.png)
Among all activities that take place on a college campus, sports could be said to reign supreme as one of the most popular events. Everyone wants to know the before, during and after highlights of sporting events, but an individual cannot be at all the games and contests at once. This is where Olivet College sports information director Geoff Henson makes his mark.
Henson was born and raised in the town of Elyria, Ohio, located approximately 40 minutes west of Cleveland. He graduated from Midview High School, a small school of about 1,000 students in Grafton, Ohio. From Grafton High, Henson went on to pursue an education at Baldwin-Wallace University (known as Baldwin-Wallace College at the time) and was awarded his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2001. While at Baldwin-Wallace, Henson served as an intern in the sports information office. Henson earned a job at Olivet College in October 2002, where he is now entering his 14th year as the Olivet College Comets sports information director at The Cutler Event Center.
According to Henson, eager to begin employment after finishing his undergrad, Olivet was the college that reached out to him about the open position.
“I was looking for a job right out of school,” Henson said. “I did not find them (Olivet), they found me.”
As sports information director, part of Henson’s responsibilities is to write reviews and stories on specific sporting events. Henson attends the sporting event and has his material done that night.
Many people would find this speed to be superhuman – Usain Bolt-type speed, even – but Henson explained that having the home-field advantage is what often lends to a speedier writing process versus when the Comets are scheduled to be on the road.
“If the game is a home game, I try to formulate a story of the game in my head, then outline it onto paper, before lastly posting it online,” Henson said.
When Henson cannot make the road games, he follows the game with live stats, broadcasts, game casts or other ways of keeping up with the game. Henson consistently works to have the story out to the public as fast as possible.
“The sooner the story is out, the better. The people want to know,” Henson said. Since joining the Olivet College family in 2002, Henson has worked alongside many different athletic directors. Olivet College has gone through around six or seven athletic directors, if not more.
With sports information updating and changing constantly, it’s not surprising that the constant changing of athletic directors does not affect Henson much either, as he “works more with the coaches of the teams, rather than the athletic director” – similar to when a coach recruits players to build a stronger program, the dynamics of the team continually change as well.
Though Henson has had to deal with new athletic directors and new personalities, he never has had a problem with any of them. Everyone he has worked with has given him the support to do his job at his best.
Pictured: Geoff Henson/Courtesy Photo