‘That’s the greatest gift that Miami gave me’: Miami’s journalism, SLAM programs prepared alumnus to work at Georgia

The University of Georgia Bulldogs football team averages 93,033 attendants per home game so far this season. Last year, the Bulldogs led the nation with 8.6 million average television viewers each game.

Georgia’s athletic department performs an endless amount of tasks each game. From providing game-day refreshments and merchandise to implementing marketing activities during timeouts, the staff at Georgia ensures both the fans and the media at these games have an enjoyable experience and can perform their own duties.

One member of the athletic department’s staff is Jake Stanley, an associate sports communications director who serves as the football team’s tertiary contact. During game days, he manages the stats crew and is the visiting team liaison.

Stanley arrives between three and four hours before the game starts. He sets up the stat computer, welcomes the visiting team when it arrives and sets up the visiting media press conferences.

If you ask him, Stanley will tell you that his duties with the one of the most popular teams in college football aren’t too different from the Miami furthest away from Athens, Georgia. AMiami University class of 2017 alumnus, he served as a student assistant in the athletic department, running multiple games and tournaments across various sports.

Stanley chose Miami at the tail-end of his senior year of high school. He had looked at Ohio State University and other neighboring schools, but he chose the small town of Oxford despite his family rooting for Marshall University, the RedHawks’ rivals when both teams competed in the Mid-American Conference.

Before he got to college, Stanley already knew he wanted to work in sports communications. His great uncle, Samuel Stanley, studied journalism at Marshall and later worked as a sports information director there.

“From a young age, I was always interested in stats and stories and writing,” Stanley said. “When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a Sportscenter anchor. That was my original goal in life, and then I was like, ‘I don’t actually want to be on camera.’”

Stanley was heavily involved in his Miami classes. Sam Morris, a clinical professor in sports leadership and management (SLAM), said Stanley showed the proper amount of interest in his Ethics in Sport course without being overbearing.

“He was a talkative guy at certain times,” Morris said. “Not too much, not too little: He hit the right balance. I met him in my ethics class where we talk about a lot of interesting ethics in sports … he made a positive impression on me right away.”

Photo by provided by Jake Stanley | The Miami Student
Jake Stanley (second from left) stands on the field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia

As a journalism and SLAM double major, Stanley developed his writing and interpersonal communication skills, both of which proved to be essential for his career. He also signed up to work athletic events from the jump, with his first event being a soccer game two months into his freshman year.

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He said learning how to write through the journalism program is one of the biggest attributes he still uses today.

“That’s the greatest gift that [Miami] gave to me,” Stanley said. “The biggest thing was learning about AP style. Even in our field, you’ll be amazed by the amount of people who don’t know how to properly write an article or how to be concise.”

As he got more experience, Stanley began working football, hockey and tennis games as well. He served as the media coordinator for the women’s tennis team during the 2015 and 2016 conference championships, and he assisted with three NCAA Regional games for the hockey team in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Across all the sports he assisted with, Stanley said the common denominator was the importance of Miami’s history and legacy that makes him want to do the best he can in his role.

“Yes, it’s a smaller DivisionI program,” Stanley said, “but the amount of history and tradition that they have in most of their sports is a lot more than most of the MAC schools and a lot of the schools that are at the same [level].”

Stanley’s highlights with Miami stretched beyond Oxford. From traveling to MAC games for football to taking a J-Term course in New York and watching a taping of the Daily Show, he said his time as a RedHawk validated his decision to go to Oxford over a larger city.

After graduating from Miami in 2017, Stanley worked as a media relations assistant for the Louisville Bats, the Triple-A affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds, which is his hometown team. He also earned his Master of Science in sport administration from the University of Louisville in 2019.

He worked and interned for various organizations in Louisville before getting a spot at Georgia as an assistant sports communications director. He directed media relations for the Bulldogs soccer program’s first SEC championship in 2023 and for two SEC swimming and diving championships in 2021 and 2025. He also coordinated Georgia’s communication efforts for the Tokyo and Paris Summer Olympic Games in 2020 and 2024, respectively.

The scale of Georgia compared to Miami makes the work incredibly different, Stanley said. One aspect that is unlike his alma mater is the amount of people and the amount of departments he has to go through to accomplish something.

This distinction correlates with the budget at Miami compared to an SEC program. Working with less money and fewer people to report to meant Stanley needed to be creative in what he was doing.

However, he said that at the basic level, the overall goal and mentality he has now is no different to when he was a RedHawk.

“At its fundamental level, it’s still the same thing,” Stanley said. “You need to make sure that you’re ready to handle what’s in front of you [and] have an idea of things that might pop up, but also have an understanding that something is going to come up that you have never given any consideration to.”

This year marks his seventh year in Athens. He was promoted to an associate sports communications director position in April, and he currently serves as the tertiary contact for football and the primary contact for swimming & diving and soccer.

Stanley’s success and path to one of the most popular schools in college athletics is a point of pride for his former professors and colleagues at Miami.

“We’re thrilled with that kind of thing,” Morris said. “It makes us happy to see students succeed like that. At the risk of sounding immodest, it doesn’t surprise any of us. It’s what we do. That’s our ethos, that’s our goal, is to get students where they want to go, and we do a pretty good job of that.”

@kethanbabu_04

babukc2@miamioh.edu