New Mexico State University Athletics

Jon Opiela joined the NM State Athletics staff in February 2022 as the Assistant Director of Media Relations and serves as the main media contract for football, baseball, and men’s and women’s golf.
 
Opiela comes to Las Cruces from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he served as the Assistant Director of Athletic Communications at Oral Roberts and was the main media contact for women’s soccer, baseball, and indoor track and field, also serving with both men’s and women’s basketball. In Tulsa, Opiela also worked with the Tulsa Drillers, the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Public Relations department.
 
Prior to joining ORU, Opiela worked with the Rome Braves, the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, where he served as a Media Relations Trainee. While with Rome, he helped prepare for the 2020 South Atlantic League All-Star Game. While in Rome, he also served as a Sports Information Graduate Assistant at Shorter University, an NCAA Division II university. He was the primary media contact for football and assisted with the rest of the Hawks’ 19 sports.
 
The Joliet, Illinois, native completed his undergraduate studies in Sport Management at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, in 2019. While at Grace, he also played collegiate baseball and served as a student manager for the men’s basketball program. He also got his start in sports information as a student assistant for the Lancers, serving primarily as a statistician and play-by-play or color commentator on broadcasts.
 
Throughout his career, Opiela has worked heavily in baseball – spanning from the youth levels into professional baseball. While at Grace, he completed two internships with the Winter Garden Squeeze of the Florida Collegiate Summer League before being promoted to General Manager of the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs in the summer of 2018.
 
Opiela also worked as a Social Media and Communications intern for his hometown Joliet Slammers of the Frontier League in the summer of 2017 where he helped organize and execute the 2017 Frontier League All-Star Game. In the past, Opiela worked with Perfect Game in their Fort Myers, Florida, office as a Tournament Management Assistant, where he also assisted in scouting amateur talent.
 
In April 2022, Opiela completed his master’s degree at Oral Roberts University, concluding his studies in Sports and Leisure Administration.