Bio

Seth Mikel is in his 11th year at Taylor University, after joining the Trojan Athletics Department as the sports information director on March 18, 2013. Mikel was promoted to assistant athletics director for communications in the spring of 2015. Mikel also works as the Crossroads League sports information director, after accepting the position in July of 2016.

Mikel serves on the Athletics Director’s Leadership Team, as well as the TU Athletics Hall of Fame Committee and is responsible for the promotion and marketing of TU’s 18 varsity athletics programs, while acting as the Athletics Department's liaison between local and national media.

As part of his duties, Mikel oversees and provides daily maintenance to Taylor’s athletics website and is responsible for producing all of the department’s publications, promotional pieces and numerous other projects. Mikel and his staff are also responsible for tracking and reporting the official statistics at all home Trojan sporting events and maintaining TU’s archives and record books.

Mikel’s first 10 years at TU have been full of accomplishments, ranging from the creation and rapid expansion of the Trojans Sports Network, to the launching of three redesigned athletics websites and the creation of TU's online Hall of Fame. Mikel and his team have also continued to gain national exposure for the annual Silent Night game each December. The spotlight on Silent Night reached new heights in 2015, as ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap came to campus to film a feature and SnapChat featured the event as one of its Live Stories.

Under Mikel’s watch, the Sports Information Department has also implemented expanded gameday programs across the board, increased revenue by generating additional sponsorships, hosted 30 Crossroads League Championship events and four NAIA National Tournament Opening Round events, launched an Athletics Honors page and routinely ranked at or near the top of the Crossroads League in weekly awards and social media numbers.

Mikel has also helped Taylor rank among the nation’s elite with 99 CoSIDA Academic All-America honors over the past 10 years to lead the NAIA during that time. Taylor has led the NAIA in Academic All-America awards multiple times and three Trojan student-athletes have also advanced to receive CoSIDA Academic All-America-of-the-Year honors in their respective sports under Mikel’s watch. The totals of 17 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans and 58 CoSIDA Academic All-District awards during the 2022-2023 year were the most for Taylor in a single year and led all colleges in the nation.

The Crossroads League touted the efforts of Mikel and his staff by naming him as the Crossroads League Sports Information Director of the Year following the 2014-2015 year and again in 2016-2017.

Prior to coming on board at Taylor, Mikel spent seven years as the SID at Defiance College where he held the title of assistant athletics director for sports information during his final two years with the Yellow Jackets.

During his tenure at DC, Mikel spearheaded the launch and redesign of DC’s athletics website, initialized the official Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages for the Athletics Department and assisted with the creation of Defiance’s Yellow Jacket Sports Network.

Along with his work on promoting the Defiance College Athletics Department, Mikel was responsible for starting two new sources of revenue for the institution with the launch of DC’s first-ever online photo and team stores.

Mikel gained further experience by accepting the opportunity to serve as the official statistician for the first and second rounds of the 2012 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bowling Green State University. The pod included Ohio State, Florida, UC-Santa Barbara and the eventual national champion Baylor Bears.

Mikel is an active member of College Sports Information Directors of America and had his 2007-2008 men’s basketball media guide voted as one of the top-five covers among all NCAA Division III and NAIA basketball programs entered into the CoSIDA publications contest. Mikel was also published in Touchdown Illustrated, after submitting an article about the volunteer work of the DC football team in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Before taking the reins of the sports information department at Defiance College, Mikel spent three years working as an assistant sports information director at NCAA Division I institution, Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. During his time with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, Mikel earned a master’s degree in sports science and pedagogy.

The Etna Green, Indiana native earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2003, while serving as a student sports information director for two years and pitching on the Wildcats’ baseball team for three seasons.

Seth and his wife, Keely, have a son, Austin, and a daughter, Mackenna.