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Jacob Knable: Concordia University Nebraska
Director of Athletic Communications
by Rob Knox, Towson University, Associate Director Athletics Media Relations
CoSIDA 1st Vice President/CoSIDA Recognition Week Committee member
Jacob Knabel’s journey to being a sportswriter took a detour.
Combining his passion for writing, impacting others, and having fun, Knabel landed in paradise and developed into an award-winning athletic communications professional.
“The most rewarding thing for me is simply seeing how my work positively impacts our student-athletes and athletic programs,” said Knabel, the Concordia (Neb.) director of athletic communications. “The biggest reward for me is when people go out of their way to personally thank you for a story that you wrote. That recognition keeps me motivated on days when the hours are particularly long. I look forward to coming into the office each day because it’s a job that doesn’t feel much like a job.”
Prior to arriving at Concordia, Knabel volunteered at Clarke College and interned at the NAIA national office. Those experiences proved valuable for Knabel, a University of Iowa graduate who grew up in a small town south of Dubuque, which borders the states of Wisconsin and Illinois and sits along the Mississippi River.
Knabel poses with parents John and Jan Knabel.
John and Jan continue to live in Dubuque, Iowa,
where Jake was born and raised.
“I was severely lacking in real world experience when I graduated from the University of Iowa,” Knabel said. “Clarke is really the first place I learned how a day-to-day sports information operated. I was fortunate that Jerry Hanson, who remains the school’s sports information director, allowed me to learn from him.
“I wrote a lot of stories for Clarke and took stats at the home baseball games that year. Jerry and I have been friends ever since. I’m so glad and grateful that I was able to make that connection and begin a foundation for a career in sports information. Without the experience at Clarke, I would not have been hired as an intern at the NAIA national office. Those two opportunities allowed me to grow.”
Singled out by his peers, Knabel was selected the 2014-15 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Sports Information Director of the Year. He has tirelessly worked to promote the Concordia brand and telling the stories of his student-athletes.
And, sharing local media coverage with the nearby University of Nebraska hasn’t been an obstacle for Knabel in getting the word out about his programs.
“I think you just have to have the right perspective,” Knable said. “Athletic programs in the ‘power five’ are always going to get the most coverage. I really just want to help make sure we get the piece of the pie that we deserve while understanding that our local media have so many responsibilities of their own.
“I send a lot of my releases to Lincoln, Neb., media and I’ve been extremely pleased with the coverage we have gotten. At the NAIA level, your own website really is the No. 1 source of media coverage for fans, alumni and prospective student-athletes.”
Knabel, who says he runs at least 30 miles every week, finds time to relax away from the office by rooting on his beloved Bears and Cubs or watching as many Iowa football games as possible.
One of Knabel’s hobbies in recent years has been managing a website during the summer for his father’s semi-professional baseball team in eastern Iowa. He’s also an author as his book,
Cultivating Men of Faith and Character: The History of Concordia Nebraska Football, was published last September.
Working on the book was a labor of love for Knabel. One of the many highlights of working on the book was the chance to interview over 30 different people, including College Football Hall of Fame coach Ron Harms, who was the head coach at Concordia from 1964-69.
“I spent about a year working on the book with the goal of having it ready for a special football alumni reunion that we held on our campus last fall,” Knabel said. “I found the project to be very rewarding. I It’s a really cool feeling knowing that a good number of our football alums will relive some of their finest college memories through this book. I’m so glad that one of our former head coaches approached me about putting our football program’s history into writing. It’s a pretty neat thing to be able to tell people that you have written a book.”
Prior to the 2015 Great Plains Athletic Conference
Football Media Day, Knabel accepted the conference’s
inaugural GPAC Sports Information Director of the
Year award. With Knabel is GPAC Assistant
Commissioner Lucas Mohrman.
Knabel was proud that he recently enhanced his interviews with his student-athletes by adding a lightning round to his questions. This past summer, Knabel served on a social media panel during the CoSIDA Convention in Orlando.
“I also believe strongly in making each opportunity your big time,” Knabel said. “Maybe your goal is to work for a school with nationally known athletic programs, but don’t take for granted the opportunity you have. I find life at the NAIA level very rewarding and I hate when people might look down upon it.
When asked what advice he would provide a young athletic communicator, Knabel did not hesitate to come up with several pieces of key advice.
“As far as advice for young SID professionals, I would tell them to always exude confidence and work hard to prove yourself. Make yourself indispensable within your athletic department by using your talents to their fullest. You will be rewarded if you go above and beyond and take your department to another level.”