JOHN KOVACH | Colleges Grad challenged with Texas-sized task

ASHLAND -- Joe Monaco learned as much as he could about sports information and media relations while at Ashland University, an NCAA Division II school, and then set out to capitalize on his experience.
He served as a student assistant in the sports information office for two years under Al King, before becoming King's assistant sports information director for the past two years.
Then the Boardman High (1998) and Ashland (2003) graduate, who played baseball for two years at Ashland, went looking for bigger worlds to conquer -- a chance to build a sports information office on the NCAA Division I level.
Meanwhile, the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg was looking for an innovative person to build its sports information office.
Got two assists
Enter King and Bill Weidner, Texas-Pan American's athletic director with ties to Ashland, and the pair linked to become catalysts for Monaco to get an interview for the vacant post.
Weidner was Ashland's athletic director for three years while King was the SID, and King recommended Monaco for an interview.
Then enter Monaco, who used his diverse background and salesmanship to make the most of his golden opportunity.
He landed the job and will begin his new duties as director of media relations and sports information at Texas-Pan American on June 1.
His goal is to enhance the school's visibility and image so that it can take its place with the top Division I programs in Texas.
"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," said Monaco, who will receive his master's degree at Ashland in May.
Monaco will act as the athletic department's primary liaison with local and national media outlets, and serve on the department's executive staff. He also will be responsible for the production of all media guides, the coordination of the statistics crew for all home games and the maintenance of the university's sports web page.
Monaco said Texas-Pan American would like to emerge from the shadows of other big-time Division I schools in the state.
"Pan American is an independent school that kind of got lost in the shadows, and I want to try to open it up to the entire state and to build it up to make it more visible in the state," said Monaco.
"I really would like to get more attention focused on the individual student-athletes, which has been absent for a while," he said.
Wants bigger image
Monaco said the college is about 75 years old and overdue to grow in reputation.
"That's one of the things that really attracted me [to the job] is that it is ripe for growth," said Monaco.
King said Monaco's jump from being an assistant at a Div. II school to a director in Div. I is a rare occurrence.
"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," said King.
Monaco had a variety of experiences at Ashland that make him versatile, including being sports editor for Ashland's student newspaper, The Collegian, and hosting a sports talk show on the campus radio station, WRDL-FM. In the sports information office, he wrote, edited and designed media guides, wrote press releases, was part of the statistical crew and helped to maintain the university's athletic web page.
"Every time there was something open, I jumped at it and learned as much as I could," said Monaco, the son of Richard and Diane Monaco, who also played baseball at Boardman under then-coach Dave Smercansky.
kovach@vindy.com