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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Dain McKee: the Key to Athletics’ Communications

Most of us have been on the Athletic department website at one time or another, maybe to check on your favorite team’s progress, or maybe to not-so-subtly roster stalk your Proctor crush. This website (along with many other sources of information and publicity for athletics) is led by two people, Brad Nadeau, the Director of Athletic Communications and Dain McKee, the Assistant Director.

McKee is the first full-time Assistant Director of Athletic Communications that Middlebury has ever had, though from the list of responsibilities he and Nadeau share, it’s hard to see how prior coverage was managed without his help.

On a given day, McKee updates rosters, program notes, schedules, standings, and the athletic department’s social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook)— on top of whatever other tasks pop up throughout the day.

“Every day is different, and that’s what makes it fun for me. There’s really no set schedule— we always have to cover events, always have to talk with our coaches to ask what they’re doing today [for games]. Essentially, we’re the PR people for our department.”

McKee is also on the search committee for a new squash coach following the tragic death of Coach John Illig last August.

“[Today], we actually called one of our candidates in a foreign country. This person got out of their car in the rainforest and talked with us on the phone for 45 minutes. It was really neat to talk to someone half a world away.”

In the spring, it can be difficult to plan ahead because many games and matches get rescheduled due to the fickle Vermont weather.  And when students and professors don’t have class, there are always athletic events to be covered.

“We are essentially on call 24 hours a day, 365 days out of the year, except for when we’re away [on vacation] … and even when we’re away, if something happens we’re the ‘point people’ for it.  We have to be there, but I love it. It’s the ever-changing environment that we’re in that I love the most,” McKee said.

It was McKee’s undergraduate experience at Ohio Northern University that prompted him to become involved in athletic communications. Unable to participate in basketball due to injury, he became the team’s student assistant coach and worked for sports information during the off-season.

“I enjoyed the camaraderie and the competition,” he recalled. “I found another way to get involved and I love it to this day. I love the personal side of it. I love meeting athletes, and I love meeting coaches— especially with our coaching staff.”

Since then, McKee has been able to experience a vast variety of athletic competitions.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work over 30 NCAA championship events at all different levels, from Division I Men’s Final Four [basketball] to Division III wrestling, to field hockey, to swimming and diving, all the way across the board.  I’ve truly enjoyed when I’ve been able to be a part of it,” he said. “Going to Gettysburg last year with women’s lacrosse, going with field hockey to Virginia- I love getting to know the players and coaches on that personal level. Because when you step on that ice or floor or field, we just know you as a number.”

In addition to getting to know student-athletes, McKee also loves his job because of the spirit of community at Middlebury both within and beyond our athletic department.

“My kids actually jokingly started calling Missy [Missy Foote, women’s lacrosse coach] ‘Grandma Missy.’ My parents live in Ohio, and my wife’s parents live in Ohio, so they asked ‘Can they be our grandparents up here?’ I told Missy that, and she said ‘Bring them over anytime!’ That’s just the type of atmosphere that Middlebury is,” McKee said.


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