Harvey Resigns in Pursuit of Professional Dream

Asst. AD for Communications resigns from BCU

 

DAYTONA BECH, Fla. – Lynn W. Thompson, Bethune-Cookman University Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics, today announced the departure of long-term Assistant Athletic Director for Communications, Bryan Harvey from the BCU staff. Harvey, who will be leaving the Wildcats Athletics program effective February 28, 2019, is set to accept an opportunity to work in the world of professional soccer – his lifelong passion.

 

Harvey, who has served in this role since 2012, played a major role in the development of BCU’s highly respected multi-media and full service office of athletic communications. His vision and energy was a platform for the growth of new areas in the department such as the Office of New Media, athletic marketing and a strategic emphasis on both social media and a new website with content, attractive graphics and video archives easily reachable by fans and supporters.

 

“Bryan’s work has garnered him acclaim in the industry and his love of international sports like soccer has afforded him the opportunity of a lifetime and he is now poised to take advantage of one that many of us can only dream of”, said Lynn W. Thompson, VP for Intercollegiate Athletics. “He is a part of our family and will always be, no matter where he travels.”

 

“I will always have love for Bethune-Cookman University,” said Harvey. “I want to thank V.P. Thompson for always believing in me and allowing me to grow the staff and hire members that have always helped to grow the brand of the athletics department and university, alike. It has truly been a blessing to serve this university, but more importantly, someone like V.P. Thompson. Without his trust and leadership; the members of my staff – both now and in the past that helped build BCU to where the brand of Wildcats Athletics is today; and Wildcats supporters, coaches and student-athletes, none of this is possible. BCU is my family – and Daytona Beach will always be my home away from home.”

 

Bryan Harvey also used his voice on many of the university multimedia projects and served on the creative team for many of its award-winning projects produced by the highly-acclaimed CatEye Network.

 

Harvey has solid roots in Daytona Beach and the BCU community as he served three years as Director of Sports Information from 2005-08. He joined the staff at the University of Miami and worked in Coral Gables from 2008-2011, and returned back to BCU as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications in September 2012.

 

During his two stints in Daytona Beach, Harvey has virtually done it all. He has been behind the scenes coordinating media relations for all of the 17 sports in the Wildcats Athletics program, and even in front of the camera and the microphone – whether on TV or radio calling the action on BCU games or coach’s shows. His talent allows him to do that and more.

 

While at Miami, he worked as an assistant communications director in the Department of Athletics with a variety of sports, including serving as the primary contact for the nationally-renowned Hurricanes baseball team under the direction of legendary head coach Jim Morris. He also served as the primary contact all four years for the nationally-ranked Hurricanes volleyball team and secondary contact for football and men’s basketball.

 

In 2009, while at Miami, Harvey was selected as the NCAA Division I East Region Sports Information Director of the Year for women’s volleyball.

 

At BCU, in addition to maintaining the day-to-day operations of the Office of Athletic Communications, Harvey also served as Licensing and Vending Coordinator for the Wildcats athletic department.

 

As a member of the senior management team in athletics, Harvey worked directly with the head coaches in a variety of roles ranging from scheduling to media relations and creative projects, and his input and creativity was invaluable to each program.

 

“Having a seasoned professional like Bryan Harvey working with our student-athletes and providing media training to them is so vital to them and us,” said BCU Head Football Coach Terry Sims. “His ability to coordinate schedules, conduct media sessions and to teach our student-athletes about their responsibilities to the media and general public will truly be missed. We wish him nothing but the best in his journey.”

 

A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, just before coming to BCU, Harvey spent three years as the Assistant Sports Information Director at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. While at HU, he served as the primary contact for all women’s sports, as well as men’s tennis and coed sailing.

 

Bryan Harvey is a 2001 graduate of North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, earning a degree in English with a concentration in Media Communications. He worked four years as a student-assistant within the Office of Sports Information, contributing greatly with the creation and publication of the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) award-winning 2001 NCCU Football media guide.

 

Apart from Sports Information at NCCU, Harvey also worked with the campus radio station hosting a weekly radio call-in sports show Three Big Mouths on Sports. The sports show rave was an instant hit, and eventually was moved into a primetime spot with a separate telephone operator to handle incoming calls. He also served as the play-by-play announcer for all NCCU men’s and women’s home basketball games.

 

In other duties around the world of athletics, Harvey has enjoyed volunteering his time with sports teams on minor league circuits of professional football.  He served as the official statistician at all home games for the Daytona Thunder of the World Indoor Football League (WIFL) from 2006-08.  He served in the same capacity with the Norfolk Nighthawks of the Arena Football League 2 in the summer of 2002.