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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.
Matt Ensor – University of Arizona, Director of Communication Services
by Barb Kowal – CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Affairs
“I would encourage folks to read and listen to a wide array of books and podcasts and not just those on sports or public relations. The more topics you can learn and study, the more ways you can apply it to your everyday work lives. Just listening to widely-successful podcasts are great ways to improve your own interview skills or even give you an inspiration or idea for how to do your own podcast for your department.”
- Matt Ensor, Arizona Director of Communication Services
As Arizona Athletics’ Director of Communication Services,
Matt Ensor works with campus partners, coordinates the daily communications operations, is the main contact for football, and supervises seven full-time staff members and a dozen student interns.
Ensor is heavily involved in national, regional and campus leadership initiatives and committee work, including COVID-19 re-entry and media operations working groups for Arizona Athletics, the Pac-12 Conference and CoSIDA/USBWA. He also was appointed to CoSIDA’s Division I Cabinet in the new governance structure.
Prior to joining the Wildcat athletic department in 2015, Ensor served at the University of New Mexico, Division II Georgia Southwestern and was a graduate assistant at Virginia Commonwealth.
In the CoSIDA 360 Magazine Winter 2020 issue, Ensor talked about about his unique relationship and friendship with basketball Hall of Famer and CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Famer Bill Walton in “
The Wisdom of Bill Walton.”
Traveling with Arizona for an away game.
What do you love the most about this profession?
ME: The building and development of lifelong relationships with your co-workers, coaches and student-athletes. For example, a point of pride in my career are the relationships with the student-athletes that I have worked with and how they grow even after they leave campus. It’s a great feeling to visit them in their hometowns are re-connect when they return to campus while acting as a touch point to them and the University by the relationship you’ve built with them.
Since the pandemic hit and athletic department competitions have been turned upside down ... Do you have any particular content "wins" for Arizona athletics to share?
ME: With the cancellation of competitive seasons, our office remained focused on “telling our stories.” That focus was on life away from sports for our student-athletes and to highlight our dedicated and talented staff behind our eventual return to campus and competition.
Dr. Stephen Paul, our head physician and medical re-entry lead, became a media focal point at Arizona as he not only led our first-class health and safety efforts but was part of a Pac-12 and CDC collaboration on research that reduced recommended time for quarantine. It’s been really awesome to learn more about our staff and be able to publicize all of their successes and hard work in this era of “the new normal.”
While at Arizona, Ensor previously served as men’s basketball SID.
You are on the inaugural CoSIDA Division I Cabinet as part of our new governance structure. What are some of the initiatives and issues you've discussed to date?
ME: Our conversations have centered around service and advocacy. How do we continue to serve our membership in the best way possible and expand our advocacy efforts in the face of unprecedented challenges and changes to the SID profession brought on by COVID-19? We’ve really taken the first step to connect and engage with members on a conference-by-conference basis to have conversations based on direct feedback, input and open dialogues.
What advice would you offer to a young athletics communications professional?
ME: Work at becoming as well-rounded as you can in all skills of this profession. A SID is truly a jack-of-all-trades, and it’s important not to become pigeon-holed into one specialization.
The more pieces to your swiss army knife of skills, the better off you will be moving forward. It’s something I have tried to work at myself during COVID-19, getting back to writing more features and dabbling in Photoshop once again. The more you can do, the bigger asset you are to any athletic department. It’s how the CoSIDA motto of #SIDsMakeItHappen comes to life.
Basketball great Bill Walton, the 2018 CoSIDA Dick Enberg Award winner, was presented with his award in person on Dec. 15, 2018 at halftime of the University of Arizona men's basketball game. Walton was broadcasting the game against Baylor for ESPN2 and is pictured with CoSIDA Executive Director Doug Vance (l) and Ensor.
What's a book (title, author) and/or a podcast (title, host) that you would recommend today to those in college athletics/athletic communications?
ME: I would encourage folks to read and listen to a wide array of books and podcasts and not just sports or public relations. The more topics you can learn and study, the more ways you can apply it to your everyday work lives. Just listening to widely-successful podcasts are great ways to improve your own interview skills or even give you an inspiration or idea for how to do your own podcast for your department.
If you could trade jobs with someone you know, who would you trade with and why?
ME: I’d trade with
Yogi Roth of the Pac-12 Networks. (Pac-12 Networks college football analyst, Emmy award-winning filmmaker,
New York Times best-selling author), because his work centers around great storytelling through a variety of platforms as well as broadcasting and covering Pac-12 Football with a great sense of passion and professionalism. (With a tip to Roth) I mean, how great is ball?