Brian Hand is in his fifth year with Conference Carolinas. He is currently serving as an External Relations Consultant after serving as Assistant/Associate Commissioner.
In his current role with Conference Carolinas, Hand serves as the external relations contact for the conference office while also collaborating daily with the Assistant Commissioner for Communications. Hand also works with Commissioner Chris Colvin on sponsorships for Conference Carolinas.
The Conference Carolinas External Relations office has worked to fully enhance the social media presence for the league office. Conference Carolinas has the highest Instagram increase (over 10,000) among all NCAA Division II conferences since the start of the 2019-20 academic year. In addition, Conference Carolinas has the most followers among non-football playing conferences and the fourth-most overall among the 23 Division II conferences. Conference Carolinas has also grown the second-most during the time period in Twitter followers (over 4,500).
Conference Carolinas External Relations also worked to create special “Body, Mind, and Soul” written pieces that highlight student-athletes, coaches and administrators in Conference Carolinas. The features have enhanced the Conference Carolinas brand on the local, regional and national level with the NCAA showcasing numerous times. Sports Illustrated also highlighted one of the features as one of its daily cover stories in the 2019-20 academic year.
Conference Carolinas was named as the College Sports Communicators Fred Stabley Jr. Writing Contest national winner in the 2022-23 "Season Recap/Preview" category for its feature on North Greenville's rise to the NCAA Division II baseball national title in 2022. In addition to earning national accolades, the story on North Greenville baseball was also honored with “Best in the District” honors. Two more features also received runner-up honors for “Best in the District” in the Coach/Administrator category and the "Historical Feature" category.
Conference Carolinas has now won “Best in the District” honors for three consecutive years with Conference Carolinas claiming best in District 3 in the 2020-21 academic year for its profile on Michael Neustifter of North Greenville baseball and in the 2021-22 academic year for its feature on then King 1,000-point scorer and NASA intern Trinity Lee. The special feature on Lee was tabbed national runner-up in the “Social Justice/Diversity & Inclusion” category in the 2021-22 academic year.
The “Body, Mind, and Soul” feature series is a collaboration between public relations legend Bob Rose and Hand.
Conference Carolinas also captured “Best in the Nation” honors for its conference media guide for the 2021-22 academic year in the College Sports Communicators Publications and Digital Design Contest. The digital publication placed “Best in the Nation” in the college division of the contest. In addition, the publication entitled, “This is Conference Carolinas,” also earned top honors in the conference college division for cover design. Conference Carolinas also placed “Second in the Nation” among all in the college division (school and conferences) in the postseason media guides category.
Conference Carolinas External Relations has also worked with Commissioner Colvin to develop an updated and comprehensive Corporate Partners program that has resulted in over $100,000 in new revenue annually.
During his first year with Conference Carolinas, Hand also worked with the Conference Carolinas communicators to fully overhaul, and in some cases, create record books for all of Conference Carolinas’ sports. In addition, a comprehensive record book dating back to the start of the conference was created.
Hand originally joined the Conference Carolinas league office after almost three years as the Assistant Athletic Director for External Relations at UNC Asheville.
A native of the Upstate of South Carolina, Hand returned home to Greenville, South Carolina after overseeing the marketing and fan engagement, communication and ticketing offices at UNC Asheville. He was also the sports supervisor for baseball.
Prior to joining the UNC Asheville athletics department, Hand for four years was the Executive Editor of Spurs & Feathers, which was the official publication of the University of South Carolina Gamecock Club. While at South Carolina, he worked closely with the External Communications and Development Offices.
Hand also served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications and Promotions at USC Aiken for five years and as the Director of Sports Information and Game Operations at Presbyterian College for two and a half years. He began his career in college athletics as an intern at the SoCon league office in Spartanburg, South Carolina after interning in graduate school with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds.
A North Greenville University (B.A.) and Middle Tennessee State University (M.S.) graduate, Hand played collegiate soccer at North Greenville where he was named to the 2001 National Christian Colleges Athletic Association Honorable-Mention All-America squad and the all-region team. He was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year at North Greenville.
Hand is married to the former Amy Prater, who is also a native of the Upstate of South Carolina. Brian and Amy are the proud parents of Alexander (15) and Brynlee (10).