PORTSMOUTH — After serving as the SSU Sports Information Director from July 2019 to October 2021, Russell (Ky.) native and 2015 Shawnee State University Sports Studies Cum Laude graduate and alum Kevin Colley has returned to the Shawnee State athletic department team — beginning with the start of November.

In his first stint in the role, Colley was able to gain extra attention to the Shawnee State University athletic department.

This was shown through the additional views on the university’s website and social media pages, as Colley raised the total page views on the university’s athletic website, www.ssubears.com, by 20,000 or more in 13 out of his 26 months on job, posted an 8,000-page view or more increase in each month from Sept. 2020 to July 2021, and exceeded 200,000 Twitter impressions in 13 months of time at SSU with a high of 1.77 million in March 2021, including hitting 478,000 or more in four months during the 2021 calendar year.

During this time, he was part of overseeing Shawnee’s athletic department in achieving historic accomplishments including two National Championships (Esports Hearthstone team and men’s basketball) and teams earning their first-ever NAIA All-American honors, including women’s bowling and women’s swimming.

Shawnee State also established regular participation in the College Sports Communicators (CSC) program, formerly known as the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), under his watch.

Colley also won First Place in the NAIA’s Dr. Jack Bell Writing Contest for his recap of the men’s basketball national championship victory over Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) in March of 2021.

“I simply want to thank Shawnee State Athletic Director Gerald Cadogan, Shawnee State University President Eric Braun, and the entire athletic department for having me here,” Colley said. “It’s been great getting to see old faces and get to know new ones, and I’m excited to see faculty members whom I got to know as a student as well as in my registrar specialist role previously. Coming back here after a little over two years away, I believe I have gained valuable life experiences and knowledge that have helped me see the bigger picture of life beyond a win or a loss in an athletic event. I hope that what I will do will better connect Scioto County with Shawnee State and vice versa not just in sports but in various sectors of city, county and state government. We have a lot of great people in and around the university working in different sectors. I just want our wins to turn over into greater overall community pride, grow the university and the community and for our successes to be meaningful, pure and a source of inspiration to keep pushing.”

For his time at Shawnee State, his goal is for all the athletes to feel noticed and valued.

Colley has produced written and video content for the sports currently in season already to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Further updates to the website and ideas to help grow the athletic department from a media standpoint are in the works.

“Shawnee State is a place that has always had a lot of potential and I just want to be a piece to that wheel to help our student-athletes and staff compete for and win national championships consistently,” Colley explained. “To be successful, everybody has to be bought in and play their role, no matter if it is the first man or woman, the 25th man or woman or the 50th. We have a lot of highly motivated individuals here and therefore, I am as excited as I have ever been about the future of Shawnee State athletics. I’m grateful for my wife, family, friends, mentors, colleagues and most of all, God. Without them, I am not here. My family and I are prideful about this area and I can guarantee that passion and pride will be at the forefront of everything that we, as a team, do here. We will compete so that we can meet our athletic department’s mission, which is to recruit, retain and win.”

A 2011 graduate of Russell (Ky.) High School, Colley has been married to his wife, Stephanie, a 2008 East Carter High School graduate and 2013 graduate of Morehead State (Ky.) for six years.

Colley’s family has attended local high schools at Clay, New Boston Glenwood, Portsmouth, South Point and Portsmouth West with friends attending each of the high schools in Scioto County.

His parents, Karen (1973 Portsmouth graduate) and Barry (1974 West graduate), who reside in Ashland, Ky., lived in the Portsmouth area for over 40 years and frequent the area often.