A small-town kid from the Milwaukee area was playing an “NHL” video game in his room. With the television muted, he would practice his commentary over the gameplay. This is where his love for sports blossomed, and since then, he’s lived moments of working in athletics that his younger self would be in awe of.
“I always knew I wanted to go into some type of sports media from a really young age. I never really wanted to do anything else,” said Mike Hogan, the newly hired Athletics Communications Coordinator for St. John Fisher University.
Hogan first got his feet wet in the broadcasting world as a student at Grafton High School in Wisconsin. He practiced his play-by-play, whether it be from the press box or the sideline, which he then uploaded to his YouTube page for student-athletes to watch.
After graduating from high school, Hogan attended St. Bonaventure University. While he still dabbled in broadcasting, his passion for writing took off during college. Hogan contributed to The Bona Venture, the campus’ student newspaper that allowed him to learn the ropes and rise the ranks, later becoming the Editor in Chief.
During his junior year, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country. Isolation was a problem for many, but Hogan thrived during this period. “All I was doing was writing articles and interviewing people and doing stories, it was just super fun,” he said.
The pandemic also provided the biggest opportunity in Hogan’s career up to that point. After his internship fell through due to a canceled season, he got an unexpected email.
On the other end of the message was David Boclair, a writer who covers the NHL’s Nashville Predators and the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Boclair had a Google Alert set up for the word “Milwaukee,” as the Predators are affiliated with the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL). This led to him discovering an article Hogan wrote as a sophomore in college, detailing his love for sports and his visits to the Admirals’ press box as a kid.
“I always say, ‘we need to do the best we can to tell the story of the athletic department.’”
Boclair enjoyed the piece and felt that he could relate to Hogan’s story as a young sports fan. The pair exchanged contact information, which turned into Hogan’s new internship where he covered the Titans on the Sports Illustrated website. “I don’t really think I was ready for it at the time, but hell, if you get offered the chance to cover an NFL team as a senior in college, you’re not gonna say no, right?” Hogan said.
Hogan participated in interviews and press conferences with prominent NFL figures, such as Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry and Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. This created a full-circle moment for the Wisconsin native: covering his first in-person NFL game at Lambeau Field, a stadium he grew up visiting to watch the Green Bay Packers.
Following college, Hogan went back home and started his first full-time position at 247 Sports as the beat writer for the Wisconsin Badgers football and basketball teams. While he enjoyed it, he longed to work in a team environment. “I just feel like the situation I was in there was kind of isolating,” Hogan explained.
He decided to go the college information route – spending a year at Cornell University and getting to cover the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championship. With his new knowledge and skill set, Hogan eventually landed at Fisher in Aug. 2024.
There’s a lot that comes with being a sports information director, or “SID” for short. “I always joke that I’m also a DJ because I have to play music for the student-athletes,” Hogan said with a grin. Besides being a DJ, his responsibilities include managing the Fisher Athletics website and social media, controlling livestreams for games, recording stats, and writing game recaps for every team on campus.
Balancing these abundant tasks can sometimes be challenging for Hogan. “It’s just a constant grind,” he said. “I enjoy it, it’s fun, but I’m still trying to find a routine, in terms of, where can I breathe a little bit?” Fortunately, Hogan is assisted by Bobby Papalouizos, an assistant baseball coach at Fisher, as well as students from both Brockport and Fisher.
Above all, Hogan believes that this role should be about putting Fisher’s student-athletes and coaches in the best light. “I always say, ‘we need to do the best we can to tell the story of the athletic department.’”
To get involved with the athletic department, find Mike’s contact info here.
