Matt Reitnour, who is in his 22nd year as a member of the Canisius College Athletic Communications staff, was promoted to associate athletic director for communications on May 31, 2019. Having previously served as the College's assistant athletic director for communications for eight years, he is the primary media contact for the school’s men's basketball and golf programs.
In addition to his duties as the primary media contact for two varsity athletic teams, Reitnour serves as athletic department's spokesperson and oversees all the department's external relations efforts - including athletic communications, digital media, social media, marketing, ticket sales, licensing and branding and the school's spirit squads. He also serves as the sport supervisor for three teams - golf, softball and volleyball.Â
Reitnour was instrumental in the launch of the new-look GoGriffs.com in the summer of 2017 when Canisius signed a new partnership with SIDEARM Sports. In the summer of 2015, he helped foster the partnership between Canisius and ESPN, where Canisius students help produce live sporting events that are aired live on ESPN3 and ESPN+. To accomplish this partnership, Reitnour assisted with the creation of the Golden Griffin Broadcast Control Room and Studio in Science Hall. In addition to overseeing all TV production efforts on campus, Reitnour also serves as the executive producer for all of the school's audio broadcasts and he is responsible to hire and schedule all of the game day media relations and game operations staff members.
In the summer of 2009, Reitnour and his staff helped Canisius become the first school in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to announce an environmentally-friendly and cost-saving measure to eliminate the printing of media guides by moving the process to a digital, on-line format. He has helped oversee the department's expansion into popular on-line social media ventures such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and he has also helped drive the department's work involving more on-line video and audio productions with the creation of the Golden Griffin Broadcast Network.
Reitnour started at Canisius as the graduate assistant in the athletic communications office before being promoted to full-time status in 2003. He has worked seven NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournaments as a volunteer, most recently serving as media relations director for the event in 2022 when Buffalo hosted the first and second rounds of the tournament in KeyBank Center. He has worked two NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Regionals (2003 in Albany, N.Y., and 2005 in Syracuse) and he was a member of the official statistics crew when Canisius co-hosted the 2003 Frozen Four. In April 2019, he was the media director for the local organizing committee when Canisius co-hosted the 2019 Frozen Four in Buffalo.
Reitnour was voted by his league peers to serve as the president of the MAAC's Sports Information Directors' committee in the fall of 2015 and he currently sits on the MAAC's Awards Committee as well. A member of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA) and the United States Basketball Writers' Association, Reitnour serves as an adjunct professor in Canisius' undergraduate sport management program.
The Zionsville, Pa., native came to Buffalo after earning his bachelor’s degree in communications from Wilkes University in 2001. He earned his master’s degree in sport administration from Canisius in May 2004.
Reitnour is married to the former Kelly Sieber, who played volleyball at Canisius from 1999-02. The couple resides in Lancaster, N.Y., with their daughters, Grace and Alice, and son, Benjamin.
