Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami University RedHawks
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July 9, 2001
OXFORD, Ohio (July 9, 2001) -- Miami University Director of Athletics Joel Maturi announced today the hiring of Mike Harris as Miami's assistant athletic director for external affairs and media relations director. Harris, a 1995 graduate of Miami, replaces Mike Wolf, who departed to take a position at Northwestern University.
No stranger to Miami or its athletic department, Harris worked at Miami for six years in various athletic media relations and marketing roles after earning his bachelor of science degree in organizational behavior in 1995. After serving as a media relations and marketing intern until 1997, Harris came aboard full time during the 1997-98 season, working as an assistant director of marketing and media relations assistant in charge of ice hockey. He continued to serve as the primary contact for Miami's ice hockey program until his departure in the summer of 2000 while also serving for a year in a marketing role with Miami's recreational sports center and eventually rising to the position of associate director of sports marketing.
For the past year, Harris has served as director of communications for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association where he was responsible for all of the league's media relations and marketing activities. Among his achievements at the CCHA were designing and maintaining a website that set all-time highs for hits during the 2000-01 season, assisting in the development and production of the league's first weekly radio and television shows and coordinating a CCHA Tournament Weekend that credentialed a five-year high of more than 120 media members. In recognition of his efforts, Harris was named a finalist for Detroit Media Relations Person of the Year by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association.
"We are very excited to welcome Mike back to the Miami family," Maturi said. "With his varied abilities and well-rounded background, Mike possesses tremendous upside. He has demonstrated outstanding loyalty toward his alma mater, and we expect him to take this relatively new position to the next level."
Harris' responsibilities as assistant athletic director for external affairs include directing Miami's athletic media relations and sports marketing departments as well as serving as the primary media contact for the RedHawk football program.