Article Written by Alexander Fern. Photo Provided by SCSUHuskies.com
A native of Eagan, Minn., Andrew Melroe holds the title of Assistant Athletics Director of Strategic Communications at St. Cloud State University, but he didn’t always envision this field.
“I knew growing up that I wanted to be around sports at some capacity even though I didn’t think I was going to be good enough to play college sports,” said Melroe. “My first thought was to be a journalist since my dad worked in live television, so I had the goal that everyone has of going to ESPN and working there, and that led me to the University of Missouri.”
Melroe started as a journalism major at the University of Missouri but at the beginning of his senior year, he changed plans.
“I wanted to switch avenues a little bit,” said Melroe. “I found the sports information department and worked with that department during my senior year at Missouri and figured out that was the niche that I wanted to do.”
After he completed his time at the University, Melroe journeyed back to his home state and began an internship at Minnesota State University Moorhead.
After that, he bounced from internship-to-internship before being given the opportunity to serve as the Associate Director of Strategic Communications at his alma mater.
He worked as Associate Director for three years, handling the communications efforts for the nationally-ranked women’s basketball program and assisting the football program.
“I worked with a lot of great people and athletes,” said Melroe. “Future Olympians, draft picks, that type of thing.”
Melroe also supported and lead the charge for publicity of the women’s basketball squads first-ever All-American, Sophie Cunningham.
But the home-state roots run deep for Melroe; he wanted to move closer to home with his wife.
“The opportunity to move back home was a fantastic opportunity for us,” said Melroe. “I learned about the opening at St. Cloud State, and it worked out well. Both of my in-laws are graduates of SCSU so that’s kind of cool.”
Melroe recently finished up his second year at St. Cloud State, where he works as the main contact for Men’s Hockey, Women’s Soccer, Tennis, Nordic Skiing, and Swim and Dive.
“My department oversees all the archival of our statistics for our 17 sports on campus. We also are the main department for media contact, which means that if a team is coming to St. Cloud and wants space to broadcast or someone wants talk to a coach or athlete of ours, that goes through us.”
One of those media outlets is St. Cloud State’s campus radio station, 88.1 FM KVSC.
“Andrew is always very transparent and helpful for us,” said Brian Moos, play-by-play broadcaster at KVSC. “He lets us know when and where we can have the opportunity to talk to coaches or athletes, and if we want to get them on the air as well. He treats the student broadcasters like professionals, and we are very thankful to have him at St. Cloud State.”
An 85-mile journey from Eagan to St. Cloud took Melroe almost eight years, but he eventually found where he belongs.
“My favorite part of my job is that the people around me are just family,” said Melroe. “Things are the same day-to-day, but everyday could be different. It keeps me on my toes, and I love sharing the experiences of the student athletes, and the biggest payoff is seeing them happy.”
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