SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference has hired two department assistants for the 2023-24 academic year, with Anna Brinkman joining the league staff as the Media Relations Assistant and Caroline Reese serving as the Championships Assistant.
 
Brinkman comes to the SoCon after serving as an undergraduate intern at Furman University in the Paladins’ Athletic Communications office since 2015. She assisted the department in a multitude of roles throughout her tenure, serving as a statistician for all 18 varsity men’s and women’s athletic teams, writing press releases and creating graphics for Furman’s website and social media channels and assisting the Furman staff in nominating student-athletes for SoCon honors. A native of Travelers Rest, South Carolina, Brinkman also worked as an area coordinator and a freshman advisor (FRAD) for Furman University Residence Life, earning a FRAD Staff Team Player Award in 2020-21 and a FRAD Staff Excellence in Peer Mentorship Award the following year. Brinkman, who also served as an adjunct assistant throwing coach for Travelers Rest High School since January 2021, was a member of the Furman Heller Service Corps and graduated in May with a degree in health science. Brinkman will start at the SoCon on Monday, July 17.
 
A former collegiate women’s basketball player at Southern Wesleyan University, Reese graduated magna cum laude in May with a degree in recreation and sport management. The Boiling Springs, South Carolina, native was a four-year member of the Conference Carolinas All-Academic Team and was a finalist for Conference Carolina’s Murphy Osborne Award, which is given to a senior student-athlete with a GPA of at least 3.25 and is an important contributor to the team. Reese has served as the Director of Social Media and Marketing for 2FeetIn Coaching since October 2022 and was a business development intern for Blue Hill Coffee & Tea Co. in her final year at Southern Wesleyan. Reese also interned in Southern Wesleyan’s Athletics Communications Department from 2020-23. In the summer of 2022, she was a youth sports counselor at the Thomas E. Hannah YMCA in Spartanburg and she served an internship as an assistant girls’ basketball coach at Woodruff High School in the summer of 2021. Reese will start at the SoCon on Monday, Aug. 7.