Thomas Samuel, a 15-year veteran in Division I Athletics, joined the Texas State Athletics Compliance staff in August 2013. Samuel previously served in Athletic Communications for 13 years before leaving the field to go to law school at the University of Memphis from 2010-13.
As the compliance coordinator, Samuel’s day to day responsibilities include monitoring the recruiting efforts of the school’s 16 athletic programs as well as camps and clinics and practice and playing seasons. He helps provide NCAA and Sun Belt Conference interpretations, rules education for coaches, staff and student-athletes and also assists with eligibility and waiver processes.
In addition, Samuel also serves as the Athletic Department’s Jump Forward liaison and is an athletic representative on the Texas State’s Title IX Collaborative dealing with the issues of sexual harassment and sexual violence on campus.
Prior to joining Texas State’s athletics compliance office, Samuel worked as a compliance intern with Arkansas State during the 2012-13 school year.
Before embarking on a career in athletics compliance, Samuel worked in athletic communications at four Division I schools starting with three years as an undergraduate student assistant at his alma mater Centenary College (1994-97). Following his graduation, he spent a year as a sports information intern at the University of Cincinnati (1997-98), before stops at Oklahoma State University (1998-2005) and Vanderbilt University.
While at OSU, Samuel was the publicist for the nationally ranked baseball team, while also serving as the secondary contact for the Cowboy football team. During his time in Stillwater, he was a part of an OSU baseball team that advanced to the 1999 College World Series and a football program that made three consecutive bowl games, at the time a first in school history. Samuel helped promote the collegiate careers of numerous All-Americans in both sports and also served as the interim basketball communications officer in 2001 following a tragic plane crash that took the lives of 10 members of the Cowboy basketball family.
He moved to Nashville in 2005 and worked with the Commodore baseball team for five years. In that span, VU had its first ever No. 1 ranking in the 2007 season and served as the media coordinator of the school’s first ever NCAA baseball regional. He successfully promoted the All-American collegiate careers of future Major League Baseball first rounders David Price, Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty, Casey Weathers, Mike Minor and Sonny Gray.
In the summer of 2006, Samuel was selected as the USA Baseball National Team’s press officer and worked with a team comprised of the top talents in college baseball, 13 of which eventually made it to the major leagues. That squad culminated one of the best seasons in USA Baseball history with a World University Championship win over Chinese Taipei in Havana, Cuba.
Samuel and his family reside in Buda.
