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Chelsey Chamberlain (University of New Mexico), Rising Star Award – University Division
by Blake Timm, Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Assistant Commissioner for Communications
Chelsey and her parents, Mary and Ron Chamberlain, inside
“The Pit” (the basketball arena) at the University of New Mexico.
Chelsey Chamberlain had been at the University of New Mexico for just two years when she was faced with a daunting task: handling media relations duties for both the Lobos’ men’s and women’s basketball programs.
Thanks to an opening on the staff that still had to be filled, Chamberlain, 26-years-old at the time, spent a hectic November balancing work with the men and women. When the position was finally filled, Chamberlain moved to solo work with women’s basketball, but not before then head men’s basketball coach Craig Neal tried to have her assigned to his squad.
“(Coach Neal) saw something in me and was my starting point,” said Chamberlain, who was indeed assigned men’s basketball for the 2016-17 season, becoming the first female to serve as the program’s publicity director. “When another staff member left, Coach Neal said, ‘We need you. You do a great job.’ I was all for it.”
Having moved from a Division III assistant sports information director to Division I men’s basketball contact in the span of five years is the very definition of a Rising Star. So it comes as no surprise that Chamberlain will be presented CoSIDA’s University Division Rising Star Award at the organization’s annual convention this June in Orlando.
Frank Mercogliano, New Mexico’s assistant athletic director for communications, says Chamberlain performs at a level well beyond her years.
“Chelsey does a great job of providing counsel to her coaches and student-athletes,” he said. “It’s been fun for me to watch her increase her responsibilities. The biggest testament is the feedback I’ve gotten from our local, regional and national media members who all have spoken very highly of her work ethic and attention to detail.”
That’s a high compliment considering the challenges that Chamberlain worked through in her year with the Lobo men’s basketball program. She found herself in the middle of a pair of media relations crises. First was the controversy involving an assistant coach, which was followed by the postseason firing of Neal.
Chamberlain received her first true taste of what working with the national sports media could be like.
“Crisis communications at the national level was a big thing for me,” Chamberlain said. “Getting calls from people like Jeff Goodman at ESPN was different at first. With the firings too, it was weird not knowing quite how to handle that right away. I was definitely learning as I went.”
Mercogliano admits promoting the program has its challenges, and that Chamberlain has risen to it. “You can be working with the national media and local media fighting for stories in one minute, and then fielding a call from the governor the next. It’s really like working for a professional team and it’s a tricky balancing act, but Chelsey in her first season handled it.”
Chamberlain has always been a fast study when it comes to athletic communications. Her career began as a student-athlete at Division III Pacific University, where she spent her evenings as the lead statistician for volleyball, football and basketball before spending her springs on the softball field (where she was an All-Region performer and became the Boxers’ career home run leader). While she entered Pacific with a goal of becoming a high school math teacher and softball coach, something about the world of stats, scoreboards and press releases drew the slugger in.
“When Pacific brought back football (in 2010), I became more interested in what took place behind the scenes,” Chamberlain said. “I went into the office and asked about what Blake (Timm) and Sara (O’Brien, then the assistant SID) did. The history and statistics sparked my interest.”
By her junior year, Chamberlain was also performing office duties and game-day work. In 2012 when she was graduating, Pacific’s assistant SID position came open and Chamberlain beat out 40 other applicants for the job. She spent the next 18 months helping cover the university’s 24-sport program along with serving as an assistant softball coach.
The opportunity to serve under Timm (who is receiving the Warren Berg Award at this year’s convention) provided the opening for Chamberlain to learn the job fundamentals. She learned quickly and was handling sports and press box operations on her own by the end of her first year.
“Blake was fantastic in helping me get to where I am today,” Chamberlain said. “I didn’t even know how to write a press release when I first started. Learning a writing foundation from Blake, plus getting those work opportunities, were huge in my development.”
Pacific’s position was funded through a NCAA Women & Minority Opportunities Grant, which provided Chamberlain the opportunity to attend her first CoSIDA Convention in 2013 in Orlando. It was there that she learned an important lesson about networking and where it can get you.
“I met Frank Mercogliano. I built a connection with him and we talked a lot about what I wanted to do,” Chamberlain said. “Six months later he emailed me with an opening and said that he thought I would be a great fit at New Mexico.”
Eighteen months after she started her first full-time job, Chamberlain joined the New Mexico staff, handling softball and volleyball. And the coaches began to rave about her performance.
“Chelsey has been an integral part of our program, and is one of the hardest working SIDs I have had the privilege to work with,” said New Mexico head softball coach Erica Beach. “Keep your eyes on her because this is only the beginning.”
“She is a tireless worker and puts everyone before herself,” said former New Mexico women’s basketball coach Yvonne Sanchez. “She built our social media to a high level. She has exceptional professionalism and earned the respect from all that work along side of her.”
“Chelsey wants to be very successful and holds a high level of excellence about herself and her work,” said former Pacific women’s basketball coach Sharon Rissmiller, now the Oregon State women’s basketball director of operations. “This is a young lady who has a huge future ahead of her.”
As her future progresses, Chamberlain would like to run her own office and possibility return to her native Oregon to be closer to family. But for now, she belongs at New Mexico to continue to learn and impress.
“I am in a good place right now,” Chamberlain said. “I have done a lot of things in my career that not a lot of people get a chance to do.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE: When I worked to create the Rising Star Award in 2005, I never dreamed that someone who worked for and with me would someday win it. There are not the words to describe how proud I am of Chelsey and the professional she has become. With her professionalism, work ethic and drive, there is nothing that she can’t do. She is the very definition of Rising Star. Rise on, Chelsey!
– Blake Timm
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