This summer, UTSA Athletics will be profiling its numerous areas to provide an inside look into how each unit serves Roadrunners’ student-athletes.
In this edition, we sat down with Kirby Paulson, newly hired Associate Athletics Director for Fan Engagement, to discuss the Fan Engagement unit.
Q: How does your department service UTSA student-athletes?
Kirby Paulson: “Our goal is to create an engaging and exciting environment for our student-athletes and to be able to provide a setting where they can be at their most competitive. We are also a department that supports revenue generation to help generate resources to support and promote the student-athletes here. It’s important for us and our student-athletes to be able to connect with the community. That’s one of the pillars of the Roadrunner Game Plan. This encompasses a lot of different aspects, but how it enhances our student-athletes’ experiences is top of mind.”
Q: How many members are on your team and what roles do they serve?
Kirby Paulson: “There are three of us. Besides myself, Jeffrey Michel and Israel Vasquez have been absolute workhorses when it comes to executing marketing plans. They’re currently building ones for the upcoming fall season to engage our community and our fanbase. It falls to everyone to be able to pull from the same end of the rope and that’s something I’ve really preached in my short time here. What we’re trying to do is enhance the game experience and provide memorable moments for our fans, our community and our student-athletes. Whether that’s game production, script writing, working with UTSA Sports Properties to execute sponsorship activations, coordinating special events and collaborating with student activities, the band, cheer, pom and all the groups who work together to create a special experience, we do all of that. We also have a large volunteer and student staff that works really hard behind the scenes to help make everything run smoothly.”
Q: What makes UTSA a leader in your field?
Kirby Paulson: “One of the reasons I was so excited to interview for this position was the fact that what’s being built within UTSA Athletics is so innovative. There’s this collective idea that we are going out and doing our absolute best and really pushing the envelope in trying new things with a fan-first attitude. That’s really exciting for me. I got into the business of working in sports because I appreciated being a fan, and now I get to make the experience better for others. That innovation and that drive for further success and excellence is really what drew me into this position to begin with. I’m really excited to be able to tackle this position because I believe that we are going to be able to have a really strong impact on our fans and our student-athletes.”
Q: What are the most rewarding aspects of your role?
Kirby Paulson: “It’s definitely amazing to be able to serve our student-athletes and I look forward to serving them and our coaches, and being able to create exciting, engaging atmospheres for them. One of the things that I’ve always enjoyed about working in sports is working with the fans and getting to know them – what they enjoy, maybe what they don’t enjoy – and connect with them on a deeper level. I’m excited to work with two really motivated folks in Israel and Jeffrey. They are just really hard-working and come to work every day with a smile on their face.That’s going to be a rewarding aspect from more of an internal perspective, but externally, I’m really excited to serve our student-athletes and coaches and connect with the UTSA and San Antonio communities.”
Q: What is something about your department that people might not know?
Kirby Paulson: “There are so many different moving parts. It’s like a giant orchestra that you are trying to conduct, but it just comes back to how hard everyone works. We have our hands in everything from directing the game presentation, sponsorship activations, promotions, and a lot of things behind the scenes. I think that’s something that people might not know about, but something I’m really excited to keep building on.”
Q: What advice do you have for students or student-athletes who might be interested in entering into the fan engagement profession?
Kirby Paulson: “Be ready to come in and do the job. Hard work is something that you actually have to be able to master in sports. You have to be motivated, you have to be able to lean on your colleagues when things get really busy and sometimes difficult, you have to have that mentality that you want to come in and do the best, most excellent job that you possibly can. At the same time, you should also be able to celebrate the small wins and take some of those more rewarding aspects home with you. It just comes down to having that really strong work-ethic, but also knowing when to celebrate the accomplishments as well.”
Q: What kind of educational and experience background would someone need to be successful in your role?
Kirby Paulson: “I think it really comes down to a mix. I personally have taken the path of a strong educational background with professional sports experience. I think the beauty of working in sports business or intercollegiate athletics is that you can take different experiences and different backgrounds and still find yourself in a variety of roles. You don’t necessarily need to have a specific fan engagement background to excel in a role like this, but I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to connect with fans as a member of a fan engagement team previously and look forward to doing so here at UTSA.”