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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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Brian Montgomery: Jesuit Dallas Preparatory School
Sports Information Director

By Monyae Williamson, Jacksonville University Director of Media Relations
CoSIDA Recognition Week Committee member

Bryan Montgomery is the Sports Information Director at Jesuit College Prepatory School of Dallas (Texas) where he has been since 2015. Montgomery is responsible for the marketing and promotion of Jesuit's 18 sports programs and for the operation of JesuitRangers.org.

In 2015, Bryan Montgomery moved halfway across the country, leaving his assistant sports information director position at Division III Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania after three years to establish himself as Jesuit Dallas SID.

A native of Camden, N.Y., he is one of a handful of high school athletic media relations directors who hold a CoSIDA membership.

Jesuit Dallas is a private, independent all-boys high school with an enrollment of 1100 and competes at the 6A level of the University Interscholastic Association (UIL), the largest classification within the governing body of Texas high school athletics. The Rangers have earned a Texas-best 21 UIL 6A boys district titles in the last three years with baseball and lacrosse winning state titles.

How did you get involved in athletic communications?
I started my path in athletics when I was a freshman in college. Entering my first year at The College at Brockport I was determined to follow my parents and become a teacher. However, the radio station at Brockport, WBSU 89.1 The Point, had open auditions for men's and women's basketball color commentary. Luckily enough, I got the chance to be the color commentator for both. After the first few games, I was entirely hooked.

For the next three years I went from being the color commentator to the women's basketball play-by-play announcer to the voice of the men's program. Through that position I came to understand the field of sports information, a field that I joined the second semester of my senior year. I was a student assistant in the SID office staff members Kelly Vergin and John Boccacino. Soon after, the goal of becoming a teacher was replaced by becoming a sports information director.

What excites you about this field?
What interests me about this field is how challenging it can be throughout the year. As a creator of media you have to keep up with the status quo, regardless of the staff you have in your office or the resources available. I am so blessed to be at a place like Jesuit Dallas that has provided me the resources and administrative backing to create a strong, sustainable athletic media presence even though I'm a one-man shop. That doesn't mean that challenges are non-existent. Keeping up with the times is always tough, but it feels incredible when you are able to publish a video, tweet or story that gets your constituents excited about what you are doing from your athletic media relations chair.

I also enjoy the fact that no two days are the same. I've always had interest in the different facets and responsibilities of the position - from video and photo editing to writing, archiving and stat-keeping. Finding my niche as a "jack of all trades" has been critical towards my love of the profession.

Since starting at Jesuit Dallas I have been able to spend more time looking at things from an administrative point of view, which has been a challenge of its own. Doing so has also provided me a great deal of confidence in my ability to provide the best work possible for a school that I have grown to greatly appreciate and for a community that I'm proud to be a part of.



How has the transition been from the collegiate SID to the high school SID level, and what have you noticed to be the biggest differences?
The biggest difference for me is that I truly feel like a trailblazer. There are other high school SIDs peppered throughout the nation, including several in Dallas, but as of right now it feels like an untapped resource. Of course there are challenges. You pretty much have to anticipate creating roster files for every sporting event if you want to do live stats. You have to do extensive prep and stat work for both teams when preparing for a broadcast, but that's what makes being a high school SID so enjoyable to me. I feel like I'm helping write a new chapter of this profession and forging a path that can open opportunities to those looking to get into the field.

It's been said that high school sports in Texas, particularly football, are a "religion" of sorts. The fan bases are avid and the popularity of Texas high school sports is far-reaching. What has been your experience at Dallas Jesuit?
I'm impressed with the level of passion present at the high school level from our fans, and particularly from the alumni. The level of support and pride that individuals have to their college is powerful, but when you grow up within a community, that relationship and passion is hard to match. It isn't much of a change from the college level, but going into this position where I had no idea what I was in store for, I have been quite happy to see the immense buy-in from the Jesuit Dallas administration, coaches and fan base.

I still check my (high school) Camden Blue Devil football scores every Saturday when I wake up. Seeing my alma mater, Brockport, be nationally ranked and undefeated this year has been pretty awesome (Go Golden Eagles!). That said, Jesuit Dallas is a special place, and it comes down to the community.

The level of passion you hear from families and alums within the Jesuit Dallas community reinforces the level of interest that they have. I have seen the level of interest in what we are doing at Jesuit grow annually with no signs of stopping, and that increased interest motivates me to do more for our student-athletes and fans.

You have traveled a lot in your career throughout the Northeast (New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts). Have you enjoyed that and what have you taken from your different stops along the way?
Part of my heart will always be in my hometown of Camden, New York. It's a blue-collar town full of good people that I can return to at any time. They always make me feel at home. Being back in Camden is a special thing and I always relish the opportunity to return to "the 315" to spend time with friends and family.

That said, living on Cape Cod while interning at the ECAC Conference (when they were in Centerville, Mass.) was an incredible experience. One of my favorite and most humorous memories was getting a car out of a street flooded by sand. It was a beautiful area and the people who I had the honor of working with at the ECAC have gone on to do great things.

At Allegheny College, I enjoyed three of the best years of my professional career. A lot of my closest friends were the people that I worked with and the great community of assistant coaches there. When you are put into a position where you are living in a small town and working a job with long hours, being able to have a core group of friends that share that same experiences is a true blessing. Portia Hoeg, Jim Berger, Kirk Kumbier and Kate Costanzo are some of the people still at Allegheny who helped shape me as a professional and I'll forever be grateful for the three years I got to spend with them.

Living with Dallas has been a culture shock to say the least. I had to adjust mentally to the fact that there was a Best Buy, Chipotle and movie theater within 10 minutes of my apartment! Dallas has proved to be a really fun town. I will admit that I do not miss the New York winters, although I am patiently waiting for my first snow day to hopefully take a bite out of my Netflix queue. The Jesuit Dallas community has welcomed me with open arms.

Do you have a favorite destination?

My favorite travel destinations are Toronto, Boston and Florida. Toronto holds significance as it was where I saw my first professional baseball game in 2004, watching the soon-to-be World Champion Red Sox face off against the Blue Jays. My sister lives in Boston while my retired parents split time between New York and Florida. It's always good for me to get away from Dallas for a weekend here and there to spend time with my family.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
When I'm not in the office I'm either playing music, going to the movies, working through my video game backlog or socializing with friends and family. I have been playing bass guitar since I was 16 years old. I picked up the guitar in 2011 and have been self-teaching myself ever since. Live sporting events are always fun to go to, although I sometimes force myself to refrain from purchasing the scorecard at a baseball game and instead focus my efforts on enjoying the game itself!

What has been interesting for me over the years is the separation that I have created from watching sports outside of work, I'll always watch the Boston Red Sox, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Lions and Syracuse Orange if they're on television, but usually the last thing I'm going to do after a long week covering football is watch college football on a Saturday afternoon. I relish the opportunities to distance myself from sports and focus on other hobbies. It's a refreshing respite that often helps me mentally prepare for the next week.

What advice would you give to someone looking to break into this field? If you could tell your 20-year-old-self some advice, what would it be?
First, don't be afraid to unplug. For the longest time I have been the worst offender of having my cell phone or iPad next to my bed while trying to sleep. When you have that little device so close to your bed stand you can almost hear it calling to you asking for attention. I've taken steps to make sure that I can take the SID hat off every now and then; from disabling push notifications on my phone to charging my devices in my living room and turning my bedroom into a device-free zone. It's a little thing, but it's amazing what 30 minutes of reading a book can do to help calm a busy mind after a long day.

Secondly, take time to relax. This field is known for its long hours, 12-hour days and marathon-like movement throughout the course of the year. There is always something to do. Getting into the gym, eating food that isn't press box junk, reading a book or writing something non-sports related have all helped me greatly in the past, although I will be the first to admit that I don't do any of those as much as I should when it's a busy time of year. Just trying to do something for yourself every day can help.

Keep the faith, believe in yourself and don't be afraid to love what you do. I will be the first to admit that my biggest critic is the person in the mirror. Being your own biggest fan helps keep your positivity high during the mentally-taxing parts of this job.

When things get stressful, I always take a moment and say to myself "Look at where you are, look at what you're doing. Take a deep breath and remember why you do it." Then I think about when a student-athlete comes by my office to chat when back in town after graduating, or a phone call from a parent thanking me for allowing a grandparent across the country to watch a game through a web stream. Those little moments are so powerful that they make me want to push harder and forget about the stress.

Final thoughts ...
There is a large whiteboard in the office of Jesuit basketball coach Chris Hill. On the top of the whiteboard rests a quote from our soccer coach, Charlie DeLong, one of the most respected high school coaches in the nation and a treasured mentor of mine.

The quote says, "Be glad that you are allowed to do it." I can't imagine myself doing another job at this point of my life. It is worth the stress and the hours because I love to do it.