After going from no experience to a bronze medal in the World Sports Photography Awards, Brett Pierce, Campbellsville University’s assistant director of athletic communications and multimedia, now aims for gold.
Pierce has loved his career in photography. After graduating from Campbellsville, Pierce took on a role completely new to him.
“Before this, I never held a camera,” he said.
Now he has goals like winning a gold medal in the World Sports Photography Awards. Despite this, his focus is largely on the success of his team.
“I want to get each of my students to move on to bigger and better things,” said Pierce.
Pierce first developed his passion for photography when he was assigned his first road trip. It was to cover thewomen’s wrestling team at national duals. They ended up winning the title and Pierce loved the experience.
“That passion keeps going … the passion for sport has never gone away,” said Pierce. “When you know a team is on the verge of doing something special … then that means something special for you to be able to capture.”
Pierce continues to enjoy the travel aspect, especially during championship season, even though it often requires late nights and a lot of work.
“I love the anticipation of championship season. All it takes is a split second for something special to happen and we’ve seen some special things,” said Pierce.
Pierce said that anticipation is one of his favorite parts of photography and sports and it’s crucial for the job.
“The biggest thing is the anticipation and not even actually capturing the action, just anticipating what’s gonna happen next,” Pierce said. “That’s one of my favorite parts about sports is the anticipation of what can happen within a split second.”
Pierce loves getting to share his photos with students and seeing their joy, especially when he gets a great photo.
“It’s rare that you get something extraordinary. But when you do, you know it immediately,” said Pierce. “I’m trying to find that kid to make sure they know I got something special.”
Pierce said he loves his job and his team.
“I’ve got the best team, and each year keeps getting better,” he said.
The Campbellsville Sports Information Department has made major improvements as a whole during his time working there. Pierce said they started out with just taking headshots and a team photo and that was it. Hesaid each year “Media Day” has developed more and more and this year was the first year they did stations where his entire photography team was involved.
“Now it has turned into a full-on production,” said Pierce.
Alongside this, Pierce’s role allows him to stay involved with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) on campus where he runs the social media accounts and serves as a voice in the room and someone to talk to. He wantsto make sure that, as a man, he is someone who can listen to athletes.
“Knowing that we can have those deep conversations in there and nobody is going to be embarrassed … thatis what being a Christian is about is accepting that you’re a sinner,” said Pierce.
His favorite thing about FCA is the companionship and seeing some of the same people and also new people every week.
“FCA kind of allows me to deeper connect with sports,” said Pierce.
Pierce began his time at CU as a student athlete running cross country and track and field. After receiving multiple conference championships and All-American awards, Pierce continues to run today with a goal of completing all the world major marathons. He has completed four of these majors and his most recent one was his personal best with a time of two hours and 27 minutes. Pierce continues to compete against his own times until he enters the masters age division where he hopes to gain a national ranking. Pierce said he enjoys running now more than he did in college, just as his college coach, Coach Hilary Lakes, said he would.
“Now I get to go all around the world, and I use all the connections I have here,” said Pierce.
Oriana Espinoza, sports information graduate assistant who was previously one of Pierce’s interns, said that he’s taught her everything she knows about photography. However, her favorite thing about Pierce is howmuch he cares for his team and his passion for their work.
“He is always trying to get the best out of us, get the best out of our product and get the best for our office,” said Espinoza.
She said he’s helped her improve in many ways.
“He has been giving me a lot of opportunities to grow out of my comfort zone,” said Espinoza. She said the team has made big improvements since she has been at CU.
“I feel like we are improving every day, and we will continue to improve if we keep this mindset,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza hopes to take all of the things she has learned and is still learning from Brett and everyone in the CU Sports Information Department and take herself and a company or brand she’s working for to the next level.
“I think we have done a lot of great stuff that I will be very proud of saying that I was a part of,” said Espinoza.
Matthew Atwood, current FCA sponsor, assistant football coach and close friend of Pierce, said he was very involved as a student and has continued to help as a staff member.
“Brett has been awesome for FCA,” said Atwood.
Atwood said he has seen Pierce’s faith grow during the 10-plus years they have known each other.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see Brett from a young Christian to an amazing man of faith and leader,” said Atwood.
Pierce’s work ethic and character have not gone unnoticed by Atwood.
“Brett is one of the most selfless individuals I’ve ever seen,” Atwood said. “He truly cares about our student athletes at CU and does everything he can to feature the athletes and make them look amazing. I know for a fact these athletes get to cherish for a lifetime the images Brett captures during sporting events and photo shoots,”.
Atwood has seen Pierce and the entire team improve during his time at CU.
“We went from being an average media production to one of the best in the country,” said Atwood.
He said Pierce and the entire sports information team have done an amazing job on every level.
“Sheldon, Zach and Brett have gone above and beyond since coming to CU. They are invaluable,” said Atwood.
Atwood said nobody puts out better content than Pierce and his team at CU. “I think him and histeam are the best at what they do in the country,” he said.
