B.J. Schecter, associate director of the Center for Sports Media in the College of Human Development, Culture, and Media, has been appointed interim executive director of the Center.
Schecter has been closely involved in the Center’s operation since it was founded
in 2021. A seasoned sports journalist, Schecter first joined Seton Hall in 2017 as
a professional-in-residence. He also serves as faculty advisor for the award-winning
student newspaper, The Setonian.
Schecter succeeds Founding Executive Director Jane McManus, whose diligent work over
the past 20 months created a foundation of success. McManus, a 30-year sports journalist,
will pursue other opportunities, including her recent prestigious appointment as editor
of The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2024.
The Center for Sports Media, created to highlight the critical intersection of sports,
media and society, was established with a gift of $2 million from executive founder and ESPN icon Bob Ley ’76. The Center’s mission reflects Ley’s pioneering work on the long-running ESPN show
Outside the Lines, which won multiple Emmys and a Peabody Award during his tenure. The Center’s activities
provide students with an interdisciplinary foundation for academic training and theory
with practical experience in the rapidly evolving sports media industry, while also
drawing professional and scholarly attention to the industry’s impact on contemporary
social life.
“B.J. Schecter has played an integral role in the establishment of the Center and
I’m thrilled that he’s stepping in to lead the charge,” said Ley. “I know he’ll excel
in his larger role, that his leadership will shape our students’ experiences as they
gain the skills and values from our programs to be leaders themselves in sports media
in the 21st century.”
Added Ley, “I also want to express my deep personal and professional appreciation
for the tireless work performed by Jane McManus as our founding executive director.
She has set us on a proper course.”
Bryan Crable, Ph.D., dean of the College of Human Development, Culture, and Media, agreed. “The world
of media, in all its various forms, is evolving rapidly – and sports media is no exception,”
he said. “In fact, as Outside the Lines consistently demonstrated, changes in sports and coverage of sports reflect the pressing
concerns of the day, which means that the Center equips our students to not only take
leading roles in the industry, but also in their communities. In this way, the Center
provides Seton Hall students with professional opportunities and access to expertise
that are simply unparalleled.”
Schecter, who oversees all editorial and business operations for Baseball America, has extensive experience at the highest levels of media, having spent 20 years as
a reporter, writer and editor at Sports Illustrated before leaving the brand in September 2016. His responsibilities included running
the magazine’s investigative and enterprise unit, managing content and columnists
for the website, working closely with editors and writers at the website and magazine
to integrate SI and SI.com, overseeing cross-platform projects and managing Sports Illustrated’s internship program. He was also the creator and editor of the college football website
Campus Rush, which launched in the summer of 2015 and included a student correspondent program
at more than 75 universities across the country.
As a writer, Schecter covered college football and college basketball. As an editor,
he edited college football, college basketball, Major League Baseball and several
special projects, including Crime in College Football, Gangs in Sports, the 50 Most
Influential Minorities in Sports, the Great American Sports Atlas, the nation’s top
high school programs and more.
Prior to Sports Illustrated, Schecter spent five years at The Boston Globe, where he was the lead high school writer and also covered colleges.
“The Center for Sports Media is well-positioned to become one of the best interdisciplinary
sports media programs in the nation,” said Schecter. “Our students have a unique opportunity
to drive the conversation and innovate. With our proximity to New York City and a
close collaboration with disciplines across the University, I am honored to lead the
Center and create opportunities for our students. I’ve had the privilege and pleasure
of working closely with Bob Ley since early 2018 and there’s no better example of
excellence for our students. Bob and Jane McManus helped set the Center off in a terrific
direction, and I can’t wait to build on an outstanding foundation.”
Since its inception, the Center for Sports Media has hosted some of the world’s leading
practitioners in the field of sports, sports business and sports media. Its inaugural
in-person Sports Media Speaker Series event, “Alex Rodriguez: Beyond Baseball,” brought the MLB star-turned television analyst, businessman and professional sports
team owner to campus for a major University presentation as well as in-depth conversations
in student workshops along with Ley and Bardia Shah-Rais ’95, vice president of production
at Fox Sports.
McManus brought Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss to campus to discuss “Equity, Influence and the Next Generation in Sports.” The event
was widely covered in the media, including NJ.com, The Record, Yahoo News and Ms. Magazine.
In addition to these headline public events, this past fall the Center welcomed Stephen A. Smith to campus for a private, student-only discussion about sports media. Following Smith, the Center
brought Kenny Albert, a five-sport broadcaster known for his versatile play-by-play skills, who discussed
his craft with students, along with his new book, Calling the Game. The Center also hosted Peter King, a renowned NFL writer, NBC reporter, analyst
and the iconic founder of Sports Illustrated’s “Monday Morning Quarterback.” King dove into the nuances of “Covering the NFL 101,”
offering students a window into the world of covering the NFL.
Other events, speaker presentations and roundtables hosted by or in conjunction with the Center over the last few years included Bob
Costas on “The Changing Face of Sports Media”; Stephen A. Smith (twice); Tom Verducci
of Sports Illustrated, Marc Werner of the MLB Network, and Jayson Stark of ESPN; Paul Fichtenbaum and Dana
O’Neil of The Athletic; Former NBA Commissioner David Stern; New York Times bestselling authors Jeff Benedict and Ben Reiter; a master class with Bob Ley; Tom
Verducci, Doug Glanville and Dontrelle Willis; and Michael Smith and Elizabeth Newman
on diversity in American sports.
“Given the vision and activities of the Center for Sports Media, I could not be more
excited about its future,” Crable said. “Bob Ley did so much to shift the conversation
in sports toward questions of community, of ethics, even of justice. It seems only
fitting, then, that Seton Hall honor Bob’s legacy in and through the Center for Sports
Media. Under Jane’s direction, I am proud of what the Center has already accomplished,
and I could not be more excited about its next chapter, with B.J. at the helm. As
a leading voice in the conversation on sports, media, and society, the Center ensures
that our students will chart the future for the profession, and for American society
as a whole.”
About Seton Hall’s Center for Sports Media
The Center for Sports Media, housed within the College of Human Development, Culture,
and Media, works at the intersection of sports, media and social life, reflecting
the legacy of its founder, Bob Ley, and his groundbreaking ESPN show, Outside the Lines. Established in Fall 2021, the Center is working to redefine how students are trained
in media, communications and sports business, by engaging with the sports community,
while also producing groundbreaking content through University channels and establishing
innovative partnerships with major media outlets. Through the activities generated
and inspired by the Center for Sports Media, Seton Hall continues its tradition of
innovation in higher education, and underscores its commitment to experiential learning,
ethical leadership and community engagement.
About the College of Human Development, Culture, and Media
Launched in Summer 2023, Seton Hall’s College of Human Development, Culture, and Media
(CHDCM) embodies the University’s commitment to pedagogical innovation, intellectual
ferment and community engagement. Uniting scholars and students from four dynamic
departments — Communication, Media, and the Arts; Education Leadership, Management,
and Policy; Educational Studies; and Professional Psychology and Family Therapy —
the College is the new home of cutting-edge, transdisciplinary inquiry into the stickiest
problems of our time.
The faculty, staff and students of the College seek to improve the human condition
by collaborating across distinct fields that uniquely complement one another, thereby
preparing the next generation of dynamic leaders poised to tackle contemporary social
challenges and opportunities. Expression underpins all facets of the integrated College’s
portfolio — media as a form of education and artistic expression; teaching and learning
as modes of creative expression; expression and expressibility as critical to counseling
and therapeutic treatment; and self-expression as a vehicle of social agency. With
enrollment at approximately 1,550 total students, both graduate and undergraduate,
CHDCM is the second largest college at Seton Hall University, with approximately 70
full-time faculty and 125 adjunct faculty, and houses two innovative co-curricular
initiatives, the Center for Sports Media and the Institute for Communication and Religion.
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