On Monday, Feb. 20, Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Delaware Blue Coats and Rowan adjunct professor Alex Yoh came to “Pizza With the Pros” to speak about his career journey and Blue Coats’ Mac McClung winning the NBA Slam Dunk contest.

Yoh, who received his bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College and his master’s degree in leadership studies from Marquette University, first became associated with the 76ers and Blue Coats in 2014. He began as a public relations coordinator for the Sixers before transitioning to Wilmington, the home of the Blue Coats.

“I still have the tape of my 14 innings of Single-A baseball that were very mediocre, but at one point that was my goal,” said Yoh. “But I never really felt like I wasn’t hitting my goal because I just kept taking the next logical step of success, and didn’t limit myself to, ‘I need to be a broadcaster, I need to be a writer, I need to be this.’”

A large part of what Yoh does for the Blue Coats is based in marketing and communications. And with Blue Coats star Mac McClung capturing the attention of the NBA community during last weekend’s Slam Dunk contest, there’s an incredible opportunity to transfer some of that attention to Wilmington.

“Everyone wants us to be smart about it and everyone wants us to play in front of a lot of fans,” Yoh said. “So we do need to be advantageous with our imagery. So when we go on single-game ticket campaigns this week, on paid social, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, those platforms, you better believe that the images are going to be of Mac McClung.”

McClung, the G-League’s Rookie of the Year in 2022, signed a two-way contract with the 76ers on Feb. 14 just four days before he was set to participate in the contest. With the dazzling showing, he became the first Sixer to ever take home a trophy from the event.

“This whole new fame that he has, I think it’s going to be really cool to watch,” Yoh said. “We’re already starting to see it, we’ve been selling tickets over the weekend to games this week that, in our world, usually doesn’t happen. So to have this chance to, kind of, ride with Mac in this whole amazing week that he’s had — it’s gonna be fun to watch.”

In 2020, Rowan’s Sports Communication and Media program formed a partnership with the Blue Coats that allows students to intern with the team at different levels. Yoh oversees most of the interns and encouraged students to get involved with the team and on campus.

“Everyone in this room has a chance to be part of it in the next month whether you’re formally part of the internship program or not, come to a game,” Yoh said. “Please take advantage of it — do things at Rowan while you can. Whether that’s a club, an organization, writing, whatever, because when you graduate you’re going to have to be hired to do those things.”

Next Monday, Ava Graham, assistant brand manager for SportsRadio 94WIP, will speak at “Pizza With the Pros” about her time with Philadelphia’s leading sports talk radio station.

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