"The Life" is a series surveying College Sports Communicators members for their thoughts on topics and issues in the athletic communications industry, plus personal insights into not-so-serious issues, too.
Since August 2017, Grant has served as Director of Athletic Communications at NCAA Division III Juniata, located in Huntingdon, Pa., 125 miles east of Pittsburgh. His prior communications experience includes time as
Misericordia University's assistant SID (2015-17), being a graduate assistant at his alma mater, McDaniel College (2014-15) and being a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Macias joined the Cal Poly Pomona athletic department in August 2022. Prior to assuming the assistant athletic communiciations role at the Division II institution, Macias spent 2021-22 at her alma mater, Cal State San Bernardino, as athletics marketing and communication specialist. She also was an intern in the sports information office at College of The Desert from 2018 to 2020.
Pulverenti joined the NAIA Missouri Valley staff in 2012 and currently serves in a dual role as an Assistant Athletic Director and SID. Missouri Valley is located 90 minutes east of Kansas City. Pulverenti was selected as the 2020-21 Dave Fillmore Sports Information Director of the Year for the Heart of America Athletic Conference. He oversees all athletic communications efforts for 31 sports in one of the largest athletic departments in the league. Prior to coming to Missouri Valley, Pulverenti was a TV news anchor and radio sports director and station programmer.
Your top moment of 2022 ...
Grant: Had a lowkey and delightful Thanksgiving with my girlfriend Lauren where we split cooking duties and the food turned out great (in my opinion). Was nice to just spend time together and not be thinking about work...too much? Juniata basketball was in action Saturday and Sunday.
Macias: The weekend of November 18-19. We were hosting a men's basketball tournament and had a women's basketball game scheduled as well (five basketball games in two days). I was the lead that weekend as my supervisor was at the NCAA West Region Tournament with women's volleyball. I was working my first basketball games at Cal Poly Pomona, so although I knew roughly what needed to be done, I did lack the experience in our Kellogg Arena.
I have two student leads,
Ellie Tio (video production lead) and
Gianna Giordana (stats crew lead). I was running around troubleshooting issues with our network connection and troubleshooting our stats tablet as well. Unfortunately, I was also running the scoreboard myself so I could no longer work on those two other issues.
At the very first timeout, Ellie and Gianna reported to me that they continued to work on the problems while I was on the scoreboard and found the solutions. Everything was up and working! I was so proud to watch these two young women take the problem into their own hands and find a solution without being asked. That night, they went above and beyond what we ask of them — and was definitely my top moment of 2022.
Pulverenti: My top moment from 2022 was the ceremonies surrounding our homecoming weekend. Some changes in our department staff with the retirement of our long-time athletic director and the departure of a talented Associate AD led to me having more responsibility and ownership of athletic events during homecoming. The work that was done by our department was difficult, but rewarding this year as many of us were wearing different hats than we did in the past, and many took on new responsibilities. It's a very important weekend for our college, and we received nothing but compliments throughout. It was extremely satisfying to know that our alumni and supporters appreciated the work we put in.
If you could forecast into the new year, what would you wish for CSC members and our communications profession:
Grant: Sleep seems almost too easy...so I will say I hope all our members can find joy in their daily grind. It's very easy to be overwhelmed by this job, but I hope everyone finds time in their day for fun, because that what this is supposed to be.
Macias: I wish for a more inclusive way of sharing our profession to students and educating them about this career path! When I was on the cusp of graduating, I went searching for a career field that fit me best, and that was when I found sports communications. Before then, I had no idea that this career existed.
Pulverenti: Looking at myself when I answer this — learning how not to overwork yourself and use skills and tactics and prioritization to avoid this. And be able to adapt and react to all the changes constantly facing us.
Put aside the New Year’s resolutions! Instead, pick an area of your life where you would like to feel or do better...and answer these three simple questions: What do you want to start? What do you want to stop? What do you want to continue?
Grant: Staying connected with friends not in my immediate area. It's very easy to fall into fall season, then boom, it’s crossover season. Winter slows down a bit and before I know it, it’s spring. So, I would like to do a better job keeping in touch with some of my not-in-athletics friends (who probably won’t see this and therefore can’t hold me accountable, LOL!).
I want to start being more present listener. My brain has a tendency to wander to various tasks and I need to be a more present listener in conversations. My girlfriend would be thrilled with this development. My assistants would appreciate this development too...and my coaches...you get the picture.
I want to stop skipping gym workouts. I had a nice little streak of going at least three days a week but that streak was broken the week we hosted women’s volleyball regionals and at that point figured it could wait until after our women’s volleyball team finished their run — and they won the NCAA Championship! Not blaming them as they are a clear beacon of hard work but I got a little lazy so I'm going to try and get back to that.
What I want to continue...I'm incredibly proud of the work my office has produced as I go into my sixth year at JC, and I hope we continue that. This past fall assistant directors
Bri Scilia and
Tre Shuttlesworth, along with students
Cade,
Amantae,
Ellie,
Aiden &
Reuban, all had a hand in making great graphic, photo and video content. I've been lucky with great coworkers in athletic comms. My first assistant
Amanda Gretz was truly fantastic (now the head SID at Elizabethtown). I've had several great lead student workers, including
Matt Scialabba (now at Susquehanna) and my first student worker who spent countless hours making every graphic/story header you can imagine,
Harpreet. Also have great support from our top shelf photographer
JD, JC's athletics photographer since the early 2000s as well as
Heather at the printshop who brings all of programs and signs to life (and will even catch my typos), and of course the man who brought me on and has listened to all my ideas before re-imaging them as developing them — our Associate AD for Operations
Scott McKenzie.
Macias: I want to start improving the integrity of my work so that I may inspire others with that work. I want to stop feeling rushed and just be present in every moment so that I may appreciate even more the amazing career I have. I want to continue to motivate and inspire those I work with, especially students.
Pulverenti: I want to start trusting people to help me run the sports communications department. I've been in this position for 10 years, and up until recently, I've done this job primarily by myself. I've been fortunate enough to have a part-time assistant, but it's difficult to let some responsibilities go, and let someone else handle parts of the job.
To stop: I would like to stop agonizing over arbitrary deadlines I make for myself. With an increasing work load, the goals I set for work project completion has become more and more difficult to meet. It gives me great anxiety to push something back a day, fearing that I am doing a sport or an event wrong, but sometimes it's best to not over work myself with long days and late nights/early mornings.
To continue: to learn how to do my job as SID better. I started with a very vague idea how to work in this profession, so I feel like I've constantly been learning since day one. There's so many things in the job that change or evolve rapidly, so it's important to keep up to date and adapt with the changes.
What quote resonates with you more than any other?
Grant: “I carry death around in my body like a condemnation. But I do live. There must be some way to integrate death into living, neither ignoring .” Audre Lorde
Macias: "Great things happen to those who work for it." I don't know where I got this and who originated the quote is, but I think about it all the time.
Pulverenti: I really like the quote from Colin Powell: "There are no secrets to success. It's the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure."
What would your perfect day look like?
Grant: I'm a big fan of a relaxing day of not much. So, it would involve my girlfriend, breakfast (the best meal) and hopefully a nice dinner later. A midday nap, when possible, is an undefeated luxury! Professionally, watching one of your teams win a national championship is pretty cool. (Did I already mention the 2022 volleyball national championship thing? It was pretty neat!)
Macias: My perfect day is gathered around my family. Having some great food and even better drinks. Nothing is more important to me than my family.
Pulverenti: The perfect day would be getting to spend time with my wife and two daughters. I like my work, but I like spending time with family even more. Doesn't matter what we're doing, as long as everyone is enjoying our time together. This gets tougher to do as my daughters get older, but when everything comes together, it makes for a great day.
Unfortunately, you were not the winner of the $2 billion Powerball drawing in November, but … what would you do if you won the lottery?
Grant: Obviously, a hearty donation to College Sports Communicators. After that, I think Manchester United is supposed to go up for sale so the Powerball wouldn’t be enough to be major owner but maybe I could go in with a group? That would be fun.
Macias: I would of course take care of my family. After that, I would donate to all the schools I've coached at and the schools I've worked at. I have always wanted to design an indoor basketball gym so I would donate enough to make that possible and have the gym named after myself.
Pulverenti: If I won the lottery, I'd probably step down from my position, but donate back to help Missouri Valley build some great athletic facilities. Set up family and friends in any way I can. Look at some vacation places in some of our favorite travel locations. I'd like to think life for us wouldn't change much, but who knows what would happen with winning that much money.
Would you rather: travel during the holidays or stay home?
Grant: Stay home.
Macias: Travel with family; I love spending time in hotels.
Pulverenti: Whatever we have to do to spend time with family. If that's travel, that works. If it's stay home and host, that's great as well. We're very family-oriented people, so whichever gets us all together is what we'll enjoy doing.
Would you rather: star in a popular holiday music single or star in a popular holiday movie – and why?
Grant: Music single…I have a face for radio.
Macias: I love music, but I would probably want to star in a holiday movie as I wouldn't be expected to perform the same holiday song over and over. I would eventually be sick of the holiday song!
Pulverenti: I'd rather star in a holiday movie. I have absolutely no singing talent, and while I doubt I have any sort of acting ability, I'd like to think with enough direction, I could give a passable performance. Plus, a good holiday movie is hard to pass up.
Would you rather: eat only holiday food or watch only holiday movies?
Grant: Looking back at previous answers I may have given this one away already … but my answer is food as I’m a big food guy. Gimme the food 100 times out of 100.
Macias: Being Mexican American I would only eat holiday food. It's enough variety that it would not get old. I would have tamales, menudo, turkey, ham, prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, Banuelos, and much much more.
Pulverenti: Even though I chose to be in a holiday movie, I enjoy eating holiday food a lot more. My wife is an amazing cook that creates all sorts of great dishes for the holidays. Throw in my mom's great Christmas cookies, and I'm set.