Sage Athletics

Eric McDowell

Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

Eric McDowell joined the staff at The Sage Colleges in the summer of 2018 after serving at nearby Union College since 2005. A veteran of nearly 40 years in collegiate and professional sports information and media relations, he began his career as the SID at the University of New Haven in 1980. He was named the SID as a junior in college and remained as the head of the office once he graduated. In June, 1986, he became the Assistant SID at the University of New Hampshire. While at UNH, he served as the assistant from 1986 to 1991. In 1991, he was promoted to the Director of Sports Communications and Internal Marketing. During his years at New Hampshire, he also served as the Yankee Conference Information Officer from 1988-91, a league featuring NCAA Div. I-AA football programs.

McDowell, a native of Dennis, MA on Cape Cod, served as the SID at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for five years, then became the Director of Media Relations for the NBA's Golden State Warriors. Working in the fourth largest media market for the NBA, McDowell had a game-night staff of 24 individuals and was responsible for the production of the Warriors’ media guide and the monthly publication, Warrior Magazine. He also provided numerous media tours during the construction of The New Arena in Oakland (now known as Oracle Arena). His attention was redirected while there as he was the point person during the "Latrell Sprewell Crisis."

McDowell returned to the East Coast and later worked for the AHL’s Lowell Lock Monsters, and served at SUNY Brockport for four years. He was a media supervisor for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta and has volunteered at numerous NCAA Championship events for a variety of sports and divisions. He is active in both ECAC-SIDA (Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors' Association) and CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America).

In 2008, McDowell served on a committee with sports information professionals from Navy, Virginia, Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts along with NCAA officials to institute an NCAA Men's Lacrosse Statistical Manual.

He hosted the 2002 ECAC-SIDA workshop in Lowell, Massachusetts and received the 2005 ECAC-SIDA Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award. He has hosted numerous panels at both workshops over the years, and served on the CoSIDA Executive Board as a national College Division Representative for a three-year term (2005-08). He served a three year term as the first Chair of CoSIDA's College Division Management Advisory Committee (2008-11), representing NCAA II, III, NAIA and CIS, and served as the President of the 3,000 member organization in the 2014-15 academic year. He was the first President in CoSIDA's 59 year history to represent an NCAA Division III institution. During his term he implemented "CoSIDA U," a program to introduce the sports communications profession to sport management majors at schools throughout North America. He also became the first President of CoSIDA to visit the headquarters of the NCAA (Indianapolis), NAIA (Kansas City) and CIS (Ottawa) and developed relationships with the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committees. In June of 2016 in Dallas, he received the Warren Berg Award from CoSIDA, presented to a college division member who has made outstanding contributions to the profession.

McDowell was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame during ceremonies in San Antonio, Texas in 2009. This past year, he organized and implemented the CoSIDA-U Camp held in Maryland prior to the 2018 CoSIDA Convention.

He resides in Colonie, New York with his wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Sara.