Ryan Pickens enters his fourth season with the Utah Valley University athletic department as Assistant Sports Information Director. He oversees media relations for volleyball, women’s basketball, and baseball. He previously served as UVU’s wrestling SID for three seasons.
During his time in Orem, he has overseen the publicity for Utah Valley Baseball's 2025 NCAA Tournament appearance, where they earned their first NCAA Tournament win over #12 Oregon. In 2024, he assisted UVU’s athletic administration in preparing a host bid for the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).
In volleyball, UVU has produced numerous All-WAC performers, highlighted by four First Team All-WAC selections and two WAC Freshman of the Year honorees.
The program has also earned four consecutive AVCA Team Academic Awards and 12 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District selections during his tenure.
On the baseball side, Pickens has overseen coverage for a program that has produced multiple All-WAC and All-Region players, including 2024 NCBWA Region 8 Player of the Year and Perfect Game All-American Daniel Dickinson, as well as 2024 CSC All-American Burke Camper. He has assisted with announcements of 13 players continuing onto professional baseball, including Casey Anderson, who became Utah Valley’s highest draft selection in 2023 when the Arizona Diamondbacks picked him in the 11th Round.
When Utah Valley hosted the 2023 WAC Volleyball Tournament, Pickens served as the Communications Director, overseeing the publication of tournament materials, coordinating statistics, and taking on other administrative tasks as needed in preparation for the tournament.
Pickens first joined UVU Athletics in March 2014 as a member of the baseball broadcast team and has since contributed to various softball and basketball broadcasts. While pursuing his graduate degree, he began working directly with the sports information staff in August 2019.
In addition to his work at UVU, Pickens serves as a broadcaster for Spanish Fork Community Network (SFCN), where he has called more than 400 high school sporting events, including over 20 state championship games. He also spent the 2010 football season as a sideline reporter for Weber State football home broadcasts.
His media career began in Eugene, Oregon, where he hosted a sports talk show on 91.9 KRVM and completed internships with 95.3 The Score and KUGN 590.
A native of Eugene, Ore., Pickens graduated from Utah Valley University in December 2018 with a degree in Aviation Management and earned his Master of Science in Sport Administration from the University of Northern Colorado in April 2020. He is a member of College Sports Communicators and volunteers on the Mentorship Committee for CSC, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA).
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