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CoSIDA.com/ThankYourSID
This feature is part of our series of profiles showcasing members throughout the CoSIDA membership during the celebration of CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week for 2019. See more features at CoSIDA.com/ThankYourSID.
Joe DiBari – Fordham University, Sports Information Director
by Daniel Ruede, University of New Haven, Associate Director of Athletics/Strategic Communications
DiBari was featured in an ESPN College Football 150 celebration video discussing how the origin story of Vince Lombardi's "Run to daylight" philosophy is rooted in the history of Fordham University. Watch at: http://www.espn.com/video/clip/clip?id=27742942.
Longevity in the athletic communications profession seems harder and harder to come by but
Joe DiBari has proven why longevity in the business is a benefit for a school. Entering his 23rd season as the Sports Information Director of Fordham University, DiBari’s leadership has provided extensive coverage in a saturated market for the University’s 21 sports which compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference and Patriot League.
“Joe has served as our Director of Athletic Communication for 22 years. As the Director, he has done an outstanding job of ensuring that the Fordham athletic program is at the forefront of the latest trends in athletic communication and sports promotions. Joe is a terrific leader and manager. He and his staff have done excellent work in highlighting all aspects of Fordham Athletics. Joe is very professional and well liked throughout Fordham and is a key member of our department.”
~ Director of Athletics, David Roach
In addition to his athletic responsibilities, Joe proudly seres as the commencement announcer, a role he has held since 2005, while also running the St. Rose’s Garden CSA at Fordham, a farm share program that brings fresh fruits and vegetables from Norwich Meadows Farm in upstate New York to campus.
In addition to volunteering at the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship since 2009, DiBari is also committed to honoring the best of the best, serving as a member of the CoSIDA Academic All-American committee since 1995 and joining the Stabley Writing Contest committee two years ago.
DiBari, his wife Edith Kealey, PhD (who has four university degrees) and their sons Patrick and Nicholas.
What sparked your interest in a career in athletic communications? Was there one particular moment or person?
I transferred from USC, where I was a pre-med major for a semester, to Tampa before my junior year after I realized that med school was not in my future. At that point, I switched to major in marine biology but when I showed up at Tampa, they informed me that my work-study assignment would be with the sports information office (I had no idea what this entailed).
I walked into the athletic office and met Jim Sheehan who gave me the job description. Upon hearing that my reply was “so you’re going to pay me to watch soccer and basketball games?” I was hooked and I would have changed majors had I been a freshman. Instead, I worked for Jim for two years and then went to grad school in Houston.
Immediately I discovered that I was different from other graduate students. They would read scientific journals at lunch and I would read the
USA Today’s sports section. After enough fellow grad students told me that I was really knowledgeable about sports, I figured either they truly thought I was knowledgeable about sports or they were just telling me (nicely) that I stunk at marine biology.
Eventually, I worked in the Houston sports information office my final year of grad school and have been employed in the athletic world ever since.
You’ve been at Fordham for a significant portion of your career. For those new to the profession, do you feel there is more benefit to a position with stability or to test the waters at multiple institutions?
I think everyone has their comfort level and when you’re starting out it can be beneficial to move around a bit. When I was just starting out, I had the goal of working at one of the big-time schools as the head SID. But as I moved from Division III, to Division II and then to Division I at Fordham, I realized that maybe that wasn’t the right track for me. I felt comfortable at Fordham and knew that it was the right place for me. Well, that and the tuition remission offered for my sons.
What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
Be prepared to start at the bottom and put in the time and make the connections to move up. My first full-time sports information gig was an internship at Brown University where my compensation was $25/week, a meal card, and a room in the back of the old gym.
What is your top professional development tip to share with colleagues both young and old?
Never be afraid to try something new. Sometimes we get comfortable in doing something the same way every day when there could be another way to more efficiently accomplish the task. I’m living proof. I remember when I first started using a fax machine and thought what a game changer it was.
What’s the biggest career lesson that you’ve learned?
Keep everything in perspective and maintain an even keel. While it’s great to win championships, it’s just as important to put the same effort into teams that don’t have that success.
DiBari has headed Fordham University’s athletic communications department for 23 years.
Is there an achievement or contribution that you are most proud of?
My greatest personal achievement is out-kicking my coverage in finding a life partner. I’m sure that everyone who meets my wife, Edith Kealey, who has four university degrees including a PhD and has appeared on Jeopardy, walks away thinking “what did she see in Joe?”
Professionally it was receiving the Mike Cohen Good Guy Award from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association. I’m not a big award guy but getting an award from the media (and getting a congratulatory phone call from Mike Breen) was pretty cool.
Have any fun stories from your years in the profession?
At my first full-time position at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy we were having a stretch of losing basketball seasons. At the time,
Sports Illustrated ran a weekly item titled, “They Said It”. I had a great quote but didn’t think SI would accept it from me so I convinced an assistant coach to let me attribute it to him. The next week, our small NCAA Division III school was in
Sports Illustrated as the coach was quoted saying “If losing builds character, we have more characters than Disney and Warner Brothers combined.”
What’s the most rewarding part of the job?
Seeing the student-athletes as they develop from freshmen to seniors and then following their careers after graduation. I’ve been at Fordham long enough that I’m now seeing the sons and daughters of former student-athletes attending Fordham.
What do you look for in building an athletic communications Staff?
Someone who can bring new ideas to the office and works hard but keeps things in perspective. I tell everyone I interview; we’re not brain surgeons or nuclear physicists, we work at sporting events. Let’s have fun doing it.