Communications Responsibilities: Football, Women's Volleyball, Men's & Women's Ice Hockey, Men's & Women's Squash, Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving, Baseball, Women's Lacrosse, Men's Golf
Sam Knehans joined the Ivy League office in September 2016 as Assistant Executive Director, Communications & Championships.
Knehans oversees the Ivy League's social media strategy and manages the content calendar. In 2019, he spearheaded the League's campaign in recognition of college football's 150th anniversary that featured 150-consecutive days of original content. Knehans annually orchestrates the media relations for the Ivy League's Bushnell Cup presentation in conjunction with the National Football Foundation to announce the Ivy League Football Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year.
While with the Ivy League, Knehans has served as the communications contact for as many as 14 conference sports, covering six team and 10 individual national champions. Most notably, he publicized Harvard’s run to the 2017 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Frozen Four, Princeton’s run to the quarterfinals of the 2017 NCAA Women’s College Cup and Cornell's run to the 2019 NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Frozen Four. Knehans spearheaded the annual Legends of Ivy League Basketball honoring in conjunction with the 2017 & 2018 Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, led coverage of the 35 Ivies in PyeongChang during the 2018 Winter Olympics—the second-largest contingent among NCAA conferences—and organized the 2019 Ivy League Football Media Day at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn.
As part of the groundbreaking Rooted in Ivy series—highlighting Ivy League alumni competing in professional leagues—Knehans has covered a World Series champion (Kyle Hendricks - Chicago Cubs, 2016), a Stanley Cup champion (Alex Killorn - Tampa Bay Lightning, 2020) and a quartet of Super Bowl champions (James Develin - New England Patriots, 2019; John Lovett - Kansas City Chiefs, 2020; Cameron Brate - Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2021; Justin Watson - Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2021).
He joined the Ivy League office following a stint as the Assistant Commissioner of the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC), where he oversaw communications and marketing efforts for 15 sports and participated in championship and sport administration and sponsorship sales and fulfillment.
While with the SSAC, Knehans covered four team and eight individual national champions. For his efforts, he was named the 2014-15 SSAC Administrator of the Year and was a finalist for the 2014-15 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Charles Morris Administrator of the Year award.
Prior to joining the SSAC, Knehans spent a year working in communications and sports information at the NAIA national office. There, he was the primary communications contact for nine sports and served as the media coordinator at six NAIA national championship events. He also contributed to the marketing of the inaugural NAIA Champions of Character Foundation Luncheon, NAIA Men’s Basketball Shoot & Slam and NAIA Showcase.
A graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Knehans earned his bachelor’s in magazine journalism and political science, with minors in sport management and African American studies. He graduated summa cum laude, with a 4.0 GPA, earning valedictorian honors.
During his time at Syracuse, Knehans also held various roles with Syracuse University Athletics, the Syracuse Chiefs, IMG and Missouri Baptist Athletics.
Knehans serves as the primary communications contact for 11 Ivy League sports, acts as the primary sport administrator for men's & women's golf, men's & women's ice hockey and volleyball and assists in the administration of several of the League’s championship events. He is currently a part-time MBA candidate at Villanova University.
He is an active member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Knehans was previously a member of the NAIA-SIDA New Media and Branding Committees (2014-16) and the CoSIDA Convention Programming Committee (2016-20). He currently serves on the CoSIDA New Media (2018-Present) and Professional Development (2020-Present) Committees. Knehans was the Social Media Director for the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, an NCAA FBS bowl game, from 2014-17.