Staff Directory
- Title:
- Associate Athletic Director, Sports Brands & Communications
M Basketball, Beach Volleyball, W Golf, Track and Field
- Email:
Kristen Keller joined the athletic department at USC in November 2024, coming in as the Associate Athletic Director for Sports Brands and Communications and serving as the primary contact for the men’s basketball team.
Keller most recently came from UC Santa Barbara, where she served as the Associate Athletic Director for Communications and Digital Strategy, overseeing the entire athletic communications office for the Gauchos. While she was there, she was the primary contact for the men’s basketball team that earned two bids to the NCAA Tournament in four years, the women’s volleyball team that earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, men’s volleyball and men’s golf. Keller also served as the media coordinator for the NCAA Baseball Regional in 2024, which was the first time UC Santa Barbara hosted an NCAA Baseball Regional on campus. During her time with the Gauchos, she implemented a new brand strategy through various social media campaigns that was also carried over to the new website she created for ucsbgauchos.com. Not only that, but Keller also handled all the media availability and requests for the athletics department, pitching stories about student-athletes, coaches, teams and administrators to the local and national media.
Prior to her time with the Gauchos, she had stints with three collegiate athletic departments in Illinois. She served as the Director of Athletic Communications for both Trinity Christian College and Concordia University Chicago before taking on her last role in Chicago as the Assistant Director of Athletic Communications at Loyola University Chicago. During her two stops at Trinity Christian College and Concordia University Chicago, Keller modernized the athletic departments she worked for, creating social media accounts and strategies to grow those brands while also performing traditional sports information duties. While with the Ramblers at Loyola Chicago, she served as the primary contact for men’s volleyball, men’s soccer and softball while also handling stats for the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Keller earned her bachelor’s in communications from Felician University in 2018 before receiving her master’s in journalism from Northwestern in 2019 with a specialization in sports media. She was a three-sport student-athlete at Felician, competing in volleyball, track and field, and bowling. While receiving her education at both Felician and Northwestern, Keller worked in the athletic departments as a student assistant. She got hands-on experience in the field, assisting with numerous sports at both institutions.
She is also an active member of College Sports Communicators, serving as the chair of the Young Professionals Committee and CSC Women while also contributing to the Mentorship Committee. She was also named to the organization’s 30 Under 30 list in 2023.
