Bio

Samantha Boccacino is currently in her seventh year at Finger Lakes Community College and is entering her third year as the Director of Athletics. She earned her doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration from the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester in May of 2021, and her dissertation studied how Finger Lakes Community College can increase female participation in athletics.

In her current role, Boccacino is responsible for working with FLCC’s student-athletes, coaches, and support staff to help the Lakers student-athletes, coaches, and teams achieve success, both on the playing field and in the classroom, while empowering FLCC’s student-athletes to become engaged in all aspects of student life on campus.

Boccacino serves as the NJCAA Region ambassador for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and she also serves as a committee member for several national NJCAA sports committees. Boccacino is the NJCAA Region 3 Chair for cross country and eSports, and she is also a member of the NJCAA Region 3 sports committees for baseball, lacrosse, softball, and volleyball. She also currently chairs the Mid-State Athletic Conference's (MSAC) sports committees for cross country and softball and will take over as the MSAC's treasurer starting in the fall of 2021. She also teaches in FLCC's communication department.

Before taking over as Director of Athletics, Boccacino spent four years as FLCC's Assistant Director of Athletics. Prior to Finger Lakes Community College, Boccacino was the Assistant Athletics Director for Athletics Communication/Sports Information at Wilson College for two years. At Wilson she was responsible for the promotion of the College’s ten athletic teams and the publication of the achievements of the Wilson College athletic programs. Additionally, she oversaw and managed the Wilson College Athletics webpage, a newly created independent website powered by SIDEARM sports.

Prior to Wilson, Boccacino spent three years as the Sports Information Director/Head Softball Coach, Senior Woman Administrator at MacMurray College, located in Jacksonville, Illinois. During her tenure at MacMurray, she publicized and promoted MacMurray College’s ten athletic teams, including football, recognizing the varsity team’s accomplishments and achievements. Additionally, Boccacino gained knowledge regarding NCAA compliance issues as she served as the athletic department’s SWA.

Boccacino gained valuable experience in sports production as she completed an internship with WGN-TV studios in Chicago, Illinois as a sports production assistant (2008). At WGN she collaborated and assisted with directors/producers/on-air talent during home Cubs, White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks games. Additionally, she created on air taping with WGN studios and served as a production assistant to additional WGN America Productions. Boccacino also gained valuable experience in live journalism as a newsroom assistant at WESH 2 News located in Winter Park, Florida, where she wrote scripts and news rundowns in collaboration with news producers for on air newscasts. She also constructed video footage by combining relevant news segments for live newscasts.

Additionally, she served as an assistant in the radio booth for the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, Florida (2006-2007). During her time in the radio booth Boccacino collected and analyzed relevant baseball statistical data as well as assisted in pre-game and post-game booth set up and anticipated needs of major league baseball radio broadcasters.

Boccacino also served as the assistant softball coach at Wilson College. As the head softball coach at MacMurray, Boccacino doubled the softball roster size from 2011 (10 players) to 2012 (20 players) and more than tripled the win total from 2011 season to 2012 season. Additionally, during her time at MacMurray, softball student-athletes received the highest number of academic all-conference awards. Boccacino also held a coaching stint as the associate varsity softball coach at Gordon Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois from 2008-2010.

Boccacino received her B.A. in communication studies from Elmhurst College, in Elmhurst, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. While at Elmhurst, she wrote weekly sports articles for the college newspaper The Leader and was a four-year student employee in the Office of Sport Information at Elmhurst.  She received her M.A. in communication from the University of Illinois-Springfield and also served as an adjunct communication instructor at Wilson College.

Boccacino resides in Farmington, N.Y. with her husband, John, and her dog, Wrigley.