College Sports Information Directors of America

“We are still the intermediary with the media; that’s the biggest thing I try to teach my grad assistants. In some respect it’s a lost art, but we are the eyes and ears for the media and with the dwindling number of media members it is even more important to get them the information they need.”
- Bob Shreve

 
Through over three decades in the sports information business, Bob Shreve has seen many things about the profession change.

With all the changes that have come along, though, there’s one element of the job that has never altered.

“It’s a people job and that’s the biggest thing,” emphasizes Shreve, Sports Information Director at NCAA Division II's Edinboro University, located in northwest Pennsylvania near Lake Erie. “I still enjoy being around all the people. I enjoy the coaches, the athletes, the media members.”

And while the push to add more content from exclusive website features, social media and more is prevalent across all levels, Shreve stresses to his young staff members the importance of serving the media.

“The biggest thing is the PR aspect. This has evolved into videos and graphic arts and so many skills are involved, but we are still a public relations function,” he said. “We are still the intermediary with the media; that’s the biggest thing I try to teach my grad assistants. In some respect it’s a lost art, but we are the eyes and ears for the media and with the dwindling number of media members it is even more important to get them the information they need.”

The sports information director at Edinboro for nearly the past two decades, Shreve has been an institution in northwestern Pennsylvania, earning induction into the Erie chapter of the state’s Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year.

What turned out to be a lifelong career started with entering the right door at the right time.

“It was almost totally by luck,” he recalled.
 

Needing to do a practicum for his graduate work, he took a role in the sports information office at Ohio University.

“Most of the areas were all filled. I went into the sports information office and the SID at the time, Frank Morgan, said yeah, we can use you. I had no clue what I was doing. He showed me a few things, put me in charge of swimming and wrestling. That got me started.”

From there, Shreve moved on to take the SID position at Frostburg State in Maryland in 1982. He was there for two years, learning lessons that have paved the way for his entire career.

“Back then we were typing stuff on typewriters and doing stats manually,” he said. “I was 24, 25 and I learned so many things from the coaches. To this day there are certain things I go back to.”

Shreve left Frostburg for Mercyhurst College in Erie where he would spend the next four years where he held the title of assistant director of athletics. He was also the Lakers’ softball coach for a season and coached baseball for a year as well.

In 1988, he moved to professional baseball as general manager of the Erie Orioles, a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. After two years working in the minors, though, he made the decision to return to sports information and accepted the SID position at NCAA Division III West Chester (Pa.), then ultimately returned to Erie by taking over the athletics communications office at Division II Gannon University. After nearly a decade at Gannon, he made the short trip to Edinboro in 1998 to accept the position he holds today.

Shreve has earned numerous CoSIDA awards for his work, with various accolades for his publications. He has helped publicize many All-Americans, including a national basketball player of the year at Gannon and football Harlon Hill Trophy finalists at Edinboro.

The recipient of one of ECAC-SIDA’s top honors - the Irving T. Marsh Award for excellence in athletics communications - Shreve also has been a district and national coordinator for CoSIDA's Academic All-America® program.

Outside the Edinboro office, he currently serves as a statistician for the Erie BayHawks of the NBA G-League and is public address announcer for the Erie SeaWolves, the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

One of his greatest sources of pride, though, has been the dozens of graduate assistants he has mentored over the years who have gone on to great success in the field.

“It’s the greatest thing I take from my time in the profession,” he says. “They’ve made me look so good. I owe such a debt of gratitude to them.”

With all the changes he has seen in the profession over the years, he does fear that not as many of those young SIDs coming up the ranks will enjoy the type of longevity he has.

“The grind of the job can push younger and very talented SIDs into other positions,” he said. “I don’t think we see the number of people who stay in this profession for the multiple decades like we used to see. We try to do so much and sometimes. One solution is that we need to take a step back and take the time for ourselves and for our families.”

Still, the things that drew him to the job unexpectedly years ago keep him energized and ready to go each time a contest begins at Edinboro.

“Every day presents a new challenge. You have days where it’s easy to get frustrated, but when I walk out of the office and it’s 12:30 at night after a basketball doubleheader, I still find the feeling of accomplishment,” he says. “At the end of the day, I still feel more often than not that I won the day.”