University of Oklahoma Athletics
Houck Named Assistant AD for Communications
July 10, 2015 | Athletics
NORMAN — Mike Houck, who has served the University of Oklahoma Athletics Communications Office for 20 years, has been named OU's assistant athletics director for strategic communications and will serve as the department's primary communications contact for football, OU Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione announced Friday.
"Mike is a consummate professional who has earned the respect of his peers and members of the news media," said Castiglione. "He's ready to lead our communications staff in strengthening relationships and telling our story. This has evolved into a unique role that requires a varied skill set and experience. Mike has the foundation that helps us move forward."
Houck has worked more than 150 Sooner football games in his 20-year tenure, including every OU-Texas game during that span and five bowl games (2001 Orange, 2002 Cotton, 2004 Sugar, 2005 Orange and 2009 BCS Championship). For the past 19 years, he has served as the official spotter on OU's press box stats crew.
Working every OU men's basketball game the past 20 years as its primary media relations contact, Houck began his postgraduate career as an intern at OU during the 1995-96 school year. He also held titles of assistant director and associate director of communications before being promoted to director of media relations in 2012. Additionally, Houck served as the color analyst on the Sooner Sports Network's men's basketball radio broadcasts for every game the last 14 years, teaming with play-by-play men Bob Barry Sr. and Toby Rowland. His first season on the airwaves was 2001-02, the same year the Sooners advanced to the Final Four.
Mike is a consummate professional who has earned the respect of his peers and members of the news media. He's ready to lead our communications staff in strengthening relationships and telling our story. This has evolved into a unique role that requires a varied skill set and experience. Mike has the foundation that helps us move forward.
Joe Castiglione
"Words can't adequately express how much I've enjoyed the last two decades working so closely with the great people of the OU men's basketball program," said Houck. "Those are significant memories I'll always cherish. But I'm incredibly excited about and grateful for this new opportunity to coordinate publicity for the OU football program and oversee the athletics department's strategic communications efforts. We have a tremendously gifted external communications staff and I can't wait to lock arms and continue the fun process of discovering and then sharing the wonderful stories of OU's unbelievably talented student-athletes and staff.
"My deep admiration for Sooner football dates back to my early elementary school days in the late '70s in Pennsylvania. I had no personal connections to Oklahoma or OU, but latched on to the big-play teams of the Coach Switzer era and have been hooked ever since. I'm honored to be associated with a program that has remarkable tradition and with a head coach in Bob Stoops that is one of the all-time greats."
In addition to his role as the men's basketball contact, Houck has worked with the OU men's and women's golf, women's soccer, softball and men's and women's gymnastics teams during his tenure. He served as the local media coordinator for the Women's College World Series, played in Oklahoma City, for 17 years.
Houck also acted as the department's SoonerSports.com contact for four years. In 2001, he was the inaugural recipient of the Will Hancock Award, a national honor for excellence in athletics website management and direction. The award was presented by FANSonly (now CBSi Advanced Media) in memory of late Oklahoma State men's basketball media relations contact Will Hancock.
Several of Houck's media guides earned national recognition from the College Sports Information Directors of America. His 2010-11 men's basketball media guide was judged third best in the nation and his 2009-10 guide was judged fourth best nationally. He also was the primary overseer of the OU men's basketball Twitter account, which ranks ninth nationally among collegiate hoops teams with more than 89,000 followers.
Houck, 43, got his start in the athletics communications business as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism (public relations and advertising) from UW in 1994. He and his wife, Tara, have a 4-year-old daughter.
