# Communications & media relations staff in the Independent

Independent athletic departments list 19 communications and media-relations staff positions across 11 of the 14 covered schools as of 15 Oct 2026 — 3% of the conference's 599 tracked positions, an average of 1.7 per department that has the function. St. Thomas University has the most (6). No communications & media relations hires, departures or title changes were detected in the last 90 days.

_Data as of 15 Oct 2026._
Source: the official athletics staff directories of the 14 covered Independent schools, re-read on a rolling schedule; roles classified from published titles; changes from successive reads.
_Canonical URL: https://gowhistle.io/directory/independent/roles/communications_

## Communications & media relations in the Independent at a glance

- **Conference:** [Independent](https://gowhistle.io/directory/independent) — NCAA Division III, NCAA Division II
- **Schools covered:** 14
- **Schools with communications & media relations staff:** 11 (79%)
- **Communications & media relations positions:** 19 (3% of 599 tracked positions)
- **Average per department with the function:** 1.7
- **Changes, last 90 days:** 0 hires · 0 departures · 0 title changes

## How many communications and media-relations staff does each Independent school have?

One row per covered department. "Positions" counts current (non-departed) staff whose classified role or published title places them in communications & media relations; changes are non-baseline hires, departures and title changes in those positions over the last 90 days, with same-day directory re-reads excluded.

| School | Division | Communications & media relations positions | All tracked positions | Hires (90d) | Departures (90d) | Title changes (90d) |
| --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| [St. Thomas University](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/st-thomas-fl) | — | 6 | 157 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [College of Saint Benedict](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/st-benedict) | Division III | 2 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Oklahoma Panhandle State Univ.](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/okla-panhandle) | — | 2 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Smith College](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/smith) | Division III | 2 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Bryn Mawr College](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/bryn-mawr) | Division III | 1 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Clarke University](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/clarke) | — | 1 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Louisiana College](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/louisiana-col) | — | 1 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Paine College](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/paine) | — | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Sonoma State University](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/sonoma-st) | Division II | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [St. Catherine University](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/st-catherine) | Division III | 1 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [University of St. Francis (Ill.)](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/st-francis-il) | — | 1 | 62 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Cheyney University of Pennsylvania](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/cheyney) | — | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [La Sierra University](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/la-sierra) | — | 0 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Washington Adventist University](https://gowhistle.io/directory/school/washington-adventist) | — | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Who sells to communications and media-relations staff?

Communications & media relations is the buying group for stats and live-data providers, media-relations software, broadcast and content-production vendors, creative-services tools. Typical titles in this group: Assistant AD for Athletic Communications; Director of Media Relations; Sports Information Director; Communications Assistant. Whistle customers filter these positions by conference, school, state and sport, see each person's name, title and contact details where the directory publishes them, and get an alert when one of the positions changes hands.

## Other staff functions in the Independent

- [Strength & conditioning in the Independent](https://gowhistle.io/directory/independent/roles/strength-conditioning) — 18 positions at 7 schools
- [Athletic training & sports medicine in the Independent](https://gowhistle.io/directory/independent/roles/athletic-training) — 32 positions at 10 schools

## Communications & media relations in other conferences

- [Communications & media relations in the ACC](https://gowhistle.io/directory/acc/roles/communications) — 18 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Lone Star](https://gowhistle.io/directory/lone-star/roles/communications) — 18 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Big Ten](https://gowhistle.io/directory/big-ten/roles/communications) — 17 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the SEC](https://gowhistle.io/directory/sec/roles/communications) — 16 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Big 12](https://gowhistle.io/directory/big-12/roles/communications) — 15 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate](https://gowhistle.io/directory/northern-sun-intercollegiate/roles/communications) — 15 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Rocky Mountain Athletic](https://gowhistle.io/directory/rocky-mountain-athletic/roles/communications) — 15 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Atlantic 10](https://gowhistle.io/directory/atlantic-10/roles/communications) — 14 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Big Sky](https://gowhistle.io/directory/big-sky/roles/communications) — 14 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the CAA](https://gowhistle.io/directory/caa/roles/communications) — 14 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the California Collegiate Athletic Association](https://gowhistle.io/directory/california-collegiate-athletic-association/roles/communications) — 14 schools
- [Communications & media relations in the Carolinas](https://gowhistle.io/directory/carolinas/roles/communications) — 14 schools

## Method

Positions are counted when the published job title matches the communications & media relations pattern (and not an exclusion such as student, intern or graduate assistant); the same rule produces the counts and the change tallies.

Change counts compare successive reads of each school's official directory; a school's first extraction and any day on which 25% or more of a roster appears or disappears at once (a re-read, not turnover) are excluded. This page is published when at least 3 covered Independent schools have the function and they list at least 10 positions between them; smaller combinations are kept out of search indexes.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many communications and media-relations staff work in the Independent?**

19 current positions across 11 covered Independent athletic departments as of 15 Oct 2026; St. Thomas University lists the most (6).

**Which Independent school has the largest communications & media relations staff?**

St. Thomas University, with 6 communications and media-relations staff positions out of 157 tracked positions.

**How much turnover is there in Independent communications & media relations roles?**

0 changes in the last 90 days: 0 hires, 0 departures, 0 title changes, after excluding first reads and same-day re-reads.

**Where does this staff data come from?**

From the staff directories athletic departments publish on their official websites, read automatically on a rolling schedule (NCAA Division I roughly weekly, Division II and III every three to four weeks). Whistle never publishes names, emails or phone numbers on public pages; staff can remove their details at any time at [gowhistle.io/remove-my-info](https://gowhistle.io/remove-my-info).

Selling to communications and media-relations staff in the Independent? [Whistle](https://gowhistle.io/pricing) lists every one of these 19 positions with name and title, emails and phones where the directory publishes them, and an alert when one changes. Or [buy the conference as a one-time dataset](https://gowhistle.io/data).

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Whistle (Whistle Athletics) is a collegiate athletics sales-intelligence platform: staff directories, hiring signals and contact data for vendors selling into NCAA athletic departments. Public pages show counts and roles only, never personal contact details. Site summary: https://gowhistle.io/llms.txt