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Bill Snyder, here leading the 2007 Meet the Teams event at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, has been named sports information director for the college.(Photo by Richard Kopp, MGCCC Photographer)
What many local folks may remember about Bill Snyder is his 11 years as a reporter and sports anchor for WLOX-TV. Back in 2006, however, he made a career change to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Since that time, he’s worked as public information coordinator, but now, he’s made another career change – to sports information director for Gulf Coast.
“Gulf Coast sports are the epitome of the word champion,” said Snyder, a 1988 alumnus of Gulf Coast’s Jefferson Davis (JD) Campus, where he was a member of the golf team. “With our Bulldog Club and our national-championship title in football, not to mention the success of all Gulf Coast sports, this is a position that’s been a long time coming.”
Snyder remains a member of the college’s Institutional Relations team (part of Central Office and based at the Perkinston Campus) and has primary responsibility for the writing, editing, distribution and tracking of all college-athletics information, including news and feature writing. He will also continue to write, edit, shoot and produce “Bulldog Blitz,” a 15-minute football show airing during football season on WLOX-TV.
“Gulf Coast fans are dedicated, and they deserve a commitment from the college to provide sports information as quickly as possible,” said Snyder, who also updates sports information at www.mgccc.edu. “We’re a powerhouse in athletics. It’s a privilege to work with the coaches and players who have put us at No. 1.”
A winner of a National Council for Marketing and Public Relations Paragon Award in 2007, Snyder is respected by Gulf Coast coaches and by Dr. Willis Lott, Gulf Coast president, who said, “This new position at the college has been added to enhance our ability to keep our public, prospective students and alumni better informed about our great athletic programs throughout the year.”
Golf coach Tommy Snell added, “On behalf of all the coaches at Gulf Coast, we're extremely happy to have Bill Snyder covering our athletic events. His expertise and knowledge in compiling and disseminating information will prove to be an invaluable asset to Gulf Coast athletics, making him a perfect liaison between news media and the public for our athletic personnel.”
Ladd Taylor, Gulf Coast athletic director, said, “I look forward to working with Bill in keeping our Bulldog fans informed. Providing a constant stream of up-to-date and accurate information to the public will play a key role as we pursue a standard of excellence in athletics at Gulf Coast. Bill as the sports information director is an aggressive step forward in that pursuit.”
Snyder, a 1991 graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film (broadcast journalism), balances a heavy workload with family…and a wee bit of golf. He has a son, Colin, and daughter, Caroline, with wife Wendy, a Coast realtor.
“It’s true, I enjoy some time on the green. It helps to actually know something about the sport you’re covering,” Snyder claimed, quite convincingly. And although he may not be hitting the diamond, courts or gridiron, he still knows plenty about every sport. His experience here and in television shouts that he knows what he’s doing. In fact, while at WLOX-TV, he earned five Associated Press awards for sports reporting and was part of the multiple-award-winning team for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He worked at WLBT-TV and WAPT-TV in Jackson before joining WLOX-TV.
“This is a dream job. You hear that all the time from people, but this really is my dream job,” Snyder said. “Sports information is a huge part of public information at Gulf Coast. With the SID position, I can devote 100 percent of my time and energy to a facet of this college that’s just going to keep growing and earning national exposure. I’m looking forward to it.”
