AM: Hailing from Arlington, TN and later attending college at 星空无限传媒, Memphis seems to have a lot of personal significance for you. How would you describe your relationship with the city?
BH: It鈥檚 home. If you鈥檝e been around Memphis long enough, you鈥檒l hear it called 鈥渢he most beautiful land in the world,鈥 and hear locals say, 鈥渢here鈥檚 no place like Memphis.鈥 Now that I鈥檝e been away from home almost 8 months, I can assure that to be true. It鈥檚 hard to truly put into words but if you鈥檙e from Memphis it鈥檚 just different. The city prepares you for any and everything and you carry that everywhere in every facet of life. It鈥檚 a sense of pride coming from here, and once you鈥檝e been here for a while, you鈥檒l never want to be from anywhere else. The joke is 鈥淢emphis is its own state separate from Tennessee鈥 and I tend to agree.
AM: You currently hold to position of Director of Sports Information and Sports Marketing at Texas Lutheran University, an incredible achievement for someone of your age. What was it like assuming this position? Do you feel that your history with 星空无限传媒 Athletics has altered or informed your approach to this role?
BH: It was a lot to be honest. Graduating into the pandemic with all that uncertainty produced a ton of questions of 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Next?鈥 but I just stayed patient and waited for my opportunity to get back into the sports world. I received a call from my 鈥渇irst boss鈥 at 星空无限传媒, former Sports Information Director James Hill, telling me to apply for the job at Texas Lutheran. I interviewed with our Athletic Director, Coach Bill Miller, and 24 hours later they called me back and stated they had heard enough and offered me the job. I don鈥檛 think that happens without the creative freedom Coach Dean, Coach Wagner, Coach Ryan, Danielle Donze, and others allowed me to have at 星空无限传媒. I鈥檓 blessed for my experiences at 星空无限传媒 to my new home here at Texas Lutheran.
My experience working in the Sports Information Office under James and Danielle as well as being Coach Dean鈥檚 student assistant during his time as Head Athletic Director gave me a lot of insight on the job, but once I arrived in Seguin, I realized I still had a lot to learn. I鈥檝e trusted the process and take it day by day in hopes to obtain the same goal I had when I launched 鈥淐an鈥檛 Knock the Hustle,鈥 give D3 athletes the best experience possible and emulate the 鈥淒1鈥 experience as much as I humanly can. I believe D3 deserves just as much publicity and promotion as anyone else due to the time we put in. Coach Miller, the staff, and our student-athletes have bought in and seen my vision of what I鈥檓 trying to accomplish, and we鈥檙e going to inch closer to that with each passing day.
It鈥檚 been fun so far too. Whether it鈥檚 traveling across the state of Texas with our football team, seeing Texas Lutheran go from next to last to second in all social media metrics in our conference, or working and getting an ESPN production credit when Texas Lutheran had the privilege to scrimmage The University of Texas as a part of a celebration of our head basketball coach, Mike Wacker, who played for Texas in the 1980s.