On Friday, March 5, 2021, Big Sky Conference Commissioner Tom Wistrcill announced the hiring of Bryson Lester as the Director of Communications for the conference.
Lester was mostly recently working as the Southern Utah University Assistant Athletic Director for Communication and Marketing, where he oversaw the media and fan engagement initiatives for all 15 of SUU’s athletic teams.
In a press release, Wistrcill said, “A major point of emphasis for our communications team is to tell the stories about our talented student-athletes, coaches, and athletic departments in new and compelling ways. Bryson has a proven track record of having done just that at a Big Sky school. When you factor in his intimate knowledge of our conference with the opportunity to move closer to family, we feel this truly is a great fit for both him and us.”
Before joining the SUU Athletic Department in 2015, Lester was involved in each of the student media outlets offered at SUU. Starting as a reporter for the University Journal during his sophomore year of college, Lester was promoted to Sports Section Editor and, eventually, Editor-in-Chief of the campus newspaper. He also worked for multiple years as the student station manager of Thunder 91.1 and co-hosted the popular morning show, “The Morning Brew.”
Lester graduated from SUU in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in media studies. He went on to earn his master’s degree in professional communication in 2020.
SUU Professor of Communication Art Challis taught Lester in multiple undergraduate and graduate courses, and also worked with Lester calling sporting events over the radio. He described Lester, saying, “Bryson was as involved, hard-working and ambitious of a student as we’ve ever had in the media program.”
SUU News Operations Manager Hayden Coombs, who worked alongside Lester in the SUU Athletics Department from 2015-2016, said, “I couldn’t be more thrilled for him. Bryson has outgrown SUU and I’m so excited to see what he does, not just at the Big Sky, but at his next stop and then his next stop.” He added, “We have been so lucky to have him here in Cedar for as long as we did.”
While his diligence and dedication to the campus will be missed, Lester leaves a lasting legacy of a student who made the most of his time at SUU. Some of Lester’s colleagues on campus released the following statements to SUU News.
