Monaco Named To Post at Texas-Pan American
April 8, 2004

Ashland University assistant sports information director Joe Monaco has been named the director of media relations and sports information at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, TX. Monaco will begin his duties in early June.

UTPA is a Division I institution. In his role there, Monaco will act as the athletic department’s primary liaison with local and national media outlets. He will serve on the department’s executive staff. Monaco will be responsible for the production of all media guides, the coordination of the statistical crew for all home contests and the maintenance of the university’s sports web page.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity that I have been given to work at the University of Texas-Pan American,” said Monaco, a native of Boardman, OH. “After visiting with the administrators, staff and coaches, I really feel that the athletic department is moving in the right direction and I’m honored to become a part of it. The one thing that really attracted me to the position was the challenge of building a top-notch sports information department at a successful NCAA Division I institution. I’m looking forward to meeting those challenges head on.”

“It’s almost unheard of for an assistant at the Division II level to be hired as a director at a Division I school,” said AU assistant athletic director for media relations Al King. “But Joe has an exceptional background – he’s thoroughly prepared for this kind of challenge. He accomplished a great deal here and his work was always of the highest quality. It’s exciting to see him get this kind of opportunity.”

Monaco has had a long and successful tenure at Ashland University. He’s spent two years as the assistant sports information director and will receive his master’s degree in May. Prior to his graduate work, he received his bachelor’s degree in Sport Communication and Journalism from AU in 2002.

Monaco has served as a sports producer for Cleveland.com, Ohio’s largest news and information site. His duties included assisting in the editing and layout design of website content, writing and editing special live and breaking news events and writing daily features while covering the NFL’s Cleveland Browns training camp.

Monaco served as the sports editor for Ashland’s student newspaper, The Collegian, and hosted a call-in sports talk show on the campus radio station, WRDL-FM. Monaco also played baseball at AU. He was a member of a team that claimed a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and participated in the NCAA Division II championships.

During his stint in the sports information office, he wrote, edited and designed media guides, wrote press releases concerning all of AU’s 20 varsity sports, was an integral part of the statistical crew and helped maintain the university’s athletic webpage. He is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).