Eastern New Mexico Athletic Director Dr. Greg Waggoner officially announced that Ryan Shumaker is being promoted to the Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing, Events and Sports Information in the Eastern New Mexico Athletic Department effective July 1, 2019.”We have witnessed Ryan’s competency at work over the course of this past year as he has done a remarkable job of upgrading our sports information office,” said Waggoner. “Ryan also has experience in sponsorship solicitation and fundraising, as well as game operations. His work ethic, skills set, and professional conduct have earned the respect of myself and the department. As we deliberated reorganizing the marketing and events with sports information, we believe that both areas can move forward with success under Ryan’s leadership.”

Shumaker will begin his new role on July 1 after serving as the Sports Information Director at ENMU for the past year, where he has brought dramatic improvement to the functionality of the sports information office. He spearheaded the re-design of the Eastern New Mexico University Athletics website that went in effect in May as well as re-designed the athletics promotional materials, including game programs, flyers and social media graphics.

Shumaker has served as the primary media contact for football, men’s soccer, men’s basketball, softball, and rodeo, has served as the primary media liaison for the entire athletic department, and has brought tremendous improvements with the restructuring of the sports information student staff.
Shumaker has been instrumental in improving ENMU Athletics social media outreach. During the 2018-19 athletic year, the ENMU Athletics Twitter page recorded 2.9 million impressions, a 123-percent increase over the previous year. The ENMU Athletics Facebook page also saw significant growth under Shumaker; the page had a 14-percent rise in followers compared to an 8.4-percent rise during 2017-18.

Shumaker played an instrumental role in planning and handling event operations in Eastern New Mexico’s first ever hosting of the Lone Star Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship meet held at Greyhound Stadium May 2-4.

Shumaker has updated the ENMU historical records while also leading the charge toward modernizing the official instant replay system.
“First off, I cannot thank Dr. Waggoner and Present Elwell enough for this opportunity and I am truly honored to be a part of such a great athletic department and university,” Shumaker said. “I would like to express my gratitude to the coaches and athletes here at Eastern New Mexico that work so hard to allow us to promote their successes on a daily basis. I also would like to give thanks to my family and friends that have supported me throughout my career and I want to especially thank a phenomenal athletic staff and student worker group that have allowed me to be successful during my career here at Eastern New Mexico. I cannot wait to continue to be a part of the improvement the department has seen over such a short amount of time. Go Greyhounds!”
Shumaker started at ENMU in July of 2018 as Coordinator of Sports Information and Media before being promoted to Sports Information Director in August.

Previously, Shumaker served as the Communications Assistant for the Northwestern Oklahoma State Sports Information Office for three years as the primary media contact for the volleyball, women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s golf teams as well as a secondary contact for football while also serving one season as head assistant men’s and women’s golf coach. During his tenure at Northwestern, Shumaker handled statistics and media relations duties and worked with game operations and event management.

Shumaker earned his Master’s Degree in Adult Education with an emphasis in Athletic Administration in 2018 and his Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Sports Science with a minor in Mass Communication from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 2016.

A national search for the Sports Information Director position will begin immediately.