Chuck McGill brings deep and varied experience in collegiate athletics, marketing and media to his role as Associate Commissioner for External Engagement and Communications.
McGill’s hiring was announced Sept. 10 and he officially started his role with the MEC on Sept. 16.
Previously, McGill served as the Associate Director of Athletics for External Engagement and Fan Experience at Marshall University, where he had direct oversight of the athletic department’s external operations, including marketing, social media, digital streaming, creative content, communications, and the website. In 2021, he assisted with the athletic department’s transition from Conference USA to the Sun Belt Conference. He was initially hired as Marshall’s Assistant Director of Athletics for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications, a role in which he helped create Thundering Herd Illustrated, the athletic department’s official magazine, while providing written content to the school’s website. He also served on the senior staff for three different athletic directors: Mike Hamrick, Jeff O’Malley, and Christian Spears.
“We are tremendously fortunate and excited to be bringing in one of the finest professionals I've known in communications and external relations in collegiate athletics to the Mountain East Conference," said Commissioner Reid Amos. "The knowledge, passion, talent and relationships that Chuck brings to the table will benefit the conference, our member institutions, and our student-athletes beyond measure. I am looking forward to seeing the many impacts he will have on our future."
As Associate Commissioner for the MEC, McGill will be responsible for the MEC’s communications; serve in an advisory role to the commissioner; provide strategic consultation for conference communication initiatives; bring strategic support to the MEC Corporate Partnership program; oversee maintenance of mountaineast.org; execute social media initiatives and strategies; provide championship event coverage; direct media operations at events; give additional oversight to the MEC Digital Network production; and oversee/maintain accurate statistics for all sports.
McGill, a nine-time West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, as voted by peer members of the National Sports Media Association, has strong ties throughout the region. He was born in Charleston and attended DuPont High School, where he was a part of the last graduating class (1999). He earned bachelor’s (2003) and master’s (2005) degrees from West Virginia University, and he has lived in the state capital, Morgantown, Martinsburg and Huntington, the latter being where he currently resides with his wife, Lauren; 12-year-old son, Gunnar; and boy-girl sibling cats, Rex and Daisy.
At Marshall, McGill worked with 2014 and 2015 MEC Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year Chris Grassie, who led the Thundering Herd to the 2020 Division I National Championship. The marketing team, with a talented group of content creators, generated 187,251 interactions on social media during the men’s soccer title pursuit, which ranked No. 1 nationally, according to SkullSparks, a leader in college sports brands and creative strategy. In 2021-22, Marshall’s digital streaming arm, HerdVision, broadcast its first tennis match, first swim meet, first ESPN+ press conference, and set the single-game record with a nine-camera setup for a softball game.
Prior to his time at Marshall, McGill was recognized numerous times by the Virginia Press Association and West Virginia Press Association for reporting, columns and features, and he was a long-time Heisman Trophy voter and submitted Top 25 ballots in football and men’s basketball for the Associated Press polls. He had a research role and appeared in the ESPN 30 for 30 series “Rand University,” based on Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss. In 2014, the Tennis Industry Association gave its inaugural Tennis Media Award to McGill for the top tennis story in the United States.
McGill’s non-linear career path included a stint as a high school teacher upon graduation. He spent three years at the Northern Virginia Daily in Strasburg, Virginia, where he covered Division III Shenandoah University, high schools and served as the sports editor. He spent three years as the beat writer for Marshall Athletics and the West Virginia Power, and later served as the sports editor for the Charleston Daily Mail and Charleston Gazette-Mail.
In addition to his role with the MEC, McGill is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Memphis, where he teaches in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media. He also provides written content for The Topps Company, Inc., and its subsidiary brand, Bowman, continuing his boyhood love of sports cards and the small business, Hot Shots Sports Cards, he shared with his father.