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Steve McClain (University of Florida) – 25-Year Award
by Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet University Associate Athletic Director for Communications/CoSIDA 3rd Vice President
McClain with eldest son, Austin.
With wife Emily and son Blake.
For nearly three decades, Senior Associate Athletics Director
Steve McClain has promoted and been a spokesman for the University of Florida athletics department. On occasion McClain has had to dive in and steer the Gators through high-profile coaching searches or deal with crisis communication situations.
“Steve has been on the frontlines for every football coach that has been here since Urban Meyer. He has never backed down,” said University of Florida Athletic Director/Emeritus Jeremy Foley. “He has never been anything but supportive. He has done all he can to make every one of those situations successful. He is a very unique person in that regard and that is why I admire him so much.”
McClain will be honored by the CoSIDA at its annual convention being held in Washington, D.C., with the 25-Year Award. He has worked at UF since 1990.
“This is such an honor,” said McClain. “When I was younger I would see these folks getting this award, I was like ‘Wow these guys were committed’, you looked up to those guys. It is kind of surreal to be on the other side of this conversation.”
Diving In
Jumping feet first into things has never been a problem for McClain.
The Horsham, Pa., native grew up in a swimming family and swam competitively since the age of six through college. McClain’s mother was an assistant coach at a prominent swimming club while his sister was a Top 10 swimmer in the country. He swam four years at Syracuse University in long distance events.
His swimming background would later help land him in Gainesville, Fla.
McClain’s first introduction to sports information came through an unlikely sport.
Taekwondo.
In August 1987, Syracuse hosted the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympic Games and McClain saw a sign posted seeking people to help with the communication efforts for the games. He attended a meeting and met other sports information directors (SIDs) from the New York region. McClain was excited to learn of his assignment. It was Taekwondo, a sport he knew nothing about, but he was not disheartened instead enthusiastic to learn.
McClain’s experience at the AAU Junior Olympic Games led him to meeting Syracuse SID Bill Strickland and securing a student position with the Orange.
McClain went on to graduate from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse in 1988. The aspiring sports broadcaster had created a particular list of communication schools he was interested in and that included the University of Florida. He applied for an internship in the UF sports information office.
On Easter Sunday (April 3, 1988), McClain received a call from former UF SID John Humenik to offer him the internship.
“I was like wow this guy is working on Easter Sunday,” said a naïve McClain at the time. “It turns out we all have worked a lot of Easter Sundays over the years.”
McClain would work with UF’s high-profile swimming program led by Randy Reese when he first arrived in Gainesville.
“Who knows what would have happened if I was not a swimmer,” said McClain, who alluded to the fact that his swimming background helped his candidacy for securing the internship.
New Career, New Location
McClain made the move down south and was taught the business thanks to Humenik.
“When I got hired, John Humenik was a big influence on me. I was around some talented people my first couple of years at UF that taught me the nuts and bolts of the job,” said McClain.
Humenik worked at UF from 1982 until 2002 and later served as CoSIDA’s Executive Director from March 2008 until May 2013.
McClain credits Joel Glass, now with the Orlando Magic, and Fred Demarest (N.C. State) as others who made an impression on his career while at UF.
McClain served as UF’s baseball SID with Andy Lopez in the early 1990s and later progressed to men’s basketball to work with Lon Kruger for a year before a young up-and-coming coach named Billy Donovan came into the picture. McClain later moved over to Gator football in 2002 and has been there ever since. He has worked with Ron Zook, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and now Dan Mullen.
“One thing is for sure — Steve has had to deal with some extreme personalities among the football coaches at Florida,” said
Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley. “The one thing that describes him the best is relentless. Nobody works harder to put his university in a positive light than Steve.”
McClain had worked himself into the inner circle of UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley.
“I ended up being in the executive room a lot because of the position I held and the people I was dealing with,” said McClain.
Foley had incredible trust in McClain.
“When you have that type of trust you want him in the inner circle, you want him in the room. He has good input. I was the type of Athletic Director that I liked to have people in the room that I trusted. We could talk through anything and try to solve any problem together. And together we usually came to a good place. ‘Stevie Mac’ was a huge part of that,” said Foley.
“I trusted ‘Stevie Mac’ with my life. Obviously, he protected me in so many different ways; in terms of making sure I said the right thing or thought about the right things.”
It’s Great to be a Florida Gator
McClain has seen the Gators build up its men’s basketball and football programs over the past decades into national champion caliber programs. Those two sports aside, UF as a whole has turned into one of the best collegiate athletic programs in the country as they continue to win national championships and be a force in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
There hasn’t been a reason for McClain to look elsewhere when it comes to working at a different school.
He is consistently challenged and that has kept the job fresh in his eyes.
“I never feel like I am doing the same thing,” said McClain.
His duties have expanded to being the sport administrator for Florida’s baseball program, who won the 2017 national championship.
“Steve has always epitomized the consummate professional. His ability to anticipate issues and coordinate messages, combined with an unbelievable work ethic, have made him one of the most indispensable members of the Florida Athletic staff for over 20 years. The Gators are blessed to have Steve McClain as part of our team,” said Scott Stricklin, Director of Athletics at University of Florida and himself a former sports information professional.
McClain is thankful to his wife (Emily) for being supportive and allowing him to continue to do what he has always wanted to do. The couple, who married in 1996, have two sons Austin (16) and Blake (12).
Aside from his family it has been his Gator family and Foley that has helped to support McClain in his career something he is very grateful for.
“Steve was an invaluable member of my management team during my tenure at Florida. To me, he is one of the most talented communications guys in the business. He was brilliant during difficult and crisis situations. Steve has a real knack for figuring out where the bullets may come from and how to deal with them day in, day out,” said Foley. “I am proud to have him on my staff. I am proud he is my friend. He is extremely worthy of any honor that comes his way.”
Now McClain finds himself being ‘one of those guys’ committed to being a SID, someone we can look up to, as he receives CoSIDA’s 25-Year Award.