University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Athletic Media Relations Office Announces Changes
6/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Athletic Media Relations Office Announces Changes HATTIESBURG, Miss. ?
Montoro also is announcing the promotion of Mike Martinez to the position of Men's Basketball SID and the hiring of Jared Florreich as an Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations. Martinez will handle the day-to-day media relation and publicity duties associated with the men's basketball program, men's and women's golf and will continue to assist with football. Florreich, who will start on July 1, will assist with the day-to-day media relations efforts for football and then will be the media relations contact for the softball program. The changes with Martinez and Florreich are taking place due to the retirement of Regiel Napier, Assistant to the Athletic Director, in March 2004. The promotions and hiring also are subject to the approval of the IHL Board.
"Mike Montoro has done a tremendous job for Southern Miss the last four years and certainly deserves this promotion," Giannini said. "He has worked very hard to attain outstanding national coverage for our athletics program and student athletes. Mike is very well-respected by his peers and the local and national media. He is a tireless worker, and his time and efforts haven't gone unnoticed."
Montoro has accumulated over 18 years working in the area of athletic media relations since starting as a student assistant in the 1986 fall semester at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He worked two years at Liberty, before being promoted to assistant sports information director, while still a student. He stayed at Liberty until 1992, when he left to pursue a master's degree at West Virginia University. While at West Virginia, he worked as the sports publications graduate assistant, while also performing duties in the sports information office. In 1994, Montoro spent a year at Brescia College in Owensboro, Ky., starting the sports information office and also serving as the assistant women's basketball coach and assistant to the athletic director for game management. He rejoined the staff at Liberty in 1995 as the Sports Information Director until he received the promotion to Assistant Director of Athletics in 1997 and stayed there until Dec. 1999, when he left to take the job at Virginia Tech.
During his tenure at Southern Miss, he has promoted nationally-ranked teams, as well as numerous all-conference, all-region, All-American and Academic All-American student-athletes. Since Montoro arrived in 2000, 18 individual student-athletes in the sports of football and baseball, the sports he is directly responsible for, have earned 56 different All-American honors, including All-American, freshman All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American accolades.
Over his 18 years, Montoro has accumulated more than 32 regional and national awards by the College Sports Information Directors of America for excellence in publications, including seven best in the nation finishes and four second in the nation awards. He has been a member of CoSIDA's Academic All-American committee since 1995, has been the Vice President of the National Baseball Writers' Association for the past two years and will serve as the organization's president in 2004-05.
Martinez has been a member of the Southern Miss Athletic Media Relations staff since 2000, when he joined as a student assistant. He helped with the day-to-day operation of the office and assisted with football, men's and women's basketball and baseball. He finished his bachelor's degree in sport administration in December of 2001 and became a graduate assistant in January. He served as the sports information contact for women's soccer and continued to assist with football, men's and women's basketball and baseball. He finished his master's degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations in December of 2002 and was promoted to a full-time position in the department in August of 2003.
Martinez worked for five years, serving as sports writer with the Southern Miss Student Printz from 1999-2000 and at The Times of South Mississippi from 1999 until 2002, when he was promoted to Sports Editor. He stayed in that position until July 2003, when he became the sports editor at The Independent prior to taking the position at Southern Miss.
While at The Times, Martinez organized coverage of local high school and collegiate athletics as well as maintaining the newspapers' two web sites, thetimeswire.com and petalnews.com. He has received numerous awards from the Mississippi Press Association for writing, including first place awards for best sports feature stories in 1999 and 2001. The Times sports section won three first place awards for best sports section during his tenure, the last with Martinez as editor.
"Mike has worked hard and done an outstanding job and really shows a future in the athletic media relations field," Montoro said. "He has shown a tremendous amount of maturity and has an excellent work ethic for a person his age. This promotion is a testament of his character and work ethic."
Florreich joins the Southern Miss Athletic Media Relations staff after serving as the Sports Editor for the Student Printz for the past two years. He received several awards from the Mississippi Press Association for writing. He also gained experience in the Athletic Media Relations Office, as a volunteer assistant, serving in a variety of roles with the sports of football, men's and women's basketball and baseball.
Florreich is a two-time graduate of Southern Miss, earning a Radio, Television and Film degree in 2002 and a Journalism degree in 2003. While at Southern Miss, Florreich interned at WDAM-TV, for a semester in 2002 and at The Meridian Star in the summer of 2002. Florreich also served as a two-year stringer for the Hattiesburg American.
Florreich, 23 of Meridian, Miss., is the son of Dennis and Lynn Florreich and has a brother Ryan who is an architecture student at Mississippi State. He will begin work on his master's degree in sport administration in August.
"Jared has shown a great deal of interest in the athletic media relations field for some time," Montoro said. "He has gone out of his way to gain experience with our office, along with going to school and working full-time at the paper. He has shown he is capable of handling the duties associated with the position. He also has a strong work ethic and a desire to learn and get better."
