TicketsApril 20, 2007
CINCINNATI -- University of Cincinnati Director of Athletics Mike Thomas announced the hiring of Mike Harris as UC's Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Communications.
No stranger to the Cincinnati media, Harris, a native of Springboro, Ohio, worked at Miami University (Ohio) for six years (2001-2007) as an assistant director of athletics, overseeing various athletic media relations and marketing roles. Harris helped the RedHawks realize unprecedented growth in season ticket and attendance numbers, doubling the season ticket base and setting all-time highs for ticket revenue.
"Mike is a great addition to our staff," says Thomas. "His knowledge of the Greater Cincinnati Area and our media market, matched with his skill set in multimedia development and his ability to integrate our sports communications office into the fabric of our external operations as a whole, made him a knockout selection for UC Athletics."
In addition to his marketing accomplishments, Harris guided the school's athletic media relations, television, web content and radio to new heights. Harris incorporated a 24-hour/seven-day-a-week internet radio station that includes coaches' shows, live games, re-aired games, including classic games, enabling the site to grow to include the most streaming video among all of the College Sports Television web sites. The site has grown into one the nation's Top 50 collegiate web sites, bringing fans new and innovative ways to follow their team. The site's visibility grew exponentially, from 12,000 visitors a month to 75,000. In 2003, he led a national media campaign, utilizing Miami's web site, promoting Ben Roethlisberger, who was named a Top 10 Semifinalist for the Heisman Trophy.
In August of 2006, Miami entered into a three-year television agreement with the Ohio News Network (ONN) that will show a combination of 20-plus Miami football, men's and women's basketball and ice hockey games throughout the state of Ohio reaching 1.6 million homes. With Harris at the helm of the RedHawks media relations department, Miami athletic teams received national coverage by ESPN, ABC Sports, The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and New York Times -Sunday Edition.
In 2001, Harris 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 web site 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.
Harris' responsibilities as assistant athletic director for Sports Communication include directing Cincinnati's sports communications department and assisting with the continued development of UC Athletics multimedia, most notably GoBEARCATS.com. He will also serve as a media contact for the Bearcat football and basketball programs.
Harris is a 1995 graduate of Miami where he earned a bachelor of science degree in organizational behavior. He and his wife Sue live in Liberty Township.