08/06/21 – Angolia, White Promoted to New Roles at the KHSAA

August 6, 2021 2021-2022 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 6, 2021

KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett today announced the promotion of two members of the KHSAA staff to new positions. Communications Director Joe Angolia will move to serve as an Assistant Commissioner following the July 31 retirement of former Assistant Commissioner Michael Barren. Event Management Specialist Dan White will assume the Communications Director position formerly held by Angolia.

“Joe and Dan have been integral parts of our Association work and I am delighted to see this opportunity for personal and professional growth,” Tackett said. “Openings for full-time employment in our office are infrequent given the extremely small size of our staff compared to the tasks and responsibilities that we are assigned. We are very happy to see these two seize the opportunities as presented. They are aware of the pressures of both these positions and working here in general, and are ready and willing to take on additional challenges and responsibilities.”

Joe Angolia

Angolia has spent the last eight years handling the communication and media relations efforts of the KHSAA, including the recent addition of sport management responsibilities with archery and esports, as well as bass fishing for the 2020-21 academic year. Among his new duties as Assistant Commissioner, Angolia will oversee the sport of wrestling as well as continuing to be the primary contact for the sport-activities of archery and esports. He will also serve as staff liaison to an identified emerging sport, girls’ lacrosse, and assume additional operational responsibilities. The Danville native will also remain as the Association’s primary editor and be actively involved with the association’s historical records efforts and event-related publications and programs, as well as remaining involved in the logistics of the NFHS Network School Broadcast Program and the collection and dissemination of current year statistics as submitted by the member schools.

Angolia, who graduated from Boyle County High School in 1998 and Xavier University in 2002, spent seven years as the Sports Information Director at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock prior to joining the KHSAA. Other stops include time in the sports information departments at both Eastern Kentucky University and Western Kentucky University. He and his wife Rachel and daughter Sofia reside in Lexington.

White has been with the Association since 2018 when he filled the newly created Event Management Specialist position. As part of his move to Communications Director, White will also continue to work with the association’s historical records and statistics and continue to serve as the Social Media Director, an element in which he supervised the development of a more active public-facing presence since his arrival on staff.

Dan White

A 2003 graduate of Anderson County High School, White’s move to Communications Director will be a return to a familiar role after serving five years as Assistant Athletic Director and Sports Information Director at the University of Pikeville before starting at the KHSAA.

Prior to Pikeville, White worked in the sports information office at Lindsey Wilson College, was a communications assistant at the BIG EAST Conference, and worked as a student assistant in the sports information office at the University of Louisville where he is a 2007 graduate.

He and his wife Emily and daughter JaZayla reside in Nicholasville.

In announcing the moves, Tackett also stated that the Association will begin in mid-August to fill the Event Management position for the Association with details on the KHSAA website when published.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 285 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.