Western Illinois announces hiring of Patrick Osterman as Director for Athletics Media Services

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois University has announced the hiring of Patrick Osterman as the Director for Athletics Media Services.

“We are extremely happy to have Patrick join the Leatherneck Athletics Department. His resume speaks for itself, as he certainly has the experience and knowledge-base to advance our media services unit,” Director of Athletics Dr. Tim Van Alstine said. “At the same time, it is important to note the success of our media services area over the past few years and in recent months. Katie Kane has done a terrific job serving as our interim director and I am confident both Patrick and Katie will continue to improve the service to our media representatives and our loyal Leatherneck fan base.”

“I am extremely honored to take over as the Director of Media Services at Western Illinois University. Western has built a tremendous reputation for its Athletics Department and I'm looking forward to working with the staff and student-athletes to continue that tradition. I want to thank Dr. Tim Van Alstine for giving me this opportunity,” said Osterman. “When I came to interview for the position I was very impressed with Dr. Van Alstine's vision and how much the staff loves working at Western. I'm grateful my family and I have the opportunity to join the Fighting Leatherneck family.”

Osterman comes to Western after serving as the Assistant Athletics Director in charge of Athletics Media Relations at Georgia Southern since October 2004. He came to GSU following seven years as the assistant sports information director at Eastern Illinois University.

At Georgia Southern, Osterman served as the primary publicist for the football and baseball teams while overseeing the day-to-day athletic media relations department operations and the 15 varsity sports programs.

During his tenure with the Eagles, Osterman worked on the publicity for three Walter Payton Award finalists, including 2007 winner Jayson Foster. For two years he also worked as the men's basketball sports information director. During his time with the Eagles, he has worked with numerous All-America student-athletes and assisted on the radio broadcasts for baseball, and men's and women's basketball.

Osterman served as the official statistician at the 2006 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament. He is a member of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and Knights of Columbus.

While at Eastern Illinois, Osterman worked in some capacity with all 22 varsity sports. He was directly responsible for soccer, volleyball, women's basketball and baseball. While there he directed the promotion of several athletic and academic All-Americas. He worked with several teams that participated in NCAA postseason tournaments: including women's soccer, volleyball, men's basketball and baseball.

He served as the media coordinator for the 1998 OVC Volleyball Tournament, several OVC Cross Country and Indoor Track championships and the 1999 and 2000 OVC Women's Soccer Tournaments.

Osterman earned a master's degree in athletic administration from Gonzaga University in August 1998. An intern in the Gonzaga SID office, he worked with the Bulldog volleyball, women's basketball and crew teams.

A 1995 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Osterman received his bachelor's degree in public relations and worked as a student assistant in the UNI Sports Information Office. He is married to the former Susan Schmitz and the couple has two sons, Andrew and Ryan.

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