Sports

GSW names ex-Peanuts GM first SID

• Former South Georgia Peanuts General Manager Keith Michlig becomes the first ever sports information director at Georgia Southwestern since the school began organized athletics in 1979.

Danny Aller

AMERICUS — For Georgia Southwestern University athletics, there’s a first time for everything.

But for GSW’s newly named sports information director Keith Michlig, this job’s all about second chances.

Michlig, the former general manager of the South Georgia Peanuts who helped lead the team to the inaugural South Coast League championship then was subsequently fired at the end of the season, has been tapped as the first full time SID in the history of the provisional NCAA II school, which began organized athletics in 1979 and now appears less than a year away from being granted full-time D-II status.

And while Michlig will sort out all of those details once he begins work at his new job Monday in Americus, on Wednesday the only thing on his mind was a fresh start.

“This is a really exciting opportunity,” said Michlig, who was let go from the Peanuts in November, then proceeded to have a bitter falling out with South Coast League CEO Jamie Toole that included Michlig’s revelations he and his fellow Peanuts employees had not been paid for time worked and that several paychecks during the season had bounced.

Michlig, however, now has bigger fish to fry.

“The importance of the university's move to NCAA Division II cannot be underestimated,” he added, “and I'm glad that I can contribute to the success of this transition.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the Hurricane family.”

As are the rest of the ’Canes, whose traditional four-year provisional period for the NCAA to monitor its transition from NAIA to Division II was recently cut down to two years because of the school’s consistent and continued compliance to bring the university up to D-II standards.

"We look forward to adding (Keith’s) skill set in sports information, marketing and promotions to the athletic department," said GSW associate A.D. Jaclyn Kaylor, who has been at the school since 2004, beginning as the head athletic trainer before her position eventually evolved into a greater role; Randolph Barksdale is the A.D. and has been with the school off and on since the 1970s.

With Michlig comes an extensive background of working with both professional, collegiate and amateur sports teams.

Before he was GM of the Peanuts, Michlig served as the director of marketing and community affairs for the National Alliance for Youth Sports in West Palm Beach, Fla., from 2003-05. From 2002-03, he worked as marketing manager for the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, also in West Palm.

Michlig moved to Georgia in 2000 to serve as director of marketing and promotions for Mercer University Athletics. In a two- year span with Mercer, he increased corporate sponsorship revenue by 92 percent and increased fall sports attendance by 73 percent. Prior to that, Michlig served as GM of the Wisconsin Woodchuck Collegiate Baseball Club in Wausau, Wisc.

At GSW, Michlig will be asked to combine all those years of experience and use them to take Hurricane athletes and their teams to the next level of both media coverage and national recognition.

And that should be no problem for Michlig, said GSW public relations director/development officer Stephen Snyder.

“How can you deny the guy’s energy and passion for what he does,” said Snyder, who was one of the members of the final selection committee. “He’s confident, he’s good at what he does. We’re just excited to have him.”

Since becoming a provisional Division II program, Georgia Southwestern now is a member of the Peach Belt Conference and plays a league schedule, but it cannot compete in any Peach Belt event — such as the conference tournaments — that could lead to an NCAA berth, taking one away from a fully accredited D-II program. The Hurricanes  boast men’s and women’s soccer programs, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s golf, baseball and softball — the latter four of which currently are in its spring seasons now.

Snyder says that with the athletic department’s constant growth over the years — and not just because of the Division II push — the time had come to find someone who would oversee dissemination of information about the school’s sports teams the proper way.

“We didn’t just hire Keith because we had to find an SID or because the NCAA made us. It was somewhat overdue,” said Snyder, who has been with the Hurricanes for less than a year, but said he was surprised at the initial response once the job had been posted. “Once we opened the search, the applicants poured in from around the country but we narrowed it down and only interviewed four actually on campus. (Keith) beat out a qualified field, and he’s just really the best fit.”

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