MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga.- Georgia College & State University Director of Athletics Wendell Staton is ecstatic to announce the hire of Michael MacEachern as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Communications.

MacEachern makes a great addition to the GCSU staff after doing an 11-year stint at former Peach Belt Conference member Young Harris College. At YHC, he served as the Assistant Director of Athletics for Sports Communications where he oversaw communications aspects of 15 intercollegiate sports.

"I'm very excited to join the GCSU family," said MacEachern. "I would like to thank Wendell Staton and the search committee for allowing me to promote and tell the stories of our teams and student-athletes. I am very familiar with Milledgeville, GCSU and the Peach Belt and I'm excited for the year to begin."

Prior to Young Harris, MacEachern spent 10 years at NAIA institution SCAD as the sports information director. MacEachern earned the Clarence "Ike" Pearson Award during his time at SCAD. This is an award given by the NAIA Sports Information director Association to an extraordinary contributor to the profession. During his time in Savannah, he was the communications contact for 16 intercollegiate sports. MacEachern snagged SCAD the NAIA's top honor in 2007-08 as the country's best website. He also served as the second vice-president on the NAIA-SIDA Board for two years and was also the chairperson of the NAIA-SIDA Publications Contest Committee.

Prior to SCAD, he served as the sports information director for five years at Lenoir-Rhyne College. Before that MacEachern was the sports information director for eight years at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg (now the University of South Carolina Upstate), and served one year as assistant sports information director at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.

A longtime member of the College Sports Communicators, MacEachern has served as member of the organization's Academic All-America® committee since 1988 where he has served as a district coordinator, a national coordinator and currently in year 11as the co-coordinator of the publicity subcommittee. In 2015 he was awarded the CoSIDA Jordan Lester Award for his exemplary service on the committee and the promotion of the ideals of being a student-athlete. MacEachern, who participated in the CoSIDA mentorship program for two years, also serves on the diversity and inclusion committee. MacEachern was a participant in the 2022-23 CSC Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship Class in partnership with the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

MacEachern is currently in his second year of a two-year term as the president of the NCAA Division II Sports Information Directors Cabinet after serving two years as first vice president and two years as second vice president. He served  four years as the Southeast Region representative on the D2SIDA Board after serving as a member of CoSIDA's College Division Management Advisory Committee for three years. He also served four seasons as the national coordinator for NCAA Division II men's soccer statistics.

MacEachern finished his second year as the chair of the Peach Belt Conference's Sports Information Directors committee in 2018 and became a member of the PBC Hall of Fame selection committee. MacEachern's work led Young Harris to being named the PBC's SID Staff of the Year in 2017-18. YHC also shared the PBC's SID Staff of the Year with the league's 12 SIDs in 2020-21.

MacEachern has over 35 years of athletics experience including jobs outside of the intercollegiate sports world, He was the official scorekeeper for the Savannah Sand Gnats, the Class A minor-league affiliate of the New York Mets, for five seasons. He also was an official scorekeeper for the Hickory (N.C.) Crawdads, the Class A minor-league affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, for three seasons. MacEachern has covered local sports as a newspaper stringer for both the Herald-Journal in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and the Hickory Daily Record.

"We are so pleased to welcome Michael MacEachern as our Assistant AD for Communications," said Staton.  "Michael is known throughout the country as one of the finest in the industry.  He has had an illustrious career of excellence and leadership in the field.  The majority of his time has been spent in the Peach Belt and NCAA Division II Southeast region, so this gives us great access and enhanced communication at every stop.  Whether he is serving at a conference, regional, or national event, people know and respect Michael MacEachern and the work he produces.  His vast knowledge, professionalism, and leadership will serve our student-athletes, staff, and university extremely well.  Michael will be a tremendous addition to our campus community, and we are glad he is joining GCSU."

MacEachern started at GCSU on Aug. 1. Stay tuned to GCSUBobcats.com for information in the coming days on an introductory press conference and community welcome.

Owning the top Academic Success Rate among public schools in Division II in back to back academic years, the Georgia College Department of Athletics sponsors 11 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. GCSU Athletics has won three-straight Presidents' Awards for Academic Excellence, and are two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup and three-time winners of the PBC Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' continued appearances in post-season competition as well as high-level academic success and community-service involvement. Bobcat Athletics embodies the mantra of "Graduating Champions for Life." Sign up at @GCSUBobcats on all social media outlets for up-to-the-minute reports.