Braedan Shea
@braedan_shea
When Springfield College Athletics Coordinator of Media Relations and alumnus Brandon Eckles ‘18 announced he was leaving to take another job in December of 2022, it left a vacancy for a much-needed position.
Eckles, who had held the position since September of 2019, was the primary communications contact for the men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s track & field, women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics, baseball, softball and women’s lacrosse programs.
Brian Magoffin, the Director of Strategic Athletic Communications/Coordinator of College Media Relations – and Eckle’s boss – was tasked with taking over all of Eckles’ responsibilities – on top of all of the prior responsibilities he already had. Needless to say, it would be no easy task.
By the end of March 2023, however, Springfield announced that the open position had been filled. And the person that took over couldn’t have been a better fit.
Max Berkowitz was officially named the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications on April 3, 2023. It was a position that Berkowitz was surprised was still open.
“I just happened to stumble across it, to be honest,” Berkowitz said. “In this profession, people are always kind of looking around to see what’s next. And when I saw Springfield, I immediately said, ‘This is what I want.’”
Prior to Springfield, Berkowitz held positions at Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham as the Sports Information Director and at MIT as the Sports Information Assistant.
Berkowitz’s love for his field started back in his sophomore year at Lasell College when he was studying Sport Management.
“I was looking for a job on campus,” Berkowitz said. “One of my good friends told me to come work for athletics. I was like, ‘I don’t know what I really want to do.’ I hadn’t really thought about it that much. The first game was the men’s soccer conference championship at Boston University, and I was a ball shagger. From there, I realized I wanted to do stats instead, and do more with the Athletics Department.”
After graduating in 2015, Berkowitz immediately started at MIT.
“The job at MIT opened right out of school for me, and I was there for six years,” Berkowitz said. “I couldn’t be more thankful for those six years, because it put me in a place of success and learning. I was thrown into a fire at MIT my first year. The men’s soccer team made the Sweet 16, and I was like, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing.’”
But the experience was well worth it for Berkowitz.
“From there I grew into where I am now,” Berkowitz said. “I’ve talked to a few people who said ‘If you didn’t go to MIT, you wouldn’t be in the position you are today.’ So I’m thankful for that opportunity.”
Although Berkowitz has only been at Springfield for just over four weeks, he is already adapting quite well to the new environment.
“Every school you go to is gonna be different,” Berkowitz said. “Coming from a place like MIT, the kids are different. What I’ve really enjoyed about my time here so far is all of the students and student-athletes here are very welcoming. You walk by them, and they say ‘Hey, how are you? How’s it going today?’ It’s a very different kind of student and it’s been a very welcoming four weeks.”
As Berkowitz’s time at Springfield progresses, he hopes to continue being involved in the campus community, as well as bring some hardware to the athletic teams.
“I’m really looking forward to getting to know the students and student-athletes,” Berkowitz said. “And hoping to bring some championships here and cover some championship teams.”
Photo Courtesy Springfield College