Trevor Jossart was promoted to assistant athletic director-communications over the fall semester after joining the Augustana athletic department as the director of communications in the summer of 2021.
Jossart has been the director of athletic communications which involved handling various departmental tasks, such as covering all of Augustana’s varsity sports and managing media relations. Now, Jossart will have a few extra assignments.
“A lot of my responsibilities will be the same, as my main priority is overseeing athletic communications,” Jossart said. “Included in this is updating the athletic website, hiring staff for home events, writing stories and press releases and managing our social media channels. The role simply solidifies my continued collaboration with our athletic director, Mike Zapolski, and puts me as another administrative contact for Augie Athletics.”
While the promotion to assistant athletic director comes with some new responsibilities, Trevor’s goal for the athletic department remains the same: to ensure he is doing his best to support the student athletes and coaches and be an extra hand in the work that needs to be done in the athletic department.
“My goal is to continue to build our athletic prowess with our coaches and student-athletes,” Jossart said. “I am hoping this promotion will create an extra helping hand administratively across the department. Any chance I can help Mike Zapolski with his endless tasks and duties will be a major benefit to the department. Ultimately, I am there for our coaches and student-athletes and being an extra ear for them will hopefully make an impact.”
Over the past few years, Trevor’s work and dedication to the athletic department have caught the attention of athletic director Mike Zapolski, which is one of the reasons why he and others in the athletic department decided to make Trevor the assistant athletic director.
Under Jossart, the school has had six College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans, a program that recognizes student-athletes for their academic and athletic achievements, including five in the 2023-24 school year. He has also played a considerable role in hosting two national tournaments and two conference championship events on campus. In his time at Augustana, the athletic department has seen steady improvements in places such as live streaming their sporting events, website expansion and social media engagement, which included over 100,000 views on home broadcasts in 2023-24.
“Also, just to highlight the work that he had done in the previous three years that he had been here in terms of stuff with the website and live streaming,” Zapolski said. “We had five folks that were selected Academic All-American last year that really stepped out of their office, and just with all the social media stuff that they do, stood out to us to give them that new title.”
Besides Jossart’s new position change, the athletic department is always busy all year round with major work and projects for student athletes and coaches. Currently, the department is focused on getting awards ready for the student athletes who will be inducted into the national student athlete academic honor society on April 14.
“We are currently working on our blanket winter award invitees that would be for any senior who has been involved with their sport for all four years,” Athletics Office Manager Becca Kitterman said. “On Monday the 14th, we’re going to have our first ever induction for Chi Alpha Sigma. We have 105 student-athletes who are going to be our first-ever induction class. This is a national student athlete academic honor society, where it’s designed for student athletes who are at least a junior with a GPA of at least 3.5 and in good standing with their team.”
Jossart and the rest of the athletic department will continue to work hard throughout the school year, ensuring they support the student athletes and coaches regardless of position or title.
