Carl Schmid was named the Associate Athletic Director for Branding & Digital Strategy at USF in July of 2023.
A member of the USF Athletics senior staff, Schmid brings over 10 years of social, digital & content creation experience to the department. In his role he oversees the branding & content creation department inclusive of graphic design, creative video, social/digital strategy & analytics.
Prior to arriving at USF, Schmid spent four years at the University of Louisville as the Director of Digital Strategy. In his role he led the development & implementation of social media initiatives to enhance the Louisville brand while having oversight of the Creative Communications Department when it was created in Aug of 2021. He managed the Main Athletics social media accounts on a day-to-day basis, as well as various sports accounts as assigned. Additionally, he worked with Learfield to ideate & execute sponsored content elements.
In growing the Louisville brand, Schmid elevated the main athletics Instagram following by 51.89% (+31.3k) while generating over 3.2 million interactions over his four years, as well as the football Instagram following by 85.44% (+49.7k) while generating 3.32 million interactions from July 2019 to July 2022.
Among the more prominent campaigns that Schmid spearheaded the social strategy for at Louisville was the Lamar Jackson Jersey Retirement which amassed 29.5 million total impressions, 1.23 million total engagements & 6.6 million total video views. He also led the social efforts around the hiring of Coach Kenny Payne & had oversight on the social efforts announcing the hiring of Coach Jeff Brohm.
He also had a hand in the social strategy & coverage around post-season runs by Football (2019 Music City Bowl, 2021 First Responder Bowl & 2022 Fenway Bowl), Women’s Basketball (2021 Elite Eight, 2022 Final Four & 2023 Elite Eight) & Volleyball (2019 Elite Eight, 2021 Final Four, 2022 National Runner-Up), as well as top 15 NFL Draft pick Mekhi Becton.
Schmid was integral in establishing ELEVATE, Louisville’s NIL program, putting the Cardinals among the first schools in the country with dedicated program to assist student-athletes in name, image & likeness. Along with providing resources & education to student-athletes he also served on the department’s NIL committee.
Before joining Louisville, Schmid spent six and a half years as a member of the University of Cincinnati’s athletic department. Beginning as a student football recruiting assistant (Jan. 2013) before being hired full-time as the Assistant Director of Football Video in July of 2014. In both roles he created content for and managed the football social media accounts.
In July of 2019 Schmid was promoted to Cincinnati’s Director of Digital Media where he oversaw all of the Bearcats social/digital media efforts while maintaining the main athletics & men’s basketball social media accounts. Additionally, he assisted with designing & creating graphic templates, planned the department wide social strategy, created graphics and animations for team and department accounts, assisted with the department’s photography efforts & served as the sports information contact for the women’s tennis program.
In growing the Cincinnati brand, Schmid elevated the main athletics Instagram following by 42.23% (+13.9k), as well as establishing & growing the men’s basketball Instagram following by over 13k while also tripling the team’s Twitter following. He also spearheaded the 2018 men’s basketball post-season that generated over 6.7 million total impressions & 141,000 total engagements, including 87,000 on Twitter which ranked 8th among all men’s basketball accounts, from March 1st to March 18th.
A native of Cincinnati, OH, Schmid is a two-time graduate from the University of Cincinnati, earning his bachelor’s degree in sports administration in 2014 and master’s degree in sports administration in 2017.
Carl & his wife, Jessica, reside in Wesley Chapel with their daughter, Harper.
Career History:
USF Athletics :: Assoc. AD, Branding & Digital Strategy (July 2023 – Current)
Louisville Athletics :: Director of Digital Strategy (July 2019 – July 2023)
Cincinnati Athletics :: Director of Digital Media (May 2017 – July 2019)
Cincinnati Athletics :: Asst. Dir. Football Video (July 2014 – May 2017)
Cincinnati Athletics :: Football Recruiting Assistant (Jan. 2013 – July 2014)
