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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 2020-21. See more features at CoSIDA.com/ThankYourSID.
Anthony Macapugay – St. Joseph's College - Brooklyn, Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications and Operations
by Adam Rubin – Stony Brook, Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications
"Don't be afraid to give your interns and students larger tasks and projects they can take ownership of,” he said. “Set clear objectives and give recommendations on how to execute or how you'd do it, but leave room for them to insert their own ideas, which will aid their growth. You might be surprised with what they come up with.”
- Anthony Macapugay, St. Joseph’s College – Brooklyn Assistant AD for Communications and Operations
The St. Joseph’s College (Brooklyn) first-and-only full-time SID,
Anthony Macapugay has served in that role since 2008. At the small NCAA Division III school (undergraduate enrollment pre-pandemic was 985), he is responsible for the communication efforts for the Bears’ 14 intercollegiate varsity sports and also is the sport administrator for the women’s basketball and softball teams. Read more on how this former web developer and corporate intranet manager made the transition into athletics communications and why he stays, his development of interns who have gone on to become SIDs, and his advice for young professionals.
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Both of Anthony Macapugay’s parents worked in the corporate world. And he loved technology. So Macapugay chose to major in computer science while an undergrad in Boston College’s management school. And upon graduating in 2000, he entered that field.
A year later, though, his company went belly-up as the dot-com bubble burst. So Macapugay enjoyed a leisurely summer and awaited his next opportunity.
Macapugay and his wife Jackie (an SJC alumna) with their first child, now eight-month-old daughter Emma.
His company’s former CEO moved into investment banking and invited Macapugay to join him in the information-technology department. Macapugay spent the next six years in the role, but it ultimately proved less than fulfilling.
“I did the corporate world thing,” Macapugay said. “It was a good job. It paid well. But there was something missing.”
While working in IT, Macapugay began assisting friend Frank Carbone on gamedays at the Brooklyn campus of tiny St. Joseph’s College, a NCAA Division III institution playing in the Skyline Conference which has a full-time undergraduate enrollment of less than 1,000.
The school never had a statistician, so Macapugay — a Brooklyn native — taught himself Cybersports and later Stat Crew.
And as St. Joseph’s began the process to become an NCAA member, Carbone — then the athletic director and women’s basketball coach — secured a stipend for a sports information position which Macapugay assumed.
Macapugay began updating the rudimentary athletics website and laying the groundwork for a modern athletic communications department. Flash forward a decade and he’s now the only full-time SID in the program’s history.
“After St. Joe’s was approved to start the NCAA process and move forward, I was just turning 30, and the opportunity was there to turn it into a full-time position,” Macapugay said. “I was at a crossroads. My logic was that I had enough (corporate) connections. I had been doing IT long enough if this athletic position didn’t work out. I thought, let’s just try something different. It’s not always about the money. I was in a comfortable spot. So I made the leap to join St. Joe’s, and have basically been here ever since.”
Macapugay with CoSIDA Academic All-District® women’s soccer honoree Deserae Sequeira in 2019 at the St. Joseph’s College Annual Awards Banquet that Macapugay produces and hosts.
In addition to building the sports information office from scratch, Macapugay has aided in the tremendous growth of the athletics department. He assisted in SJC’s transition to NCAA Division III and contributed to the planning for the college’s first on-campus athletic facility.
“In the corporate world, you don’t really know who you’re working for,” Macapugay said. “You’re driven a little bit by your review or getting a better bonus while working your way up the corporate ladder. Aside from that type of gratification, for me, at least, there was something missing.
“When I got into the college space, in a small-school atmosphere, it reminded me of my first job out of college, at the dot-com. I think we only had 25 employees. You knew everyone at the company. And you got exposed to doing different things because it’s small. That’s kind of a similar environment at St. Joe’s. We only have seven full-time people on staff. All of our coaches are part time. It’s just a family feel - and not just our athletic department. That’s what has appeal to me. You know the students are appreciative of the work you do for them. That’s a big driving factor in why I’ve been at St. Joe’s for so long.”
In his tenure, Macapugay has spawned his own SID tree. Mercy College’s Kyle Goodhart, Fairleigh Dickinson’s Bryan Jackson and Central Missouri’s Joe Hoffmann all jump-started their careers as interns with Macapugay.
He also has helped mentor Kai Henson — a future rising star in the profession, who is scheduled to graduate this spring. Henson was a 2019 CoSIDA undergraduate scholarship winner and the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Jim O’Connell Scholarship Award winner last year.
Macapugay traveled with the Brooklyn Nets in 2017 for the NBA's Mexico City Games. He is in his fifth season as an NBA/G-League statistician.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have people come in here either for credit or just for even unpaid internships and spend quite a bit of time here,” Macapugay said. “When I recruit them and they reach out to me, my pitch to them is I’m investing my time in them — not so much just trying to find interns.”
His advice to fellow SIDs?
"Don't be afraid to give your interns and students larger tasks and projects they can take ownership of,” he said. “Set clear objectives and give recommendations on how to execute or how you'd do it, but leave room for them to insert their own ideas, which will aid their growth. You might be surprised with what they come up with.”
Macapugay also works on the stat crews for the Brooklyn Nets and their G League affiliate. There, he was exposed to Genius basketball software before it reached college athletics. He also is a regular statistician for college games at Barclays Center and at several local schools.
As for his path to athletic communications, well, Macapugay notes he had an atypical path.
“I kind of fell into it a little bit,” he said, “and I wouldn't change a thing."
Macapugay (l) with LIU Assistant Athletic Director/Director of Media Relations Casey Snedecor (r) after the championship game at the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at the Barclays Center.