Director of Athletics Jill Bodensteiner starts new podcast
St. Joe’s Director of Athletics, Jill Bodensteiner J.D., started her bi-weekly podcast, “Jill on the Hill,” to speak with current and former Hawks about today’s college athletics on Sept. 12.
For Bodensteiner, the show has two main goals, communication along with education and transparency.
“Communication has so much value,” Bodensteiner said. “Whether it is the message, the content, or just having people get to know me. So part of it is saying there is a lot that goes into this and it is more complex than the average sports fan understands.”
The inspiration for the podcast came from “The Jack Swarbrick Show,” a radio show hosted by Notre Dame’s athletic director.
“Frankly, our segments were modelled on how Jack [Swarbrick] ran his show, Bodensteiner said of her former boss. “We didn’t have radio stations showing a lot of interest though so I thought a podcast would work for us to portray similar content.”
Bodensteiner is well versed in public speaking, but has no prior experience with the technical side of podcasting. For that she relies on her colleagues.
“I have to express my appreciation to Matt Martucci and Jeff Martin,” Bodensteiner said. “Matt is the sound director who deals with the equipment and Jeff does the editing. The editing is key because we often record our segments out of order.”
The continued emphasis on social media was another reason for the advent of the podcast. According to Bodensteiner, it’s an opportunity to grow the St. Joe’s brand.
“One of the reasons I use some social media is because that is where our student athletes are,” Bodensteiner said. “Whether it is recruiting or getting more fans at the game, I think that is where a lot of our constituents are. A goal was to communicate more effectively digitally.”
Bodensteiner’s co-host is Avery Marz, a graduate student and member of the women’s basketball team. Marz was approached by Bodensteiner under some unlikely circumstances.
“I was at Bed Bath and Beyond,” Marz said. “I heard Jill call my name from behind me on the elevator. We talked and then she said, ‘You know, Avery, I want to throw something by you, do you want to do a podcast with me?’ And I said sure. She got in contact soon after that and said we are really doing this and I was in 100 percent.”
Marz realizes that her role on the show to give a student athlete’s perspective.
“I know a lot of the student athletes,” Marz said. “For them to have a familiar voice is really good for them. It is also important to get an athlete’s perspective on things. We are going to have some open dialogue about things going on in sports like the NCAA and stuff athlete’s like myself want to hear about.”
Bodensteiner has considered potentially opening up the show to questions from the St. Joe’s student body and alumni network.
“I think that is a great idea,” Bodensteiner said. “We could have a general email address where people can say I would like to see this guest, or this topic or this question.”
