Young professionals spotlight: Three up, three down with Steve Carlson

Young professionals spotlight: Three up, three down with Steve Carlson

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This story is part of our CSC 360 package for April 2023, to view more stories, click here.

Three Up, Three Down is a Q&A series aimed at highlighting young members of the College Sports Communicators membership, their career paths and what they enjoy in their roles on a day-to-day basis.


Young professionals spotlight: Three up, three down with Steve Carlson — Director of Athletics Communications at Northwestern College

by Cole Helman – Palm Beach Atlantic University, Director of Athletic Communications  //  CSC Young Professionals Committee

Steve Carlson joined Northwestern College as the director of athletic communications in July of 2021. He also serves on Vice President for Athletics Dr. Micah Parker's athletic leadership team.
 
With the help of one full-time assistant, Carlson oversees Northwestern College’s external communications, including the website (nwcraiders.com) and social media (@nwcraiders), while promoting NWC’s 23 varsity sports and over 530 student-athletes. In his first year at NWC, he has helped streamline athletic fundraising efforts on the website, via PDF recognition of Raider Athletics Association (RAA) members, Raider Athletics Advancement Board (RAAB), and corporate sponsors which helped nearly double the fundraising efforts in 2021-22 as compared to 2020-21.
 
He came to Northwestern after serving as the graduate assistant at the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C), an NCAA Division III conference consisting of institutions in the states of Iowa and Nebraska. While at the conference office, Carlson assisted the commissioner and deputy commissioner with day-to-day office affairs, such as website management, social media and statistical work. While with the A-R-C, Carlson worked three NCAA Division III championships including two baseball championships (2019, 2021) and the 2019 volleyball championship. Gaining valuable experience working the national championships, Carlson is no stranger to successful athletic programs. He helped oversee the conference's 19 sponsored sports, highlighting student-athlete successes on and off the field or court of competition. 
 
A 2019 graduate from Simpson College with a degree in sport administration, Carlson served as the student-manager for the Simpson Storm baseball team. He also served as a student-assistant in the athletic communications office at Simpson. While working with the A-R-C, he earned his master's degree in sport and recreation management from the University of Iowa in May 2021.
 
A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Carlson currently resides in Orange City. The 2022-23 academic year marks the first year that Carlson serves on the CSC Young Professionals Committee. Outside of athletics, you can find him enjoying Steve Berry and Brad Thor novels or following his passion of studying the Second World War.

What made you want to work in athletic communications, and what keeps you motivated each day?
SC: I have always loved the details in sports. Statistics, game notes, websites, record books, articles, you name it. Being an SID means I get to do what I love on a daily basis – getting to stat games, writing up game notes and getting to ‘brag’ about my athletes!
 
The biggest motivation for me is seeing the student-athletes recognize the work my assistant and I do as communications professionals! The smiles, comments in passing, the general excitement when they run into me during the day. As Lindy Brown told me when I was able to visit Duke while covering our national champion football team in Durham, North Carolina, athletes love the coverage they get, seeing their SID around and hyping them up. I’ve tried to take that to heart and keep it on the front of my mind when I make the decision to travel with a team.
 
As a two-person shop, how do you avoid burnout while covering 23 varsity sports?
SC: I think the biggest thing for my assistant and I is the realization that we are human beings, not human doings. We get into the industry to celebrate and hype student-athletes, often sacrificing many things to achieve this. We’ve been trying to be more intentional in our work-life balance, as our athletic schedule allows, and communicating constantly and helping cover each other when life happens. I’m grateful to my assistant that he helps to remind me that it’s okay to take a step back and breathe. The work will be there in the morning, one does not have to work late into the night every night. 
 
Being at a Christian school like Northwestern College, it’s nice to have Sundays completely off to be able to recharge the batteries for the week ahead. Furthermore, it’s always nice to hop on the bus on road trips with my teams and get lost in a good Brad Thor thriller, while also getting to know the athletes on the trips themselves. 
 
Who are some mentors that you look up to in the industry, and what were some key takeaways that you learned from them?
SC: The CSC Mentorship program has been instrumental in my development as a young athletic communications professional! From working with Sam Knehans from the Sun Belt Conference last year and connecting on our NAIA experiences, to this year having Derrick Sloboda (Purdue Fort Wayne). They’ve both been there to help in the lows of the profession, to celebrate the highs and successes, how to deal with different situations that arise, and always there to bounce ideas off of as I navigate new ideas and expand my horizons!
 
Outside of CSC, my SID I worked for as an undergrad, Bryan Geelan, taught me so much about the industry. From the ins and outs, to giving me so many opportunities to learn and grow, he really helped get my passion started for athletic communications. Additionally, working at the American Rivers Conference with Dan Hammes, the now Commissioner, who consistently poured into me and helped mold me into the athletic professional I am today. Without those two, I don’t see myself being in athletic communications, let alone a director right out of graduate school.

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