Mike Ezekiel is the University of North Alabama’s assistant athletic director for communications, working closely as primary contact for football, men’s basketball, softball and women’s golf.
If you’ve watched a UNA athlete interview or read about the latest game in a local newspaper, Ezekiel and his team had something to do with it. The athletic communications team’s role is to cover, promote and engage with UNA’s 14 athletic programs. They connect the coaches and athletes with the outside spectators and media members.
“[He’s a] really good guy, really nice and easy to deal with,” said A.J. Good, Director of the X Sports Network. “He’s very quick with his work, with the text messages and requests. You can tell he’s got the respect of all the coaches and the players. Everyone seems to like him; I know we, definitely, in the media like him. So, he’s a really great guy to have at this position,” said A.J. Good, Director of the X Sports Network.”
Ezekiel was born and raised in Florence, and he grew up a college football fan, as, according to him, an Alabama native would. He served as Wilson High School’s wide receiver, but it was the sports commentators and broadcasters who captivated him the most.
“That’s what drew me, and I wanted to be the one to talk about the people playing,” said Ezekiel. “And then I found out in college that I could start doing that.”
Choosing UNA was easy not only due to proximity. His high school football coach was no less than UNA Hall of Fame Cody Gross, starting quarterback from the program’s prime Division II times in 1993-95. Gross came back to UNA as a coach in 2012 and told his former player he’d have a spot as equipment manager if he attended UNA.
Ezekiel said he enjoyed the opportunity to keep him close to the sport. Still, looking for what could bring him closer to broadcasting, in his junior year, he got more involved with journalism by joining The Flor-Ala. He connected with the newspaper’s sports editor Dustin Pollard, who gave him the chance to write a few stories about UNA’s teams.
“So, it just started with me writing stories about the guys I already knew on the football team and stuff that they had been doing. Then, I expanded that into other sports, and I guess I did a good enough job,” said Ezekiel. From volunteer writer, Mike Ezekiel became The Flor-Ala’s sports editor in May 2015, and managing editor in May 2016.
“I loved my time at the Flor-Ala and valued all the relationships I got to make as a writer getting to interview and tell stories,” said Ezekiel.
Ezekiel graduated from UNA in the spring semester of 2017, leaving the university as the Department of Communication’s Most Outstanding Senior. He said the department was crucial for his growth and presented him with many job opportunities.
“I wouldn’t have known about all the things that you can do as a sports media professional without being at UNA. I think it opened a lot of doors for me locally,” said Ezekiel. “And then, later on in life, I was able to use that degree to move to other parts of the country and perform my craft in other [states like] Texas and Tennessee. Then, beyond that, it’s been an honor to represent the Department of Communications. I had a lot of great professors that pushed me and believed in me, and that was a lot of the reason I got to where I am.”
With a journalism multimedia undergraduate degree in hand, Ezekiel was set on the sports communication track. He sought his master’s degree in sports management at East Tennessee State University while working as a graduate assistant for the university’s media relations office, which he said was a “blessing.”
Within a month after graduation, he moved to Abilene, Texas, to work for McMurry University as director of athletics communications and operations. Abilene not only brought Ezekiel his first full-time job, but it was in Texas he met his wife Baily, who worked at a nearby rival school. The couple decided to get married and move to Tennessee when ETSU offered Ezekiel a job where he would closely work with the football and other teams.
It was a plan for the newlyweds to stay in Tennessee for a long time, especially after their son Roman’s birth added to the family. However, “When home calls, you got to answer,” said Ezekiel, who told his ETSU crew the only job he would leave for was one at UNA. Roman was six days old when his father interviewed for his current UNA role, and after significant family talk, they made the decision to move to Florence.
Ezekiel’s last experience with UNA was with a Division II school when he was an intern; in 2023, the Division I status flourished into a new era.
“I think UNA belongs at this level. We are at a very good conference, the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic Conferences. I think it’s a good experience for our athletes to be able to say, ‘I got to play at Alabama’ or ‘I got to play against Clemson or Auburn,’” he said. “The opportunity for these student-athletes to play at the Division I level is incredible. I think that we’re starting to get a lot more traction and success at the Division I level, and I think it’s a good thing for UNA.”
According to Ezekiel, the busy, sporadic and unpredictable work of a Division I athletics communicator is rewarding when he gets to help the student-athletes and programs to be highlighted and succeed, and he is happy to work with a growing university.
