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CSCommunicators.com/CelebrateCSC
This feature is part of our series of profiles showcasing members throughout the CSC membership during the celebration of College Sports Communicators Membership Appreciation Week for 2022-23. See more features at CSCommunicators.com/CelebrateCSC.
Josh Lively – University of Tennessee, Assistant Director of Communications
by Lindy Brown – Duke University, Associate Director of Communications // CSC Membership Recognition Committee
Josh Lively returned to his alma mater, the University of Tennessee, in July 2021, as assistant director of athletic communications. He had spent six years at UT (2013-19, four as an athletic communications undergrad student interns, two as graduate assistant) before going to fellow SEC school Mississippi State for two years, serving as an assistant communications director there.
Lively is the primary contact for Vol swimming & diving and rowing programs. An advocate for student assistants and educating/training them, Lively is a first-year member of the CSC U Committee which is responsible for helping develop young professionals and provide programming and continuing ed for students looking to enter this field.
He was named a 2018-19 recipient of the UT Buck Jones Award, given to students who best exemplify the standards of excellence set forth by Buck Jones, the founder of UT’s Sport Management program.
Lively (left), Isaac Fowler (middle) and Evan Ford (right) before a 2021 Tennessee football game. The three were nicknamed the "Roane County Trio" for their connections prior to arriving at UT and working in athletics. Lively was in his first year at Tennessee; Fowler
was working one of his last games with Tennessee’s creative video team VFL Films before taking a job on the university side. Ford is currently the UT Associate Director of Digital Branding & Design.
After graduating from Tennessee, how has it been returning to your alma mater where you started your career?
JL: It's been awesome! I spent six years here with undergrad and graduate school, and I grew up 30 minutes west of Knoxville. So, this has always been home. I went to Mississippi State for two years and then was able to come back here. It might look like a really weird move professionally, because I went from handling women's basketball to doing swimming and diving and rowing. For me, it was more than that. I had a chance to come home and be close to my family and friends.
When this job came open at Tennessee, I felt like there's a lot of value to being somewhere where you know everybody and being near home. Since I've been back, it's been a blast. I didn't know anything about rowing or swimming and diving and last year we won the SEC Championship for women's swimming, our men had one of the top swimmers in the country as a freshman last year, and right now, he leads the country in three different categories.
What’s been one of the biggest adjustments to your new role?
JL: The hardest part has been that I now have more than 100 student-athletes, where I previously had about 20 between women's golf and women's basketball. That was a big challenge, but it's been fun. Athletics is doing really well here as well. I really enjoy everybody in the office. It is a great environment, great culture to work around. I get to work with some super-talented people across the external side of things.
Lively and the Tennessee Athletics Media Relations staff took time out of a busy weekend to get a photo on the College Gameday set ahead of the Vols' matchup against Florida.
What is your favorite thing about working at Tennessee?
JL: My favorite thing is definitely the office culture. When I first got here as a student—nothing against those people—the office culture was really different, and we didn’t have many people that were really invested in Tennessee. Since then, we started adding more staff who had ties to Tennessee. The city of Knoxville is a really good place, and many people don’t realize that.
One of the most important – and overlooked – roles of an athletic communications professional is educating and developing their interns and students, not only to empower them but also enhance the profession as these newcomers gain expertise and knowledge. Tell us more about your passion to teach students about the job.
JL: As an undergraduate, I wanted the students to be more involved. So when I returned to Knoxville, I wanted to oversee the student program. I am really passionate about our student program and have helped integrate the program more with our full-time staff. Sometimes, we'll go to the movies together or we'll go to trivia. But again, a lot of that ties into that we have our full-time staff and students doing this together.
Our student intern office is in the middle of our office, and sometimes they get a little loud and energetic, but it gives the office this extra level of energy, which is why I feel like it brings so much value to what we are doing and our office culture. It just feels like a fun place to be. Now, you look back at it and we have the three of us on our current staff that were students when I was here that are now in full-time positions.
Our office is really close. We're all really energetic. We're all really passionate about what we do and when you kind of get those things. It just makes things very enjoyable.
I am super passionate about our student interns. I want to try and help these students grow and find out if they want to pursue a career in this field. If so, I'm here to show them how to. If they want to purse a different career, I will help with that as well. I just I love being able to work with people and get to know them, know their story and further their career.
Originally wanting to pursue a career in sports broadcasting, Lively briefly lives out his childhood dream by posing as a host on the College Gameday set.
What do you enjoy the most about this profession?
JL: Relationship-building is what I enjoy the most about this profession because I love talking to people. I'm a big fan of meeting people. I want to know why they chose the path they did and what makes them tick. I'm so passionate about helping people get more involved and helping try and propel their career, because so many people have helped me early on. I wouldn't be back here at Tennessee and wouldn't have earned the opportunity to work at Mississippi State had I not had great mentors. Being able to build relationships with student-athletes with coaches and support staff is what I love.
As a diehard Tennessee fan growing up, I loved athletics. I loved Tennessee. When I was a graduate assistant, I worked with our men's basketball program during two really special seasons. I had been watching the Vols since I was in elementary school. And then I was with the program, which was really cool. But what was even cooler was getting to know those guys and be able to tell their story. Not just seeing what they're doing on the court, but what they were like off the court was an incredible feeling. That’s something I’ve really enjoyed with all the coaches and athletes who I have been privileged enough to work with.
You’ve got a new teaching opportunity this spring and some other new planning to do... Tell us about it.
JL: I’m very excited that I’ll be expanding my professional career starting this spring semester, as I will be teaching Sports Promotion & Branding in our Public Relations school here at the University of Tennessee. This was a class that I came up with because I see the need and want by students learn what it is we do as college sports communicators. It’s a really unique class for the PR program, as they don’t have any other courses related to sports. With my background in media relations, it was the perfect fit to be able to introduce this field to students.
Last but certainly not least, my next few months will be very busy and hectic, as I will be in the process of planning a wedding with my fiancé. I proposed on January 16, and the goal is to try our best to be married by the end of August.
Overseeing the Vols student intern program, Josh began the tradition of taking a group photo with the students who helped with press box setup the day before every home football game, feeling strongly that it's the little things that help make the student intern experience more memorable and enjoyable.
Outside of work, what would we find you doing?
JL: A little bit everything. I will spend time with my family and friends. I love to go to the movies. I am excited as we are supposed to have a good movie slate in 2023, because I am a movie junkie. I love watching TV shows. I'll binge watch anything, especially when we are on a road trip. I'm big into audiobooks.
Also, I like to go outdoors. Knoxville is probably one of the best locations, especially in this half of the country, for outdoorsy things because we're right on the doorstep of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We have a lot of rivers, a lot of hiking trails that are here. So that's always something I like to do kind of during the spring, summer and early fall before it gets too cold.
What would be your best tip advice for a fellow athletic communications professional?
JL: A lot of people always like to say “know your why” and I agree with that. You need to know why you do something. You have to learn that there are going to be bad days in this field. It's going to happen. You are going to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, and you're going take the brunt of it. Is it personal? No. Nine times out of 10 it's not something you may deserve to get yelled at for, but that happens. Is that right? No. I also try to tell people along with our students that bad days aren’t exclusive to college athletics. Other professions have bad days as well. On those bad days, you need to know your why. Those are the days you need to have a support group that you work with that makes your job enjoyable.
At one point, I asked myself, “Is this really what I want to do?” Yes, because I love my job. I have so much fun every day. And what we do isn’t the most important thing in the world, no, but it is important to a lot of people because sports is a big deal for our culture. There are people who would do anything to be in our positions. So, we should cherish that and be thrilled to have these opportunities. I get emails every day of students asking, “Hey, can I intern with you all?”
What advice would you give a young new content creator athletic communications professional as they pursue this career?
JL: So, I'm very blessed having been at Tennessee and Mississippi State to work with some super talented, creative folks between photography, videography, graphic design and social media. Some of my best friends are in those fields. I think the advice I would give to someone in a content creative position right now is it's okay to stand up for yourself. There will be days when you are getting hammered with requests. But there will also be days, where if you don’t stand up and say no or find an alternative, you're going to end up getting yourself overworked. That's going to lead to burnout. Don't just tell someone no, but try and find an alternative for it. That's part of our jobs. I just think a lot of people—especially younger professionals right now—are struggling with that. As they are just getting in the industry, and as interns or graduate assistants, you build up this whole mindset of trying to do everything no matter what, but at some point, you can’t do everything.
What career aspirations do you have?
JL: That's a pretty interesting question. I've thought about being an athletic director, but I don't necessarily know if I still want to do that. My goal right now is to move up and be higher in administration, maybe one day run my office and then jump into a head of external role.
The one thing I've seen since being in athletics is that careers can change so fast and everything can change so fast within the industry. There’s no telling what's in store or what college athletics is going look like in 20 years. If I sometimes seem nonchalant about my career aspirations (because your goals and dreams should drive you to do well in whatever you choose), it’s because I have always just allowed life to happen. I never expected to work in college athletics growing up. I definitely wouldn’t have told you that I’d be a professor teaching a class that I created if you had asked me a year ago. I always like to keep an open mindset about things because you just never know what will come along.