John Boccacino Hired to Lead Ithaca Athletic Communications
ITHACA, N.Y. – Ithaca College has hired
John Boccacino as the College's Associate Director of Athletic Communications, Ithaca College Director of Athletics and Recreational Sports
Susan Bassett '79 announced Thursday.
Boccacino, who spent the past four years as Sports Information Director at Keuka College, was hired to lead Ithaca's athletic communications department.
He is responsible for promoting the Bombers' 27 intercollegiate sports teams through IC's athletics website (
www.athletics.ithaca.edu), as well as on campus, in the local and national media, and through social media and engaging video stories.
"I am excited to welcome John to Ithaca College Athletics as the leader of our efforts in communications and marketing for the Bombers," Bassett said. "This is an exciting time for IC and our Athletics Department, with our new athletics identity fully implemented, and I am confident that John's energy, passion and creativity will take us to new heights. John has a proven track record of leadership and effectiveness with varied experiences which will serve Ithaca College well in telling our compelling story of athletics excellence."
A former sports and news reporter with the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., Boccacino comes to Ithaca with five years of athletic communications experience.
At Keuka, he was the head SID charged with promoting 19 sports teams. Boccacino helped Keuka launch a department-wide rebranding effort — complete with a new identity, new mascot, and the launch of an engaging athletics website.
During his time at Keuka, Boccacino initiated live streaming and live stats of Keuka College home games, built well-visited social media sites on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and photographed, edited and voiced-over video stories for the athletic department's YouTube channel. He also wrote feature stories that appeared in the NCAA "Champion" magazine.
As part of his duties, Boccacino is responsible for working with the College's Marketing Communications team to spread the word on the accomplishments of the Bombers' teams and student-athletes.
"We are thrilled that John is joining our Marketing Communications team here at Ithaca College," said Molly Israel, Ithaca College's Director of Communications.
"John brings more than 12 years of communications experience to this position. With his wealth of knowledge and expertise, I believe he will help our athletics communications team continue to do great things to promote our teams and our student-athletes. John has a versatile communications background, and his strong writing skills, combined with his video storytelling and social media savvy make him the ideal candidate to lead our athletic communications team."
Prior to his time at Keuka, Boccacino was the Assistant Sports Information Director at The College at Brockport.
Boccacino, 33, a resident of Webster, N.Y., brings more than 12 years of professional journalism experience to Ithaca. His extensive writing career has seen his work published in the Democrat and Chronicle, The New York Post, Inside Lacrosse, professional sports teams websites such as the Rochester Red Wings (baseball) and Rochester Rhinos (soccer), and on 13WHAM-TV in Rochester.
Boccacino, a 2003 graduate of Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, also co-hosted a weekly high school sports radio show on Section V athletics in Rochester from 2003-2015.
Boccacino was a two-time Work Study Supervisor of the Year nominee at Keuka. He is an active member in both the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA) and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).