Brian DeBenedictis is entering his fourth season as the director of player development & community engagement on the Rocket women’s basketball staff and 21st year at Toledo in 2020-21. DeBenedictis assists or coordinates numerous aspects of the women’s basketball program, including serving as alumni event and community service coordinator, creating recruiting mailouts, overseeing mentor program and social media postings, coordinating game and practice scheduling, maintaining all calendars for the staff and team, organizing team meals on campus and pass lists for all games, and assisting with academics, banquets, camps, marketing and promotions, on-campus recruiting and fundraising. He also continues to coordinate all aspects of team travel, which he has done for the past 18 years.
In addition, DeBenedictis is the athletic communications director for the women’s basketball program. He oversees communications for the Rockets, and is responsible for all media relations, publications, website management and new media for the team.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Brian in all of my 12 years at Toledo,” three-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year Tricia Cullop said. “Because of his hard work and dedication, three years ago we were thrilled to offer Brian a new role where he could focus solely on women’s basketball. He understands our rich tradition and works tirelessly to ensure our publications, website and social media presence keep our recruits and fans informed of the latest happenings within our program. Because Brian has been at Toledo so long, he is an incredible resource of information. I appreciate his work ethic, organizational skills and attention to detail.”
An active member of CoSIDA and WBCA, DeBenedictis assumed the position of assistant director for media relations at UToledo in 2000, and was promoted to associate director of communications in 2013.
As the associate director, DeBenedictis was the primary communications contact for the women’s basketball and men’s golf programs, while also serving as the secondary contact for football. He also oversaw a graduate assistant that worked with women’s soccer, baseball, women’s track & field and men’s and women’s cross country teams.
In his role, DeBenedictis designed the layout and produced editorial material for the 250-page women’s basketball media guide, as well as the 100-page women’s basketball and 118-page football game programs. He also had a significant role in the athletic department’s social media planning and operation, increasing the amount of activity on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat and assisted in nationally publicized stories featured in publications such as USA Today, Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, New York Daily News and NCAA Championship Program. He also served as one of the executive producers for a monthly television show “Rocket Roundup,” which provides exclusive behind the scenes access to University of Toledo Athletics and was the primary media coordinator and championship manager for first and second round of the 2014 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
DeBenedictis also served as UToledo’s communications contact for women’s soccer and baseball for 14 years as the assistant director.
Prior to working at UToledo, DeBenedictis completed a two-year internship in the sports information office at Purdue University, where he covered women’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming & diving, men’s and women’s golf, women’s track & field and wrestling. A native of North Canton, Ohio, he was also the secondary contact for men’s basketball.
DeBenedictis is a University of Toledo graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in communication with a concentration in public relations and a minor in marketing in 1998. He also received a master’s degree in recreation & leisure administration from Toledo in December 2018.
He is married to wife Katie (Abdulovic) DeBenedictis, who is Toledo’s senior director of administrative operations and secretary to the Board of Trustees for the Office of the President. They make their home in Sylvania with their two sons, Ethan (10) and Grady (4), and one daughter Audrey (7).
