John Beisser to Receive the 2019 Mike Cohen "Good Guy" Award
Longtime Wagner/Rutgers SID to be Honored at April 30 Haggerty Dinner
FFI: Chuck Stogel, 914-428-6111, chstogel@aol.com
John Beisser to Receive ‘Good Guy’ Award
NEW YORK (April 12, 2019) – John Beisser, the Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations at Wagner College on Staten Island, NY, and a former assistant sports information director at Rutgers University, will receive the Mike Cohen “Good Guy” Award from the Met Basketball Writers Assn. on Tuesday, April 30, during the 86th NIT/MBWA All-Met Haggerty Awards Dinner.
The Haggerty Dinner, to be held at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY, is the longest running media-managed college basketball awards program in the United States.
A veteran of nearly 30 years of promoting college athletics within the Metropolitan area, Beisser joined the Wagner athletic family in 2007 following a 15-year stint in the Athletic Communications Office at his alma mater, Rutgers University, where he served as the Scarlet Knights’ primary men’s basketball and secondary football contact.
At Rutgers, Beisser orchestrated, managed and successfully executed a publicity campaign for Quincy Douby, who, in 2006, became Rutgers’ first Met Basketball Writers Assn. Player of the Year in 30 Years, first-ever All-Big East First-Team member and a first round selection in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. During his tenure at Rutgers, Beisser was managing editor of nine publications that received citations from the College Sports Information Directors of America.
At Wagner, Beisser manages and directs a five-person staff in support of the college’s 24-sport athletics program, serving as primary media contact for the Seahawks' football and men's basketball programs, as well as the athletic department’s chief spokesman. Additionally, Beisser is charged with overseeing ever-increasing video production and social media outreach efforts, in addition to serving as public address announcer at a host of Wagner athletic events. He is also responsible for staffing and overseeing scorer’s table/press box personnel for all Wagner College basketball and football games, highlighted by hosting the 2016 and 2018 Northeast Conference championship games.
During his career, Beisser has successfully pitched a host of story ideas to national and regional media outlets, including a 2012 CBS
60 Minutes segment on Wagner head coach Dan Hurley and his brother, then assistant coach Bobby Hurley.
In 2008, the Wagner men's basketball program gained widespread national exposure when Seahawks head coach Mike Deane's self-imposed, in-game “Seat Belt Policy” was profiled on ESPN’s
GameDay.
In 1986, Beisser earned a B.S. degree in Marketing/Journalism and Mass Media from Rutgers, where he also served as sports director of the campus radio station,
WRSU-FM, during his undergraduate days.
The Scotch Plains, NJ, native began his career as a sportswriter for
The Princeton Packet Group of Publications in Princeton, NJ, where he won five New Jersey Press Association awards for writing excellence. Beisser resides in Piscataway, NJ, with his wife, Aileen, and nine-year-old daughter, Riley.
The MBWA’s “Good Guy” Award is named in memory of Mike Cohen, former head of sports information at NBC Sports and Manhattan College, and former publicity director at Yonkers Raceway. He also was a consultant to Fordham University and operated his own public relations firm prior to his untimely passing in 1988 at the age of 44. Anyone involved in college basketball is eligible for this award; the only criteria is that they --- male or female --- be a “Good Guy.”
For a list of previous Good Guy Award winners: www.metbasketballwriters.org/sports/2014/1/24/GEN_0124141124.aspx?.