Stony Brook Athletics announced on Wednesday, Dec. 4 that longtime New York Mets beat reporter Adam Rubin has been hired as the university’s new Associate Director of Athletics for Strategic Communications.
“In his role as Associate AD, he will be responsible for the development, implementation and execution of the department’s strategic communication initiatives,” Stony Brook Athletics said in a press release.
Rubin, a Long Island native, closely covered the Mets for fifteen years, first starting at the New York Daily News before moving to ESPN in 2010. He became one of the most recognizable beat reporters during his tenure at ESPN, gaining airtime on SportsCenter and his own hosted radio show on ESPN New York 98.7 FM. Rubin is also a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), having participated in voting for the Hall of Fame, Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Cy Young.
His departure from ESPN in 2017 signaled the end of his journalism career as the media conglomerate opted not to renew his contract. “ESPN seems to be bleeding money because of cord-cutting, so my salary was unattractive to them,” Rubin said in an interview with Jared Diamond and Mike Vorkunov of The -30-. “And the new MLB editor at ESPN wants to get away from “thorough” beat coverage — that’s the precise word she used — and I suppose I was the sacrificial lamb to hammer home that point. Anyway, ESPN agreed to give me a buyout to leave now. And I get to do what I planned to do anyway. So it worked out tremendously.”
Rubin transitioned from beat reporting to communications, joining the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) Department of Athletics in 2017 as the program’s Associate Director of Athletics for Strategic Communications. His work with the Division II Bears had a significant impact on its teams’ social media numbers and online presence. Along with 14-year MLB veteran Frank Catalanotto, now the Bears’ baseball head coach, Rubin helped NYIT reach their first ever Division II College World Series in 2019 as the Sports Information Director (SID).
