Cassie Buchholz is in her second year as a Graduate Assistant in Media Services at Division I Southern Illinois University. Buchholz is the primary contact for the Saluki soccer and swimming and diving programs. Her responsibilities include official scoring, social media, website development, and in-game program and media guide creation.
A graduate of the University of Iowa less than two years ago, Buchholz already has collected varied experiences in athletics. She was a student assistant in Iowa’s athletic communications, ticketing and event marketing departments and also found time on write on the
Daily Iowan newspaper staff, serving as a sports beat reporter covering the Hawkeyes men’s and women’s golf and gymnastics programs.
Buchholz spent the 2019-20 academic year as a sports information intern at nearly Division III Coe College. She’s also found time to serve a media relations internship with the High Point Rockers baseball team of the Atlantic League and worked as a Chicago Blackhawks sports business consultant for the NHL team.
While at SIU, Buchholz is working towards an MS. Ed in sports studies after receiving her bachelors degree in sport and recreation management from Iowa.
What are some of her interests, what’s she taken from all her athletic communications stops so far, and how is she adjusting to being a young female professional in college athletic communications?
Read below to find out more, how she dreams of a charcuterie picnic on the River Seine and probably dreams of
not accumulating any more parking tickets (see her Twitter bio at
@CassieBuchholz for that!)
Cassie Buchholz after working as the primary media contact and helping host the 2021 Missouri Valley Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
Your previous media relations experience was as an intern for the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in the Summer of 2019. How has the transition been to working as a graduate assistant in the media relations office in collegiate athletics, particularly at a D-I institution?
CB: Summer internships, specifically baseball, have always been the most fun! You have long weekends, but I got to get my feet wet and helped out in many different roles. That summer, I threw out t-shirts to the crowd, set up marketing tables with posters and took phone calls in the office. Most important, I was introduced to media relations and picked up skills on writing press releases and game recaps, and facilitated interaction between the media and players.
What’s it been like working in college athletics during the pandemic years?
CB: I was in the first “COVID class,” graduating from Iowa in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Not only am I forever grateful and blessed to have my current assistantship at SIU, but I had an interesting start to the school year. All my classes were online and with the delay of fall sports into the spring, we didn’t play a game until October. I had a lot of time prepping and generating ideas for my sports, but it got very hectic in the spring of 2021. We had 14 sports competing at once, including FCS football. This school year, it’s SO nice to be back in a much more “normal” routine and see fans back in the stands safely. The overall transition was wild, but I know that I was not alone in it!
Cassie Buchholz after assisting with the statistics at the 2019 NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball National Championship, hosted by the American Rivers Conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Many GA's previously were student workers or student interns iin the media relations department of their undergraduate schools. Did your experience with the Rockers bring a different perspective to the Saluki sports information office?
CB: I actually had some volunteer experience with Iowa’s athletic communications office during my sophomore year of undergraduate study. I got my first taste into what a collegiate sports information department looks like and how a Big Ten football press box operates while running stats during 2017 football and women’s soccer seasons. Summer baseball internships give you the introductory taste into what athletic media relations offices do, while also giving you the advantage of laser-focusing of one sport.
While I was never a student at Coe College, I did a year-long sports information intern with their athletic department as a senior. It really jump-started me into what college athletics is all about. Those experiences advanced me into this opportunity at SIU.
What are some similarities and differences with the type of daily tasks you’ve done between minor league baseball and college athletics?
CB: The regular task of game notes, recaps, and general announcements on the website are very similar. It was helpful to break out the camera and shoot in-game for the Rockers. I translated that experience to Southern Illinois where we primarily take our own photos, being a mid-major. I never worked with stats in High Point – and that’s my primary job for nearly every sport at SIU. At my college jobs, I was also introduced to media guides and graphic design, and nominating for conference awards.
Cassie Buccholz with a 2016 Cubs World Series ring at Wrigley Field in 2017.
Your favorite part of being a GA in the Saluki sports information office is …?
CB: I love how I get experiences with just about every sport at Southern Illinois. While primarily the contact for women’s soccer and swimming and diving, I’m at every football game, volleyball game, men’s and women’s basketball game, and I split lots of time in between to the other sports. I work with incredible people too, who are there to support each other and we take on some rough days together.
While still being a full-time graduate student, it’s neat that I have had classes with some student-athletes who are using eligibility and taking fifth years of classes. I get to see them in a whole new light outside of their sport and get to know them as people. I see what great things they are accomplishing off the field.
You were a beat reporter for The Daily Iowan at the University of Iowa, covering the men's and women's golf and gymnastics teams. How have you transitioned from being a reporter to being the primary person that connects athletes and coaches to reporters and creates your own media?
CB: The greatest strength I had as a reporter with
The Daily Iowan was that I treated every interview with coaches and athletes like conversations. That way, I built up a connection and easily saw them as people and not subjects for articles. Larissa Libby – Iowa’s women’s gymnastics head coach – was one of the favorite coaches I’ve ever worked with. We got off topic from gymnastics and talked about life most days. In sports information, we see all the sides of coach and student-athlete personalities.
When you break the barrier of asking questions just for content and start to get to know your people outside of their sport, the transition becomes smoother and the barriers fall, then the good stories come out.
Cassie Buccholz scoring at a 2020 SIU men’s basketball alongside fellow graduate assistant Brandon Lindholm (left).
What have been some differences between working in a Division III school, like Coe, and in a Division I office?
CB: I have a favorite phrase that someone said while referring to differences in college divisions: “Division I and Division III are the same. But in Division III, you have a lot to do with a little”. Everything I knew about college athletics - before coming to Carbondale - was from my time at Coe College. The gameday regimen is the same in both divisions, yet there are more pieces to the puzzle in Division I with more staff and help around too.
Since there is more staff to spread out among sports, there’s more focus on social media and individual student-athlete content in Division I. Another big change is working with the TV networks and having many more media outlets for in-game coverage.
What challenges have you faced as a woman in the male-dominant industry of sports information? You belong to both the WoSIDA (Women of CoSIDA) informal group and ASWM, the Association for Women in Sports Media. I’m sure there’s conversations on these topics in those gatherings to help everyone face the challenges?
CB: As a female in this profession, I’ve been questioned much more often than a male about my true knowledge of sports and how I ended up where I am. I even had an opposing coach say he was shocked that “the girls were running the stats” as I handed him gamebooks post-game. This in ithe 2020’s!
I had Wednesday night classes last semester and haven’t been to a “WoSIDA Wind Down” informal Zoom chat yet, When possible, I really lean into the women who came before me on how to handle situations and how to learn to take a breather when it gets hectic.
I’m close with many of the other female SID’s in the Missouri Valley Conference, as well as assistant commissioner Katie Mucci and my mentor, Marissa Avanzato who is now at Texas A&M. We look to each other on content ideas, advice, and life balance talks.
Speaking of the work-life integrations … If there was one place you could travel to right now, where would it be?
CB: I would love to be on a picnic blanket with a charcuterie board in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Any place with fresh air and a nice view is where I’d be!
What thoughts would you share with your peers, other young female professionals beginning their careers in sports information?
CB: Wow, do I have a bunch!