August 21, 1998
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Summer of '98 has meant massive change and reorganization for the Athletic Public Relations Office at Purdue.
The departure of two veteran staffers, Associate Sports Information Director Steve Allen, who left in mid-July to become Sports Information Director at Metropolitan State in Denver, and SID Mark Adams, who has announced his resignation effective August 31, has resulted in the hiring of four new people on the APR staff and two promotions.
"I hate to lose Steve and Mark, along with their 22-plus years of collective Purdue experience," says Athletic Public Relations Director Jim Vruggink. "They've both done great jobs for Purdue, working primarily with men's basketball (Steve) and football (Mark). Their professionalism, their knowledge of Boilermaker athletics and their understanding of the Purdue system makes them very difficult to replace."
Attempting to do just that will be four new additions to the staff, led by Andy Punzal as Associate Sports Information Director, Brian DeBenedictis as Sports Information Assistant, Matt Rector as Athletic P.R. Assistant and Mike Vriesema as Athletic P.R. Assistant.
In addition, two members of last year's staff have received promotions. Kathleen Offer moved from SID Assistant to an Associate SID position, while Brett Swick was promoted from SID Assistant to Assistant SID.
Punzal, who will start August 24, comes to Purdue from the University of Buffalo, where he was Assistant SID. The 25-year-old Punzal is a native of Buffalo and has been at the university for three years since graduating from Bowling Green State University in 1995. Punzal will coordinate publications and will serve as the primary contact for men's basketball, men's and women's golf, and men's and women's swimming. He'll also help with football.
DeBenedictis came to Purdue July 1 from the University of Toledo, where he worked as a student assistant for three years before graduating in May, 1998. DeBenedictis, 23, is a native of North Canton, Ohio. He will work closely with the sports of swimming, golf, baseball, wrestling, men's tennis and women's track/cross country.
Rector, who will also start August 24, comes to Purdue from the University of Arizona. Matt, 24, grew up in Walnut Creek, Calif., and graduated from UA this past spring with a bachelor's degree in arts communication. He will work on special projects like customer service, banquets, Project Perfect, speakers bureaus and event management.
Vriesema, a Purdue graduate of last May, officially joins the APR Office September 1. Mike, 23, was a communication major and worked in the Athletic Department as a student assistant videographer for two years. His new responsibilities will include Internet, digital photography, writing and special projects, along with and continuing some videography work.
DeBenedictis is in a 12-month internship, while Rector and Vriesema are in 8-month internships.
Offer, 23, advanced into her Associate SID position July 1 after two years as SID Assistant. She is a native or Royal Oak, Mich., and a graduate of and former women's basketball player at Yale University, where she also worked in the SID office for four years. Kathleen's new duties will be to serve as the main contact for volleyball, men's track/cross country and women's tennis. She will also assist in women's basketball and is currently helping to finish the men's basketball media guide.
Swick, 23, moved into his Assistant SID role August 1, starting his sixth year in the APR Office. He worked as a student assistant for four years and became SID Assistant (intern) in July of 1997. Brett is a Lafayette native and will serve as the department's web master while also having primary sport responsibility for baseball, women's track/cross country, men's tennis and wrestling and support duties for volleyball and men's and women's basketball.
Unaffected by title changes at this time, but still very much part of the APR staff are: Associate SID Tom Schott, who will handle women's basketball again this year, while picking up many of the duties for football and will supervise services for softball and soccer; Graduate Assistant Chris Ambrose will handle most of the day-to-day activities for softball and soccer; Video Coordinator Peter Fadde will expand his services to provide video for the Official Athletic Home Page; Video Assistant Joe Vandatta will shoot most of the practice and event video; Secretary/Receptionist Jan Winger will pick up several miscellaneous projects; cheerleading Coach Al Enlow continues in his same capacity; and Vruggink becomes the primary contact for football, while continuing to administer the APR operation, which also includes a small army of approximately 20-25 student assistants.
"I'm very pleased with the staff we've put together for the 1998-99 school year," says Vruggink. It's a very young, but also very talented staff. We'll have a few additional bodies which will give us greater flexibility and, hopefully, more effective coverage."