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Past CoSIDA 25-Year Award Recipients
Steve Kirschner – University of North Carolina, Senior Associate Athletic Director/Strategic Communications
2019 CoSIDA 25-Year Award recipient
by Dave Lohse, University of North Carolina Associate Athletic Communications Director
I don’t know what impresses me more about
Steve Kirschner, associate athletic director for communications at the University of North Carolina. Part of me wants to say it’s the fact he produces the best game notes in college basketball. And despite the fact the world seems to be on a social media lovefest, I still view those game notes as essential to our duties as sports information directors.
The other thing that amazes me about Steve, who will receive a CoSIDA 25-Year Award at the June convention, is his boundless energy. He never slows down. He is like the energizer bunny. I’m approaching 65 now and I admit I don’t have the same level of energy I used to. But Steve, ever inspired by his job and the people he works with, always keeps going. And while I am at it, he’s a superb family man.
Kirschner and his children, Ryan and Emilie, at the 2017 Final Four in Phoenix.
All in all, the University of North Carolina is very fortunate to have him and I certainly hope everyone who works in the athletic department at UNC knows it.
Steve attended Connecticut where he was a four-year student assistant and learned from three of the best in the business in Tim Tolokan, Chuck Steedman and Barb Kowal. He came to UNC as an intern in 1988, went to Florida for a year as an intern and came back to Carolina full-time in 1990 where he was mentored by CoSIDA Hall of Famer Rick Brewer.
Kirschner took over management of the SID office in 2000 and has consistently hired good people as full-time staff, interns and students. Steve has always worked hard to make sure there is a collegial atmosphere in our office. He is well respected by his peers in the athletic communications business and I am sure he will soon be a CoSIDA Hall of Famer himself. A strong advocate for his teams and coaches at Carolina, he’s also earning the respect of the local and national media and always works tirelessly to make sure they get the access they need.
In short, if you don’t respect the job Steve Kirschner does, please look in a mirror and undergo some self-introspection. As for me, I’ve been lucky to call him a friend since 1988. Steve is a life-long Boston Red Sox fan — and he finally got his just due in 2004! I’m a life-long Chicago Cubs fans. I had to suffer another 12 years. Yet we both have lived long enough to see our favorite teams finally win the World Series.
He has worked with some of the most legendary coaches and student-athletes in UNC history, well honestly, in collegiate athletic history. The coaches list includes Anson Dorrance, Mack Brown, Bill Lam and a couple of gentlemen named Dean Smith and Roy Williams. Steve was involved as an SID for six women’s soccer teams which won national titles and four men’s basketball teams which claimed crowns. He’s been to 11 NCAA Final Fours in men’s basketball representing UNC sports information … that could be a record for a single SID.
He was there in 1997 in Winston-Salem when Coach Smith broke Adolph Rupp’s record for most wins in the history of college basketball. He’s helped build the best college basketball museum at any school in the country and coordinated the 100-year anniversary of Carolina basketball earlier this decade. Steve did a superb job coordinating Coach Smith’s Memorial Service as the building named in his honor in 2015.
To this day one his proudest accomplishments is serving as media coordinator for the 1994 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Smith Center. He carried off his duties in that event with aplomb and received enormous praise for his efforts.
In the modern era, Steve has served as Coach Williams’ right hand man and publicist for 16 years. That’s a full-time job on its own, yet he still finds a way to oversee our office and serve as an advocate for it and its goals within our department structure.
And then there is the list of highly-accomplished student-athletes he has worked with. This group boggles the mind: Mia Hamm. T.J. Jaworksy (three-time NCAA wrestling champion). Marion Jones. Dre’ Bly. Julius Peppers. Antawn Jamison. Vince Carter. Jerry Stackhouse. Sean May. Tyler Hansbrough. Danny Green. Marcus Paige. Justin Jackson. Joel Berry. Luke Maye.
I’m exhausted just typing that list. Can you imagine the man hours that have gone into setting up interviews for all those folks? I hope he has been thanked many times in the process.
Congratulations to Steve on earning his 25-Year Award from CoSIDA. As I look forward to retirement someday from Carolina, hopefully I can work part time to help him dig up even better game notes and nuggets about Carolina basketball and Carolina athletics, or at least give him a hand in proofreading.
In the meantime, one of the collegiate athletic world’s true people persons carries on his work and we are very lucky to have him around. I know I speak for many people in saying thanks Kirsch. And please — just an energy bar — occasionally. We want that mind sharp. But no Red Bulls!