Matthew Kifer is in his 19th year as the Director of Athletic Communication (formerly Sports Information Director) at California (PA). He serves as the primary contact for all 19 intercollegiate sports while maintaining the athletic department website.
During his time at Cal, Kifer has released five athletic websites, most recently in 2026, and hosted numerous post-season events at both the conference and regional levels. Kifer is also responsible for the official social media accounts for Cal athletics, including Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube. Additionally, he serves on the Athletic Hall of Fame selection committee.
Kifer had the privilege of handling the publicity efforts for the women’s basketball team during its 2015 NCAA National Championship season and also publicized the career of individual NCAA Champions Melissa Gates (swimming) and Divonne Franklin (track & field). Cal has captured nearly 30 conference championships and made more than 75 team appearances in the NCAA post-season during his tenure. During the 2009-10 academic year, the Vulcans finished second in the country in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings to mark the highest-ever finish by a PSAC school.
In addition to his responsibilities at Cal, Kifer served as the regional chair of the D2SIDA women’s basketball committee while also being a member of the D2SIDA national voting committee. Additionally, he holds the role of official scorer for the WPIAL Softball Championships, which are played annually in May at Lilley Field on the campus of Cal (except from 2018-20 due to field renovations, pandemic).
Kifer has played a role in several of his former work-study students and graduate assistants creating professional careers in intercollegiate athletics. Sean King previously served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Game Management, Fan Experience and Marketing at Allegheny following a four-year stint as the Sports Information Director at Washington & Jefferson. Andrew Woodley was previously the Assistant Director of Media Relations at Duquesne after previous tenures as the Sports Information Director at Salem, Bethany (W.Va.) and Wheeling. Corey Belonzi enters his 11th year as the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications at Chattanooga after graduation from Cal in 2016. Ryan Legarsky serves as the Manager of Sports Statistics & Information at Athletes Unlimited following stints at Bridgewater (Va.) and Methodist (N.C.). Alex King serves as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communication Services at Francis Marion (S.C.) following three years at Mount Olive (N.C.) as the Assistant Director of Athletics/Media and Communications after serving as both a graduate assistant and Assistant Sports Information Director at Cal. Following Alex King, Trey Staunch and George Hillen served as the Assistant Sports Information Director, with Staunch now serving as the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications at Duquesne and Hillen as the Manager of Athletic Communications at Saint Leo (Fla.). Additionally, Creg Milko serves as the Senior Coordinator for Social Media Creative Content for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Hunter Leach works as the Digital Media Coordinator the Detroit Lions - both former summer interns at Cal under Kifer.
He previously served four years as the Sports Information Director at Waynesburg, his alma mater. Kifer handled media relations for all 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports. While at Waynesburg, he served on the marketing committee during the institution’s transformation from College to University. At Waynesburg, Kifer played a pivotal role in multiple work-study students build professional careers in intercollegiate athletics and sports media. Danny Reed spent 11 years as the Voice of the Eagles at Georgia Southern before joining Westwood One in 2026 as a national broadcaster. Karina Graziani was appointed Director of Athletics at Carlow in 2026 following joining the staff in 2018 as the Sports Information Director following an administrative assistant role in athletics at Point Park.
Additionally, Kifer has been the official scorer for the Washington WildThings and served as a statistician for live high school football television broadcasts.
Prior to his professional career, Kifer served as a student assistant at Waynesburg for three years under former Sports Information Directors Richard Krause and Justin Zackal.
Kifer completed his bachelor’s degree in communication with a concentration in sports broadcasting/sports information from Waynesburg in 2006.
He resides in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, with his son Luca.
