UC San Diego

Jeff Tourial was named Associate Director of Athletics for Communications at UC San Diego in October 2019. A member of the department's leadership team, Tourial is charged with communications and social media strategy, and web site and media relations management for UC San Diego's 23 intercollegiate varsity sports. He also serves as a founding board member on the University's Public Relations Council and hosts Tritoncast, the podcast for UC San Diego Athletics.

With more than 20 years of professional experience in Division I intercollegiate athletics, Tourial joined the UC San Diego Athletics staff following after spending almost nine years at the West Coast Conference. Most recently, Tourial served as Associate Commissioner, where he was charged with increasing the WCC's visibility through external relations channels and advising the Commissioner on all external affairs.

At the WCC, Tourial managed the conference's television and digital assets on a daily basis, including its robust national and regional men's basketball television schedule. He served as Executive Producer for TheW.tv, the conference's digital platform, including scheduling and execution of its live and on-demand programming schedule. Tourial was the Executive Producer for the WCC This Week television show -- available in nearly 20 million homes each Saturday during basketball season. Tourial also created a monthly magazine-style television show, WCC All-Access, which aired on regional sports networks throughout the western United States, airing nearly 500 times across the RSNs each year. Under his direction, the WCC was nominated for an Emmy® award for outstanding feature story in both 2018 and 2019. WCC All-Access captured a College Sports Media Award from NACDA/SVG in 2019 for Outstanding Program Series.

Beyond the Conference's extensive broadcast platforms, Tourial managed the relationship between the Conference and West Coast Conference Sponsorships, the third-party sales and revenue generation entity in collaboration with Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment. He also oversaw the WCC's branding initiatives and served as sport administrator for baseball, working with the coaches group and extensively on the four-team West Coast Conference baseball championship. In 2018, Tourial was selected to join the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee. 

Previously at the conference, Tourial served as media coordinator for the first rounds of the 2013 and 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball tournaments held in San Jose, and press conference moderator for the 2012 NCAA Women's Soccer College Cup national championship in San Diego. In 2015, he served as Tournament Director for the WCC Baseball Championship.

At the WCC, Tourial managed media coordination for the West Coast Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, the official WCC website and social media portals, and all conference awards programs. Under his leadership, the WCC experienced unprecedented growth on major social media platforms. From 2014 to 2019, the Conference’s Instagram follower count grew by 482%, its Facebook page saw a 219% growth in likes, and its Twitter handles grew by 132%. 

Tourial joined the WCC staff as the Director of Communications in 2010, after spending nearly 10 years at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. As Lehigh's Media Relations Director from 2002-06, Tourial coordinated media efforts for Lehigh's 25 varsity sports. From 2006-10, he managed the department's broadcasting, video streaming, and social media areas while serving as play-by-play broadcaster for 10 different Lehigh teams. Under his leadership, Lehigh was a national finalist for the 2010 NACDA/SVG College Sports Media Award for live production. Tourial also operated as media coordinator for NCAA and conference championship events during his time as Lehigh's Media Relations Director.

Prior to joining the Lehigh staff, Tourial spent two seasons as the play-by-play broadcaster and media relations director for the Allentown (Pa.) Ambassadors baseball club in the independent Northern League. He previously worked as the morning show producer at an all-sports radio station in his hometown of Atlanta, coordinating the show's live on-site broadcasts during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Tourial attended Syracuse University, earning Bachelor's degrees in international relations and broadcast journalism. He later earned his Master's in Sports Leadership from Duquesne University.

A member of NACMA and CoSIDA, Tourial serves on the Sports Video Group's College Sports Summit advisory committee. He was a featured speaker at the 2015 CoSIDA convention regarding conference social media strategy and in 2014 at SVG's College Summit regarding conference digital networks. He previously spoke at NACMA regarding maximizing television and radio opportunities for smaller schools.