Drake Athletic Communications welcomed its newest staff member in September by hiring Jack Bluhm as Assistant Director of Athletic Communications. Bluhm worked as a sports information director at Lipscomb for three years and a media relations coordinator for the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines for two years before coming to Drake.
The sports information department at Drake, where Bluhm works, has two full-time employees. Dave Shindelar, who is now the Director of Athletic Communications, is the other employee. He held Bluhm’s current position as Assistant Director of Athletic Communications last school year before being promoted this summer. The position opened after the previous Director of Athletic Communications, Danny Frey, accepted a different job in the spring of 2024.
As Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, Bluhm is the primary media contact for Drake University men’s basketball, volleyball, softball, women’s soccer, men’s golf and women’s golf.
“I always knew I wanted to do something in sports,” Bluhm said. “Sports have run my life ever since I can remember. I’ve always been obsessed with sports. Growing up, I always had ESPN on the TV no matter what.”
Bluhm said he originally wanted to be a sports broadcaster, inspired by his avid ESPN watching. After stints trying broadcasting and print reporting, Bluhm landed on sports public relations as the career best fit for him.
“My senior year at Iowa State, I got in touch with the Iowa State athletic communications department, and that’s where I fell in love with sports communication,” Bluhm said. “Working for them was a different side compared to a beat writer, where you’re more on your own. You’re one guy covering a team or sport, whereas working in the communications department, you’re really with a team.”
In his job with the Iowa Cubs, Bluhm was solely focused on one team, but working in college athletics has allowed him to broaden his work.
“Instead of focusing on one team, like I was with the Iowa Cubs, I have to juggle multiple hats and switch around depending on what sport is going on for me,” Bluhm said.
Switching between teams can create a busy schedule for Athletic Communications Directors like Bluhm, especially if multiple of his teams play simultaneously.
“The most challenging part…is that you have to be organized, because we have a lot going on at once, and you really got to stay on top of it,” Bluhm said.
Bluhm said that working on the athletic communications team allows work to be delegated if he or Shindelar is busy. But even with two full-time sports information directors, long work days arise.
“There’s going to be nights where I’m going to be here at eight or nine in the morning, and then I might not leave until 10 or 11 at night, depending on how much we have going on and if there are night games,” Bluhm said.
The job demands hard work, but a sports information director’s reward comes in the success of athletics. Drake won the 2023-24 Missouri Valley Conference All-Sports Championship. Last year marked the second time a private institution in the MVC won the award — and Drake’s first time.
“Things are going good here at Drake athletics-wise,” Bluhm said. “I’m coming in at an exciting time.”
Bluhm also noted the mostly new men’s basketball team as a source of excitement for his first year at Drake, since there’s a new head coach and only two returning players.
“That’s kind of a cool dynamic and something that I’m really excited about,” Bluhm said. “It’s a new era for both of us.”
Drake’s sports information department also features student workers who work closely with Bluhm and Shindelar.
“I think Jack [Bluhm] has a great personality,” said Will Kloos, a Drake sophomore who’s worked with the sports information department for one year. “He’s very passionate. I met him during [Drake] Relays, and it was clear to me right away that [working for Drake Athletic Communications] was something he’d be very good at.”
The biggest challenge that Bluhm has faced in his career was when sports shut down due to COVID-19. Bluhm recalled watching the movie “Moneyball” soon after the NCAA shutdown in 2020 as an emotional moment for him.
“I remember the scene where Chris Pratt’s character hits his walk-off home run in [Moneyball], and I was getting choked up because…it had been a couple of days or a week where there were no sports…and this [excitement] is what it’s about,” Bluhm said. “Even though it’s a movie and it’s more dramatic, that’s what sports provide. That feeling of ‘Dang, this isn’t going to be a thing for anybody, for who knows how long,’ was just a weird feeling.”
Bluhm was working at Lipscomb University when the NCAA halted all college sports, and his job at Drake is his first crack back at college athletics.
“I just really like the college atmosphere more than the pro atmosphere,” Bluhm said. “So getting back into that, and staying in Des Moines is awesome.”
