In celebration of Women’s History Month, CSC is continues highlighting its members through the Women to Watch series. This month’s edition spotlights
Kat Castner, the director of communications for Duke Athletics.
Castner has been a part of the staff since August 2019, and was promoted to her leadership position in August 2021 after joining the Blue Devil staff as senior associate director of communications. Castner is the main contact for football and men’s tennis. Prior to Duke, she was the director of athletic communications at Army West Point for three years (2016-19) and the assistant director of athletic communications at Colgate (2012-16) before that. She began her career in college campus public relations and marketing, working at her alma mater, Robert Morris University, for three years after graduation.
Castner earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management/public relations in 2010 from Robert Morris where she was a four-year letterwinner for the women’s soccer team. In 2011, she earned her master's degree in journalism and mass communications from Point Park University.
Castner follows Duke football head coach Mike Elko off the sidelines after Duke’s 30-13 victory over UCF at the 2022 Military Bowl at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium (Annapolis, MD) on December 28.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
KC: Seeing the student-athletes develop [during their time] with the program. We all start as professionals at some stage in our careers. And even when you join a new school, you're starting out again, and then to see those individuals grow, whether it's on the playing field, in the classroom, or just as individuals and people, I think that's the most rewarding. There's tons of stories out there, and I just love being able to tell those stories.
And then to have them come to you their senior year and be so thankful for your assistance with four years of development, in terms of the comms side. Such as, helping develop them to be a bit more well-spoken or getting better at handling media questions, handling tough games, and working with them on how you overcome those situations. Again, that’s rewarding.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
KC: I'll be honest, the hours divided into the pay. I get that we get to work with sports, I understand that we get to experience once-in-a-lifetime things. I like to say we're not saving lives, but we still put a lot of hard work and effort into what we do and it's an around-the-clock type industry. With social media nowadays, I'm fortunate here at Duke that I don't have to be running our socials and doing the website and handling media inquiries, amongst other things … we have a team of people that handle a lot of that. But I've been in institutions where the communications individual is a one or two-person shop. So that's the most difficult thing is just being able to juggle all of that and give your team the most that they deserve. And then obviously, being compensated for all of that hard work. Just as much as coaches and other individuals are missing weddings and birthdays, and all that stuff with family … we miss those things as well. So just being able to be more fairly compensated for that time is, I believe, one of the shortfalls in our industry.
Castner and Matt Faulkner (Army West Point Assistant AD) pose with the Commander in Chief’s trophy at the White House in 2018.
What is it like working a football bowl game? How is it different from the regular season?
KC: Duke went to the 2022 Military Bowl this past year, and I had been to three previous bowls prior to that. Obviously, everyone wants to win that bowl game. There's some very notable bowl games out there, of course, and everyone does want to win, but there's just a little bit, in my opinion, less pressure at bowls. As you work up in the industry, you want to get to the national championship and there's obviously extreme pressure in those situations, but you have to be thankful that you're in the national championship. At bowls, I think there's just a little bit of a buzz in the air, whether it's at practice or at game time, and everybody's got a little bit more pep in their step.
Even though people joke that a football season is only 12 to 13 games, it's a daunting season. Nowadays, you're working on the sport of football year-round. So to be able to culminate all of that into games, and then to have that extra (bowl) game, it’s like, “Alright, this is the second half of the season … so let's put everything into that game.”
You are one of two women in the ACC to be the main contact for your respective football program. Where do you hope to see that number in five years?
KC: I started out at a smaller school, Colgate University, and my boss,
John Painter, gave me the opportunity to work men's basketball. And we were a small Division I school, so it was good for me to learn the ropes. When I traveled with the team, I interacted with nearly all men. There might have been one or two women in the industry covering men's basketball. And then, as I slowly progressed in the industry, that expanded a little bit. When I got to football, it was nearly the same thing. With more females that I see coming through (the profession), the more opportunities that I get as a hiring manager. I want the best person for the job, but I'm going to take a second look at a female because I know how hard it was for me to get my positions, because there are so many males in this industry who have a ton of really great experience. So, I always take like a second and say, “okay, could this person do it?.” I started out from nowhere, someone took a chance on me, and look at where I am in 10 years. So I hope that now, I'm setting that goal — obviously, I want the best professional for the job, but I also want to help women when I can — so that we do have more females in bigger roles in the next couple of years.
Castner with mentor and Maryville College’s assistant AD John Painter, who was her supervisor during their time at Colgate.
Duke is known worldwide as a blue-blood basketball school. Do you think it’s part of your job to get people talking about Duke football and tennis just as much? If so, how have you gone about doing so?
KC: That's a big one. Important challenge. You know, we just got a new football head coach this past year, Coach
Mike Elko. And that was one of the biggest question for him. He came from Texas A&M, which is a huge football school, where he was defensive coordinator. So it’s kind of a flip coming here, where we're mostly known for basketball. I think we're slowly but surely trying to create our own football history. When you win as much as Duke men's basketball, you're bound to be a historic program.
So, in terms of how I promote us, this year was great with the nine wins that we had, the Military Bowl victory, and our new coach. The community has bought back in.
I think that your relationships with your local reporters are key in these areas because they're the ones that are going to continually be writing about that about your program. What I've tried to do is to target a lot of our local reporters, because the more that the local media are getting good content out on your teams, the national media will then start to pick it up. You know, they have a job to do to cover the hot teams, but when they do come to you, you've got to make them feel important and welcome and involved in the program. And I think that's a good way to build momentum and interest when a team doesn't have as much notoriety. You have to be welcoming when they do come, because then they're going to be more inclined to come back.
Is Duke versus North Carolina as much of a rivalry in other sports as it is in basketball?
KC: Yes. We do this thing called “Which blue is better?” because ironically, we're both with blue school colors. So across the board, we do different initiatives. For example, when soccer is playing or field hockey, we do these competitions for the regular student body which I think is pretty cool. The basketball rivalry has been built up so much because the games have been so competitive lately. I'll be honest with you, when you get lopsided games in football, people are like, “that's not a rivalry,” but it's still there.
Castner (left) and the media coordination crew working at the 2019 Baseball College World Series in Omaha.
While you were working at Army West Point, what was it like being at Army-Navy games? What kind of preparation goes into a game with so much attention on it?
KC: I didn't realize how much work went into that game … it’s like a Super Bowl. There are so many credentials given out, so many hype videos made, so many sit-down interviews made. It's a lot. And I never realized how much went into it until we had to host and I was like, “Oh my god, this is intense.” But then when you get to see the game, the pageantry, all the brass, and then military, coming out and interacting and trash-talking to each other … these people are supposed to be fighting our wars, and they're sitting there trash-talking!
Army was just a very special place because of the people that go there. And I like to shout out that Army was 3-0 versus Navy when I worked there! So watching Army break the streak — Navy had won 15 straight — and being a part of that, and celebrating with the team in the locker room, was amazing. I can close my eyes and still see all the water being squirted everywhere.
That's what makes our job special. We get to experience things like that. People paid thousands of dollars to go to that game and I was behind the scenes in the locker room and on the field … because of my job. There hasn't been a minute where I haven't appreciated where I am and how I've gotten here and the people that I've interacted with. I always tell people you have to go to an Army-Navy game in your lifetime, because it's just an amazing experience.
How important was your time at Colgate to your development as a professional?
KC: As I mentioned, I worked with John Painter at Colgate. He's now at Maryville College (in Tennessee) as assistant AD of communications. John is one of the most influential people in my professional life. He gave me a chance, and he was patient with me when I had no experience in the industry. He taught me, he was stern, he let me know how things operate … and he made it a very comfortable work environment. I felt very comfortable, so comfortable, that when another opportunity came, I was crying in his office because I didn't want to leave him. When you build those bonds with somebody, and you work these long hours, sometimes you're with these individuals more than you're with your family.
In John’s situation, his wife still lived in Tennessee and he and I were up at Colgate University, which is in upstate New York, and I was right out of college. So we'd go to grab dinner, or we'd be in the office late just talking … those are things that make you the person that you are. A lot of the time now that I'm in my role as a director, I look back and I'm like, “Okay, what did John teach me?” or “how did he teach me when I was in this situation?” I take a lot of that experience from John when I interact with the people in our office now.
Castner was a four-year letterwinner for the women’s soccer team at Robert Morris University.
What were your undergraduate years at Robert Morris like? Additionally, what was graduate school like at Point Park?
RC: I played college soccer. I would say that when I first started out, like every freshman and sophomore, I was so focused on just being a college athlete … you obviously want an education, but I think I hadn't really comprehended that yet. I was so focused on being a part of the team and making sure I'm giving the best effort to the team. And then it took a season-ending injury for me to get a slap in the face, a reality check, to say, “okay, I might not be able to play soccer the rest of my life.” I took some classes throughout the summer as I was rehabbing and I found PR. To be honest, I stumbled into the field. My undergraduate degree was in sport management. And once I stumbled into the public relations side, I picked up a minor in public relations.
I ended up getting my undergrad degree in sport management, thinking I was going to go be an athletic director at high school. I really hadn't thought of what I would do after college. I finished out the rest of my college soccer days, I graduated, and then said, “oh crap, I don't have a job. What do I do next?” So I did a little bit of research and I had built a good relationship with one of my public relations professors, who ironically worked in the university’s PR and marketing department. She was able to give me a job, a couple of hours here and there, while I figured it out. And then I decided to go to grad school, which baffled my family because I am not a school person at all! And they were like, “are you sure that you want to go to grad school, this doesn't seem like the right thing for you?” And I was like, “you know what, I truly do want to go,” because I now wanted to focus more on communications and PR.
So I went to graduate school in Pittsburgh at Point Park University. I received a journalism and mass communications degree. My two degrees mesh really well together, in my opinion. I eventually got back into sports, so it was a big full circle for me.
What is a piece of advice that has stuck with you since you heard it?
KC: Control what you can control. I actually think my mom gave me that advice. When I was first starting out, I felt like everything was going wrong. She just told me to keep myself calm, because there's lots of times when this job is super stressful. And when you're not in control of yourself, you aren’t able to lead others.
I saw a quote tweet of yours where you said goodbye to one of your athletic communications colleagues, Jeff Friday, who is now working with the V Foundation. How close did you two become and what is it like seeing him or any colleague you’ve built a relationship with move on?
KC: That kind of a departure stinks, honestly, because especially with Jeff, he and I started at Duke together. I didn't know him before that, but when you work Power 5 football, you're working very closely with individuals for a very long time. He and I became very close. There are just some individuals you really click with; he knew what I needed from him before I asked him. But obviously, this communications position was a huge opportunity for him. He has a personal tie to the V Foundation. To see him flourish and to get those opportunities and big chances to make a name for himself is awesome.
What’s a favorite activity to do in your spare time?
KC: I used to play an adult Women's Soccer League, but my knees started to give out on me. So that was always really great to get back out on the field. But now I would say I love doing stuff with my dog, Kahlua. We go for walks and hikes and whatnot. Being with her is beneficial and kind of soothing for me. As I said earlier, we're not always with our families or we're not always able to do this or that with friends. Just being able to unwind with her is a breath of fresh air because she doesn't know that I had a coach yell at me or she doesn't know that we lost in overtime. She just cares that I'm home and then I'm excited to see her and she's excited to see me. So dogs do make everything better!
Favorite food?
KC: Bacon. I know it's not really like a dish or anything, but yeah, bacon and pickles. I could live off those two things. It's really weird, right? Anything that has bacon and pickles on it, I take a second look at a menu.
Sporting event on your bucket list?
KC: Well, there's two. One of them is to eventually in my lifetime see the New York Mets win a World Series. And then I also want to go overseas to see a Manchester United soccer game. That's always been on the bucket list for me, especially if it's against a rival like Chelsea or someone like that.