Matthew Kifer is in his 17th year as the Director of Athletic Communication (formerly Sports Information Director) at California (PA). He serves as the primary contact for all 18 intercollegiate sports while maintaining the athletic department website.
During his time at Cal, Kifer has released four athletic websites and hosted numerous postseason 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.
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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 over 75 team appearances in the NCAA post-season in his tenure. During the 2009-10 academic year, the Vulcans finished second in the country in the NACDA Director’s Cup standings to mark the highest-ever finish by a PSAC school.
In addition to his responsibilities at Cal, Kifer serves as the regional chair of the D2SIDA women’s basketball committee while also being a member of the D2SIDA national voting committee and NCBWA regional 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).
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Kifer has played a role in several of his former work-study students and graduate assistants creating professional careers in intercollegiate athletics. Sean King serves 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 ninth year as the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications at Chattanooga after graduation from Cal in 2016. Alex King serves as the Assistant Director of Athletics/Media and Communications at Mount Olive (N.C.) following time as a graduate assistant and Assistant Sports Information Director at Cal.
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.
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Additionally, Kifer has been the official scorer for the Washington WildThings and served as a statistician for live high school football television broadcasts.
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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.
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Kifer completed his bachelor’s degree in communication with a concentration in sports broadcasting/sports information from Waynesburg in 2006.
He resides in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, with his son Luca.
