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Bower leaves Florida Southern athletics after 3 years

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Photo courtesy of Mikaela Queen / FSC Athletics Ryan Bower’s student workers celebrating him at his last basketball game at Florida Southern on January 18.

Michael Arias Mora

For the first time in over three years, there is a change in leadership for the Florida Southern College Department of Athletic Communications.

Director of Athletic Communications Ryan Bower has left FSC to accept a position in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Bower has overseen the department since 2016 and has managed the athletics website, social media posts and live broadcasts of athletic events for the Mocs.

Bower and his staff of full-time workers and work-study students deal significantly with managing and recording information for Florida Southern’s student athletes. 

In Raleigh, Bower will work for the State of North Carolina Office of Human Resources as a Graphic Designer and Communications Specialist. 

“I’ll be doing a lot of similar things to what I’m doing now,” Bower said. “I’ll help manage the look and feel and the content that’s on their website. I’ll help do a lot of graphic design pieces that they’ll put out on social media, manage their social media, create some content for them [and] do some photography for them as well.” 

Bower explains that now is the right time to move on from his position at Florida Southern, as it is in the best interest of his family.

After over three years at Florida Southern, Bower and his wife are ready to start a family. 

While grateful for his experiences at FSC, the nature of Bower’s job has been very demanding. With the new change of pace and setting in North Carolina, he hopes to take on a different role as a father very soon. 

Additionally, Bower hopes that the move to North Carolina will allow him to spend more time with his extended family.

The move will place Bower and his wife half-way between their respective families, allowing the pair to spend greater time with their loved ones.

“I’m looking forward to being a dad at some point in time, and I don’t feel that I can be the dad, or the husband, I want to be and do this job,” Bower said. “I think transitioning to something else is good.”

The former Director of Athletic Communications also reflected on the state of the department he is leaving behind. 

Bower explained his pride for the department and what he has helped to build over the years. 

He believes that he is leaving the department in a better place than when he started almost four years ago, a fact that gave him enough confidence to move onto something new.

“It’s been a great place for three and a half years, a great place to grow, to learn more, to gain experience professionally [and] to grow up a little bit personally,” Bower said. “[There are] a lot of people to thank here, and I’ve really enjoyed my time here at Florida Southern.”

While Florida Southern has yet to name a permanent replacement for Bower, he is confident that Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Chris Gonzales, who will take over on an interim basis, will keep things running smoothly, along with other members of the department such as Jonathan Glass and Wil Fisackerly. Glass will continue to manage the FSC Mocs social media feed, while Fisackerly will primarily focus on managing video content for the website. 

The department has seen tremendous growth under Bower’s leadership, and Florida Southern’s Athletic Communications team has earned six awards in the annual CoSIDA Publication and Digital Design Contest, including back-to-back first-place finishes for video content. 

Bower formally left his position at Florida Southern on Monday, Jan. 20.

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