RAPID CITY, SD (Aug.18, 2025) — South Dakota Mines Athletics is excited to welcome Luke Kotcher as the new assistant director of athletic communications for the Hardrockers.
 
Kotcher will begin his new role on Aug. 19, bringing three years of experience in athletic communications, including work in minor league baseball and at the Division I, II and III collegiate levels. 
 
"We are excited to have Luke join the Hardrocker team," said David Crum, Mines Athletic Director. "His energy, love for sports and talent for storytelling will help elevate our programs both regionally and nationally."
 
Before joining Mines, Kotcher served as the assistant director of athletic communications at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo., a member of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference.
 
At Missouri S&T, he was the primary media contact for six sports and took on a wide range of responsibilities, including writing articles, managing the athletics website, tracking game statistics, leading social media efforts, creating graphics and overseeing broadcasts.
 
Earlier in his career, Kotcher was an athletics communications intern at Bradley University, an NCAA Division I school in the Missouri Valley Conference. While in Peoria, Ill., he also worked as a broadcast and media relations intern for the Peoria Chiefs—the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals—and served as a play-by-play announcer for Illinois Wesleyan University, an NCAA Division III program in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
 
"I'm super excited to join the team at South Dakota Mines," Kotcher said. "I'm very grateful to the Hardrocker staff for putting their trust in me. South Dakota Mines and Rapid City have great people, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it and tell the story of these amazing programs and student-athletes." 
 
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MEDIA CONTACT
Michelle Pawelski
Communications Manager
Marketing and Communications
Michelle.pawelski@sdsmt.edu
605-394-6082
 
About South Dakota Mines
Founded in 1885, South Dakota Mines is one of the nation's leading engineering, science and technology universities. South Dakota Mines offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees and a best-in-class education at an affordable price. The university enrolls 2,579 students with an average class size of 24. The South Dakota Mines placement rate for graduates is 97 percent, with an average starting salary of $77,067. For these reasons, South Dakota Mines is ranked among the best engineering schools in the country for return on investment. Find us online at www.sdsmt.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat.
About South Dakota Mines Athletics
South Dakota Mines is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 13 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The RMAC is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah.