SPEARFISH, S.D. – Steve Carlson has been named the new Assistant Athletic Director for Communications for Black Hills State University Athletics, as announced by the department on Friday.

"Steve will be a tremendous addition to Yellow Jacket athletics," Scott Larson, Director of Athletics said. "His attention to detail, his passion for the profession, and his commitment to promoting student-athletes and their accomplishments were very evident throughout the search process and we look forward to what we can accomplish with him as a member of our BHSU athletics team."

In this role, Carlson is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Black Hills State University athletic communications department. He will serve as the primary contact for select BHSU athletic programs, with his duties including, but not limited to writing, editing, and designing game programs, publishing media game notes, managing social media accounts both for individual teams and BHSU athletics, inputting statistical data at Yellow Jacket home events, and maintaining the content of the official athletic department website.

"I'd like to thank Scott Larson and the committee for the opportunity to serve as the next Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at Black Hills State," Carlson said. "I look forward to joining the BHSU athletics department and covering Yellow Jacket athletics!"

Carlson comes to Spearfish after spending the last two years in the role of Director of Athletic Communications at Northwestern College in Iowa. During his time with the Red Raiders, he covered or oversaw the coverage of 23 teams competing at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) level, serving as the primary contact for Northwestern College's baseball, football, men's and women's golf, women's basketball, women's soccer, men's tennis, and volleyball programs.

Among his accomplishments with NWC, Carlson was honored by the NAIA-SIDA for Game Notes of the Year for his game notes from the 2022 NAIA national championship football game vs. Keiser (Fla.). He also oversaw the design and relaunch of nwcraiders.com, implemented game notes for Red Raiders programs with audio broadcasts, and has worked a number of national championship events at both the NCAA and NAIA levels.

A 2019 graduate of Simpson College with a bachelor's degree in sport administration, Carlson spent time as a graduate assistant at the American Rivers Conference, a Division III conference featuring schools in Iowa and Nebraska. While working with the A-R-C, he earned a master's degree in sports and recreation management from the University of Iowa.

Carlson comes in after the departure of Riley Baker who accepted the role of Assistant Director of Athletic Communications with Washington State University.  

Carlson will officially begin his tenure with the Yellow Jackets on January 2^nd, 2024.