Nationally Recognized Auburn Assistant Athletic Director to Serve in Volunteer Role
Fairmont, WV—West Virginia native and current Auburn assistant athletic director for media relations
Shelly Poe will serve as Media Relations Director for GameChanger in a volunteer capacity. She will
begin immediately and attend the GameChanger Prevention Education reception, dinner and golf
classic at The Greenbrier Resort on May 24 and 25.
A Morgantown product and a National Merit Scholar at University High, Poe is an honors graduate of
the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University. She worked from 1981-2007 in the WVU
athletics department, serving as sports information director from 1988-2007. As assistant sports
information director, Poe worked with then-sports information director and current GameChanger
Executive Director Joe Boczek. She was elevated to the SID position in 1988 when Boczek left to enter
the private business sector.
Poe moved to Ohio State in 2007, where she served as director of football media relations, and took her
current position at Auburn in 2012. She was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of
America Hall of Fame in 2006 and served as that 4,000-member organization’s president in 2013-14. In
2021, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Football Writers Association of America and
has chaired numerous regional, conference and national committees.
“I am absolutely elated that one of the true giants in the media relations business and a cherished
friend is willing to lend her expertise to GameChanger,” Boczek says. “I don’t mind saying that Shelly
took on most of the tough assignments the business can dish out and left me with many of the more
enjoyable ones. The fact that we have come full circle makes this more pleasing. I would be remiss if I
didn’t publicly thank the administration at Auburn for allowing Shelly to serve as a volunteer for
GameChanger in such a strategic role.”
Poe, in her 11th year on the staff at Auburn, has been following GameChanger since its inception and
says she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to not only rejoin her longtime friend but more importantly
to help her home state of West Virginia in one of the biggest challenges to its future prosperity.
“West Virginia is my family home and the impact of the opioid and substance misuse epidemic is
staggering, not just today, but for what it erodes of the future. I’m proud that so many good folks are
taking part in making a change. Wherever they live, all West Virginians can contribute to helping tame
and eventually vanquish this epidemic. Through its growth and demonstrated passion, GameChanger is
nationally known for its leadership in helping our young people and I’m glad to do my part.”
GameChanger Chairman of the Board Larry Puccio says it’s very gratifying to see another fellow West
Virginian willing to lend their time and talent to help save the lives of our youth.
“Shelly’s record certainly speaks for itself and the fact that she is willing to take on this additional
workload as a volunteer to help us save the lives of kids in this state speaks volumes of the kind of
person she is. I am so pleased to have her on board.”
GameChanger works directly with schools and communities to implement and monitor student peer
leadership programs through its comprehensive and innovative Prevention Education Program
developed with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. In addition, its One Pill Can Kill Initiative featuring
a 34-minute film has been sent to all middle and high schools throughout West Virginia, Overall,
GameChanger programming is designed to educate, support, and empower West Virginia’s youth to live
healthy, drug free lifestyles while preparing to be our leaders of tomorrow.
To learn more about GameChanger, visit www.gamechangerusa.org
