As fans entered and found seats in Mississippi State’s Nusz Park last season, an energetic female voice greeted them over the stadium’s public address system. Though many in the crowd likely didn’t know it, the voice belonged to a former softball player who also happens to be one of the brightest rising stars in the field of athletic administration.
That voice belonged to Leah Beasley, a Senior Associate Athletic Director in the Bulldogs’ athletic department. Nestled behind the microphone in the press box behind home plate, Beasley had all the makings of a complete natural in the position as she announced lineups and advertised mid-inning promotions.
Beasley spent her collegiate days on the softball diamond just a few hours to the west, as a member of the Louisiana Tech softball team. Suiting up for the Lady Techsters during the program’s time in the Western Athletic Conference, Beasley earned a quartet of Academic All-Conference honors and was twice named an All-American Scholar Athlete.
After her playing career ended, Beasley joined her alma mater’s athletic department in an administrative role and began to work her way up the ladder.
The progression of Beasley’s career turned into a meteoric rise in short order, as her superiors and others in Ruston recognized her rising star potential. In just a few short years, she was promoted to the role of Associate Athletic Director in charge of marketing and promotions for all of the Bulldog athletic programs.
Other than her curly, bright red hair, Beasley’s personality is her trademark. Bubbly yet simultaneously serious and always dedicated, it doesn’t take a lengthy conversation with her to realize the true passion that Beasley carries for what she does.
After serving a year in the Associate Athletic Director role at Louisiana Tech, a different kind of Bulldog came calling when Mississippi State hired Beasley as their new Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing in 2013.
At Mississippi State, Beasley made her mark swiftly and evidently. In 2016, the Bulldogs athletic marketing department was named the Marketing Team of the Year at the 25th annual National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators Convention. Led by Beasley in her then-role as assistant athletic director in charge of marketing, the group won prestige for a variety of marketing campaigns that year, including setting a new Guinness World Record with an event called “Cowbell Yell” that included 15,000 people simultaneously ringing cowbells.
It was Beasley who, when announcing the lineups for a late April matchup against Florida, noticed that Alex Wilcox was listed on Mississippi State’s bench. At that time, Wilcox was waged in the heat of a battle against ovarian cancer and was physically away from the team. “Even though she’s not here right now,” Beasley said at the time, “she’s one of us and we’re announcing her.”
Beasley didn’t get the PA job just by chance; that was one duty that proved constant after her move from Louisiana Tech to Starkville.
“I wasn’t the best at it [at Louisiana Tech],” she said. “But we needed somebody and I said ‘I’ll give it a shot.’ I actually did PA for several sports at LA Tech, several of our Olympic sports. And I just kept doing it for softball when I got to Mississippi State… I’ve not always been able to be the only PA announcer, but I do when I can.”
Beasley’s career path continued to move higher after she arrived in Mississippi… initially hired as an assistant athletic director, she quickly added ‘associate’ and ‘senior’ to her title before being promoted to her current role of Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director in charge of external affairs.
“Really, I’m in charge of four different areas that I call pods,” Beasley said of her current role. “I oversee the marketing department, which is what I was doing when I was hired and before I got promoted. Then I’m in charge of communications, which is your sports information directors, media relations, all of that. I’m also over our video and video operations departments, which includes making sure everything gets to Bristol, Atlanta, et cetera and the TV aspect is good, as well as the creative stuff, the long-form features that showcase our student athletes on social media and elsewhere.”
As her administrative career continues, Beasley’s star continues to rise and is widely expected to eventually land her in an office with simply “Athletic Director” on the nameplate. But with a number of successful years already under her belt, Beasley stays humble.
“Honestly, we really just have an incredible, incredible team. We may not be the largest [marketing and communications department], but we definitely – in my opinion – have the most heart and passion that you’ll find. I don’t mean that with any slight to any other university, but [Mississippi State] is a special place with special individuals and I want to brag on them as much as I possibly can. They work hard, they love what they do, and a huge part of getting the job done is having an incredible staff and we do.”
