Change in Leadership: Two New Faculty at Athletic Communications
By Jack Herr, Sports Editor
Luke Stillson, Director of Athletic Communications (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
Athletic Communications plays a vital role in the overall health of Gettysburg College athletics. Without the department, the fan experience would be much different; there would be no live streams to allow friends and family of student-athletes to watch from afar, no live game updates on social media, and no post-game recaps summarizing each competition with accurate statistics.
Both the former Director and Assistant Director of Athletic Communications left their positions in the spring semester of 2022, giving the opportunity to current Director Luke Stillson and Assistant Director Olivia Moyer to step in and lead the department. Each entered their position with a passion for the industry, and they are already leaving their mark on Gettysburg Athletic Communications.
Stillson has been in athletic communications for his entire career, spanning back to his days as an undergraduate student. In fact, starting in 2003, he worked for Gettysburg for two years as the primary media contact for eleven varsity teams. Since then, he was at Millersville for one year and McDaniel for the last sixteen years before deciding to return to Gettysburg.
Moyer enters her position with less professional experience relative to Stillson, having just graduated from Elizabethtown College. In her senior year there, she started working for athletic communications in various capacities, and in the spring semester, she began doing more in-depth video work for the department, something both she and Luke look to bring to the forefront of their efforts at Gettysburg.
Both Stillson and Moyer were drawn to Gettysburg by a chance to be a part of the wave of changes occurring in the college’s athletics.
Stillson commented that “it was a return home for [him]. There has certainly been a lot of change here in the last several months, but that has just provided more opportunities for growth and new ideas.”
Moyer echoed her new colleague’s words, saying that she liked the “newness” of the department.
“With Luke, myself, and several new coaches coming on,” she explained, “I saw a unique opportunity to not only learn a new position, but to be a part of shaping it.”
Olivia Moyer Assistant Director of Athletic Communications (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
As Moyer referenced, athletic communications is not the only area of Gettysburg sports experiencing change. Recent head coach retirements have brought in a group of motivated individuals looking to lead their teams to continued success. Charlotte Cunningham was announced this past summer as the next women’s lacrosse head coach following the retirement of Carol Cantele, a thirty year veteran of the position. Another long-term coach, John Campo of the baseball team, also retired after his 36th season as head coach after the spring season of 2022, making way for Cory Beddick to step in at the wheel. This September, Brooke Kalman was named head coach of the softball team, taking over for Annette Hunt-Shepherd, who changed course in her career with a move to become the College’s Director of Campus Recreation and Wellness and the athletic department’s Senior Woman Administrator. Other notable new faces include Peter Toner, entering his second year as head coach of the men’s lacrosse team, and Maurice Banks, in his third year as head coach of the football team.
Moyer also said that she brings a “unique perspective” to the position as a recent graduate: “I feel I’m in tune with what the average college experience is like with sports and what different audiences want to see from us.”
Along with the new hires in coaching positions, the leadership of Gettysburg athletics is looking more rejuvenated than ever.
Both Stillson and Moyer bring a potent combination of experience and enthusiasm to the table, and they are already delivering on their promises and making changes in the department’s overall approach to interacting with fans.
Live video streaming has skyrocketed in popularity in the industry in recent years. Allowing fans to watch competitions from anywhere with an internet connection, not just at the stadium, has revolutionized athletic communications, especially on the collegiate level. Improvements in live video technology in the last decade have made live streams more accessible, efficient, and entertaining for spectators.
As Stillson said, “there’s no easier way to reach a wide audience and have them captive (hopefully) for two hours.”
Gettysburg’s Athletic Communications department has maintained a strong live video presence in recent history, but Stillson and Moyer are already working to make live video an even bigger component of their product.
“It is—in a lot of ways—the single most important thing we do,” Stillson offered.
Both commented on the new equipment they are implementing, such as cameras and live video software, to make their live streams more engaging. If you tune into a Gettysburg Athletic Communications livestream this year, you can expect video from multiple camera angles to capture every aspect of a game, content featuring student athletes or promoting other programs across campus during play stoppages, and an overall captivating experience that will maintain high rates of viewership.
“I think the wave of video will usher in change,” Moyer said, emphasizing that she and Luke want to create something they are “proud of.”
Beyond the live streams, the team is taking an updated approach to handling social media aspects of their position as well as offering video content on non-game days, expanding the reach of Gettysburg athletics into more mediums and communities.
Stillson and Moyer said that their passion for athletic communications stems from it being such a rewarding industry. Specifically, Moyer noted that “it really creates a sense of school spirit and pride in both the work that you do and in Gettysburg College’s athletic teams…I think this position and the involvement it has with athletics is really special, and it’s almost impossible not to enjoy.”
A new position, of course, comes with new challenges, challenges that Stillson and Moyer plan to address in stride. They want to be flexible and able to stay at the frontier of the latest trends in athletic communications, most importantly with live video streaming.
These challenges will not prevent them from making an impact on the athletic community at Gettysburg. Moyer said that this new position gives her “a unique opportunity to not only learn a new position, but to be a part of shaping it.”
For athletic communications at Gettysburg, change looks to bring prosperity.
Director of Athletic Communications Luke Stillson and Assistant Director Olivia Moyer now lead Athletic Communications at Gettysburg College (Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian).
This article originally appeared on pages 18–19 of the September 2022 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
