish my senior year homework. It was an incredibly unique opportunity."

Cartell then matriculated at the University of Kentucky after conducting his own version of "SID office recruiting" in high school.

"I visited different colleges and contacted the SID folks at the schools and went and met with them," Cartell explained. "At the time in the UK sports information office, there were four full-time staff and I knew I would have opportunities to do things on my own. Scott Stricklin (now the Florida AD) and Susan Lax gave me a special opportunity to do just that."

Cut to the present day, where Cartell is in his third year in Austin. He serves as the primary contact for UT's nationally-ranked women's basketball program which sits in the top five of just about every 2017-18 preseason publication and poll. Cartell also handles the communications duties for the Longhorns women's golf team.

Switching from his SEC conference office job to his current campus position might have been surprising to some, but not to Cartell and his support group.

"The right opportunity came along. I was not looking to leave the SEC as I loved the work and the big-picture stuff, working in sports administration," Cartell explained. "It was an opportunity that I wanted to try. I've always really enjoyed women's basketball.

"When I met with Coach (Karen) Aston, we clicked on our ideas about media coverage and what we wanted to accomplish. I felt like I could make an impact. Loved my work at the conference office, but I did miss the day-to-day interaction and work with student-athletes."

He has promoted numerous All-Big 12 and All-America honorees and works to tell the Texas story across numerous national media outlets and on Texas' own TV network, the Longhorn Network.

Aston gives high praise to Cartell and to his efforts.
 

"Sean is the epitome of a professional. He works diligently every day to better our program and present Texas in a positive light," stated Aston. "His calm demeanor and willingness to work with media and build relationships with them sets him apart from others in our business. We are very blessed to have him at Texas and advocating for not only our young women but our sport in general."

There's depth to his storytelling and work with the student-athletes.

"My role is to help educate our student-athletes and help them with media training and projecting themselves," Cartell said. "I tell them on official visits and when they enroll, you need to understand your image and your voice and the importance of your personal story.

"If you establish relationships with your student-athletes early, you can start telling their stories and they will learn the right ways to project themselves on social media. That's really huge for their confidence. I've learned from Tony Neely at Kentucky that EVERYONE has a story. Helping them understand and take ownership of their story early in their career can be powerful."

One of Cartell's mentors is current University of South Carolina Executive Associate AD Charles Bloom. Bloom hired him at the SEC when Bloom was associate commissioner and headed up the communications team.

"I got to know Charles when I was a Kentucky student volunteering at SEC events. At the 2009 SEC football media days, Twitter was just starting strong, and they said, 'Charles needs someone to do Twitter this week.' I quickly took on that role, and that's where our friendship started and his mentorship of me began. Little over a year later, they added a position to do digital media and I got the position. Then, we added responsibilities like baseball media relations, assisting with football, and being the sports administrator for the SEC equestrian program. I learned so much there."

Bloom, like Aston, appreciates the scope of Cartell's work and his passion.

"When we hired Sean at the SEC, it didn't take long for our office staff to see that he would make a tremendous impact in our office," Bloom noted. "He is hard working, conscientious and always thinking about the next step, the next decision to be made.

"I am proud of him and the positive impact he has made on the profession and other people around him, especially student-athletes and the young people entering the business. He has a bright future ahead of him."

Cartell talks about what motivates him daily.

" I have a very strong belief in the collegiate model within intercollegiate athletics and I am really driven to help the student-athletes achieve their goals. That's what I always come back to when I'm having a difficult time and it always inspires me," Cartell said.

He is reflective as he thinks about his path in college athletics.

"I want to make a difference in the field of higher education. And I think that's really what college athletics is at the core - higher education," Cartell said. "The purpose will not be the same for everyone working in the field of athletics communications, but everyone needs to have a very strong sense of purpose about why they are doing what they're doing."

Q&A Catch Up With Cartell

What do you find most challenging about working with a national program?
Within the program itself, there are not too many challenges because Karen (head coach Karen Aston) understands and appreciates the role of media relations and telling the story. She invites cameras to be everywhere and anywhere. At the last Big 12 Conference tourney, the Longhorn Network had cameras and a light on our players while they were eating dinner and they just didn't even notice it. I told them others would be thrown off guard, but they were so comfortable with it. Outside the box ideas are embraced by the basketball staff, and I'm so fortunate because of it.

The main challenges are continuing to carve out media attention and space and raise awareness for women's sports.

What are your hobbies and interests?
One thing I don't do is go home and watch a ton of sports on TV. Do doctors go home and watch ER? Some people think I might not like sports, but that's not true at all! If I'm watching ESPN, it's the 30 for 30 series, for instance. I want to know the context and the stories behind the story.

My main interests are politics, literature, film and people, and my rescue dog.

Politics: I've always been very interested in politics. When home and not working, you'll find me watching political shows instead of sports shows. Politics is one of the first things that Charles (Bloom) and I bonded over. We share similar viewpoints.

Literature: I like to read - mostly non-fiction. I read a lot of biographies of successful people, modern history books from mid-20th century on, and pop culture. I enjoy things about politics and the law and really like anything written by John Grisham.

Film: I like to go to movies. The genre I like is realism, movies that make me think.

People: I enjoy people and getting to know them. I love being around my good friends. Maybe the one thing that's underrated in our profession is the strong network of friends you develop, the sense of loyalty, people you can call upon. Fans might see a rivalry between two schools, but if athletic communicators call friends at rival schools, they will help you.

Several months ago, you adopted a rescue dog, Moco. Not only is it impressive that you opened your home to a rescue pet, but you adopted a senior dog ... why?
Moco is 11 years old, and I rescued him from the Austin Pets Alive. Austin is a huge dog-friendly city. I wanted a dog for the last three or four years, and the timing was right this spring with my job and schedule. I went to the shelter, and there he was - he just stuck out to me. My vet cannot believe he is 11 as he acts so much younger. I knew I didn't want a puppy as there wasn't enough time to train or excise a young dog.

It's been great for me to have Moco. I used to find myself working late in the office, but now, I have a responsibility to leave and go for walks with him and then hit the laptop. It forced me to have something to pull me away from the office and get a great companion in return!

What would you tell someone who is thinking about working in athletic communications?
I would tell them to make sure they really have a passion and a purpose for wanting to go into this field. A love of sport is not simply enough. There are long hours, sometimes low pay and it's not an easy job. But it is very rewarding.

What might (someone) be surprised to know about you?
I think a lot of people know about my interest in politics, but I don't think many people know that one of the few bucket list items I have is that I want to visit all of the presidential libraries in the nation. I have actually only visited three - the Lyndon B. Johnson, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton libraries - but I aspire to visit them all. And I never take it for granted that there is one right across the street from my office - the LBJ Library - and I think that's pretty cool.