Mariah Linnett ‘18 turns her love of sports into a career
Castleton University alumna Mariah Linnett hopes that her work in athletics can help pave the way for other women who wish to turn their passion for sports into a career.
Mariah ‘18 majored in Sport Management with minors in business and coaching. That turned into a winning combination as she was recently selected as the next Sports Information Director at Indiana Tech.
Mariah, who came to Castleton from Greenwich, NY, has long had a love of sports. She was recruited to Castleton as a basketball player and also played on the field hockey team.
“I knew that I always wanted to be in athletics somehow. I started as an Athletic Training major. I don’t do blood really well, so I knew that’s not going to be good in a crisis situation, so I switched. I took intro. to sports management, and I just loved Mary Beth (Lennox-Levins). And I was like, yup, this is what I wanted to do,” Mariah said.
Mariah chose to do her service-learning hours in sports because she was an athlete, and she fell in love with sports information. From there, she worked in Castleton’s Sports Information Department as a work-study student, worked in game production for the Adirondack Thunder of the East Coast Hockey League, and was a sports information graduate assistant at Assumption University.
These opportunities provided her with both breadth and depth of experience, including recording statistics, game management and production, and running video board and promotions during games. She encourages students to make the most of the hands-on learning opportunities that Castleton can provide.
“Get out in the field as much as you can. Castleton has really great opportunities in their program. Having service-learning hours, and requiring internships, and doing practicum hours, you have a lot of opportunities to get out into the field and try different sides of the sports information world. You can write articles, take pictures, do graphic design, work on social media. There are a lot of different branches off of it,” Mariah said. “The more you can dip your feet in those areas and figure out what you actually enjoy, the better. Castleton’s program really lets you do that, which helped guide me where I really wanted to go.”
Mariah said she looks forward to working with student-athletes and the staff at Indiana Tech.
“They are a pretty young staff, and they have this family atmosphere. Working with student-athletes is one of the more fun parts of the job, making their experience the best it can be, and giving them accolades and kudos for working so hard,” Mariah said.
Wherever her career takes her, Mariah will always have fond memories of her time at Castleton. She had a tight group of classmates that formed their own support network.
“I really got to know the people I was in class with, not just as classmates but as people,” Mariah said. “In service-learning, I got to meet so many people in the athletics field. Networking is the biggest thing.”
Professor Lennox-Levins, Sport Management Program Coordinator, also had a large impact on Mariah’s Castleton experience.
“Mary Beth was the most helpful for me throughout. She was a really good sounding board for me as a woman who works in athletics. She has a lot of life experience. You could pop into her office any time of the day, and she would talk to you.”