No one bleeds blue and gold like Stephen Gorchov. Currently in his 25th year as a member of the Hofstra University Office of Athletic Communications (OAC) staff, he has shown passion and dedication like no other.
As the senior associate director of athletics for marketing and communications, Gorchov is the sports information director (SID) for volleyball, men’s basketball and men’s and women’s lacrosse. He is also the spokesperson for athletics and administrative-related public relations matters and manages Hofstra Athletics’ social media platforms and GoHofstra.com. He is also, in his own words, the “golf boss” as the men’s golf administrator.
Gorchov arrived on Hofstra’s campus not knowing what he wanted to do for his career. While he brought his love of sports to Hempstead, New York, he majored in sociology.
“I think in my generation and before that, I don’t think people went to college knowing what they wanted to do as much. And I’m perfectly in that boat … I was a sociology major,”
The Pennsylvania native – and die-hard Phillies fan – got his start in college athletics as a student at Hofstra in 1992. He served as the head manager for the men’s basketball team for four years under head coaches Butch van Breda Kolff and later Jay Wright, technically making him Wright’s first hire. Gorchov was also the head manager for volleyball from 1996 to 1997.
“My summer before college started in 1992, I knew I was obviously not a strong athlete of any kind, but I loved sports and I wanted to be involved,” Gorchov said. “There was no email, there was no internet, so I picked up the phone and called the men’s basketball coach directly at [Hofstra] … I was a naive 18-year-old kid from Pennsylvania, and I just did what I thought was the right thing to do, and it led me to be a basketball manager for four years.”
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, he worked at Drexel University for six months from Dec. 1997 to June 1998 as a marketing and ticket intern before returning to Hofstra as an administrative assistant for the volleyball program. He was then named the assistant director of athletic communications in 1999 and was associate director from 2009 to 2024 before his promotion to senior associate director earlier this year.
Gorchov’s position is almost completely unrecognizable from when he started. Twenty-five years ago, there was no social media and SIDs primarily worked with traditional media publications rather than creating their own content.
“It is completely different; it’s almost a different profession than when I started,” Gorchov said. “When I started, the distribution of information about events was done, literally, via fax machine, which I’m not even sure if most people now know what [that] is, and also mailing information, which is like almost remarkable, that that’s how we were distributing information.”
In his role, every day is different depending on the season and what sports are competing that week. Lacrosse doubleheaders, for instance, mean double the game prep – which includes game notes, social media content and helping prepare the broadcasts.
“There’s a lot of levels and areas of what we do on a daily basis,” Gorchov said. “And that’s kind of the misconception [of], ‘oh, you count goals and assists,’ no, we do a little more than that.”
Gorchov’s work includes – but is not limited – to compiling statistics, issuing media credentials, conducting press conferences and interviews, writing press releases and crafting game notes. His effort goes beyond any list of tasks, often working when everyone else has packed up and gone home. If you ever see a light on the third floor of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex overlooking the softball field, it’s probably Gorchov working late into the night.
But, when it all seems like it’s too much, Gorchov doesn’t have to go far to remember why he does it.
“I don’t question people that work at places they didn’t go, but I do wonder how they [do it],” Gorchov said. “There are long nights, sleepless days [and] times when you feel you can’t get all your work done, and those are the days that, [for] somebody like me, I’m like, ‘but it’s for the greater cause. It’s for Hofstra. It’s for the place you bled for. It’s for the place you’ve been around for 30 years’… it’s totally, to me, more valuable that I’m at Hofstra and I went to Hofstra.”
In recognition of his work, Gorchov was honored with the Mike Cohen “Good Guy” Award from the Met Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) at the Haggerty Awards dinner on April 24.
MBWA’s “Good Guy” Award is named in memory of Mike Cohen, and anyone involved in college basketball is eligible for this award; the only criteria is that they – male or female – be a “Good Guy.” Notable recipients of the award include Ed Ingles in 2014, Lou Carnesecca in 1992 and Bruce Beck in 2010.
Gorchov will also be honored this June by College Sports Communicators for 25 years of service to the athletic communications field.
In a show of humility, when he was contacted about the “Good Guy” Award, Gorchov’s initial reaction was to see if he could turn it down.
“You don’t enter athletic communications, [the] public relations world, to ever be recognized,” Gorchov said. “That’s not what you’re in it for, and if you are, you’re in it for the totally wrong reasons. I’ll be completely frank, I got a call, I think it was in January, [from] Chuck Stogel, who runs the event – he’s been around, I’ve known him for 30-plus years, he’s been around the event forever – and I didn’t get back to him. I’m usually very timely with responding to people. I waited a few days to get back to him because I was thinking of ways if I could turn down the honor. And it’s just not my style.”
The recognition may have been unexpected to Gorchov, but for Vice President and Director of Athletics Rick Cole Jr., and many people who have gotten the chance to work with him, the award is beyond fitting.
“I’m not surprised he received this recognition,” Cole said. “Hofstra is a special place, and people like [Gorchov] make it a special place. And I’m just really impressed and happy for him. He gets very uncomfortable in these things, so I kind of enjoy it, you know, because it’s nice to see people get recognized even when they don’t want it and they deserve it. So, he’s not a good guy, he’s a great guy, and the award is justly deserved.”
