Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant AD / Athletic Communications
(Contact for: Football, Baseball. M&W Tennis, Swimming & Diving)
- Email:
- Phone:
- 348-5775
He assumed his duties on August 23, 2006, when he became the third person to hold the Sports Information Director title at Rice, following Bill Whitmore (1950-84) and Bill Cousins (1984-2006). Pool guides athletic communications and publicity efforts for the Owls while serving as the primary contact for football as well as men’s and women’s tennis.
Pool and his staff have been honored twice by the Football Writers’ Association of America as one of their Super 11 Sports Information staffs (2014 & 2017).
He was a member of ESPN's CFB150 blue-ribbon panel which was convened to vote on the sport's greatest players, coaches, and games as part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of college football in 2019.
In 2011, he oversaw the redesign and relaunch of Riceowls.com while also writing and co-producing a five-part documentary on the 100th season of Rice Football. In 2010, he assumed administrative responsibility of the Owls’ video productions and oversaw the creative aspects of Owls Insider, a half-hour show on Fox Sports Houston. That same year he was responsible for the expansion of OwlVision’s baseball webcast production as well as the first-ever webcast of the C-USA outdoor track and field championship.
In 2006, his publicity efforts enabled a previously unknown sophomore wide receiver, Jarett Dillard, to become one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award finalist. In 2008 Dillard became Rice’s first Football Writers All-American in 50 years.
He was the Local Media Coordinator for the 2011, 2016, and 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in Houston as well as the Media Coordinator for the 2010 and 2015 NCAA Men’s South Basketball Regional in Houston.
Pool joined the Owls after spending the previous four years running his own public relations company, Laysan Communications, which specialized in proactive sports-related public and media relations. His primary clients included the Rotary Lombardi Award, which honors the top linemen in college football, and the Roger Clemens Award, which was presented to the top pitcher in college baseball. Laysan also provided media services to the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee, the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, and USA Football.
He first came to Houston in 1985 when he joined the Houston Astros as the assistant director of public relations. He remained with the Astros through the spring of 1992 when he was selected to create the media relations department of the expansion of Florida Marlins. He returned to the Astros in 1998 before entering private business in 1999.
Pool is a 1980 graduate of the University of Nebraska where he played freshman football (1977). He joined the Huskers’ SID department as a student assistant and was named Publications Coordinator/Sports Information Assistant upon graduation.
During his time at Nebraska, he was part of publicity efforts that garnered a Heisman Trophy, three Outland, two Rotary Lombardi Award winners, and 10 consensus All-America selections in football. He also headed up publicity efforts for the Huskers’ gymnastics and swimming programs and served as media coordinator for three NCAA men’s gymnastics and one NCAA women’s swimming and diving championship.
He is a member of the FWAA and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He is a past president of Pearland Little League and has served on the Advisory Council of the Rotary Lombardi Award.
Pool and wife Laura reside in Pearland. They have four children, Kevin, Cameron, Kelli and Courtney, and two grandsons, Kaleb and Kolby.
