Veneziano Named Harvard SID

Boston University Assistant Director of Sports Information John Veneziano was named Harvard's new Director of Sports Information on June 9.

Next week, Veneziano takes charge of the Sports Information Department from Frank Cicero, who announced in April that he will leave the position June 30.

"This is an opportunity to work at one of the finest schools in the world and I know Harvard's commitment to athletics," Veneziano said. "As well, Harvard Sports Information is acclaimed by everyone."

Experience publicizing numerous sports, nationally-acclaimed writing ability, familiarity with the Ivy League and familiarity with the Boston collegiate athletic scene were the main characteristics which distinguished Veneziano from the other candidates for the SID position, Cicero said.

Veneziano, a 1986 graduate of B.U., has served as the Terriers' assistant director of sports information since December 1986. In addition to helping publicize B.U.'s 22-sport athletic program, Veneziano has also been the Director of Publicity for the ECAC North Atlantic and Seaboard Conferences.

"The Athletic Department was looking to find someone who would know how to deal with lots of sports, someone who has proved he can deal with lots of sports," Cicero said. "[Veneziano's] good for Harvard because he did a lot of work with many sports at B.U. He hasn't concentrated on one or two sports, like so many other people have done."

The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) chose Veneziano's 1987-88 men's basketball preview as the second-best season preview in their writing contest and voted his lead to that story as the third-best in the nation.

Veneziano's 1988-89 men's basketball preview and review articles were selected as the top stories in CoSIDA's District One and are up for national honors later this year. Veneziano's credits also include being editor of the ECAC Hometown Handbook.

Writing should be the easiest aspect of Veneziano's transition from being an assistant to heading a department.

"The biggest difference will be mostly administrative things--being responsible for the budget, support staff and delegating responsibilities," Veneziano said, "but I've been fortunate enough to have been kind of independent at times working under [B.U. Director of Sports Information] Ed Carpenter. During the winter, he would be busy with hockey, so being responsible for basketball, I got a good idea of what's it's like being my own boss."

But the similar approach to athletic publicity at B.U. and Harvard should make Veneziano's adjustment easy. Both colleges have a large varsity program without a dominating emphasis on one or two sports--usually football and basketball--that one finds at most universities.

"I doubt there will be any changes off the bat," Veneziano said. "You can't argue with the success of the department and having two assistants gives you great versatility, but I must emphasize that I don't have any preconceived notions."

Veneziano's first big obstacle will be finding a replacement for Assistant Director of Sports Information Jeff Bradley, who announced last month that he will resign effective July 31.

"I'm looking for a good writer who has experience with layout design and someone whom I will be comfortable working with," Veneziano said. "I'm going to be making enough adjustments already and I want someone making those same adjustments with me at the same time."