Knehans is in his fifth year at the Sun Belt Conference, where he serves as the Senior Associate Commissioner, Chief Communications & Branding Officer. He was hired as the league's Associate Commissioner, Communications & Branding, in March 2021; promoted to Interim Senior Associate Commissioner, Chief Communications & Branding Officer, on July 1, 2022; and had the interim tag removed on Nov. 1, 2022.
In addition to his administrative duties as a member of Commissioner Gill’s senior staff, Knehans serves as the primary communications contact for football and baseball.
Since assuming the Senior Associate Commissioner role, Knehans has rebuilt the Sun Belt communications and branding unit; aided in the transition of four new members—James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss—into the conference; and served as the architect of the Sun Belt Rising branding campaign, highlighted by billboards in Times Square in New York City.
He has spearheaded the Sun Belt’s media outreach and marketing around a conference-record four football victories over autonomy conference opposition (2022 & 2023), eight Reese’s Senior Bowl selections (2022), 12 NFL Combine invitees (2022), nine NFL Draft picks (2022) and 12 Bowl Season participants (2023). Knehans also led the conference’s on-site activations around ESPN College GameDay’s broadcasts from App State in Boone, N.C., on Sept. 17, 2022, and James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., on Nov. 18, 2023, which drew a GameDay-record crowd of 26,000.
Knehans’ efforts helped the Sun Belt generate over 155,000 engagements across its social media platforms in September 2022—the fourth-most among all NCAA Division I conferences trailing only the SEC, Big 12 and Pac-12 and 21,500 more than the conference generated in the entire year of 2020 prior to his arrival. During Knehans’ tenure, the Sun Belt has produced a 232 percent increase in social media engagements, including a 66 percent year-over-year increase from 2020 to 2021 and a 100 percent year-over-year increase from 2021 to 2022. His communications and branding accomplishments contributed to the Sun Belt’s conference-record 37 NCAA postseason and Bowl Season berths in 2023-24, when the conference was a multi-bid league in women’s soccer, men’s soccer, volleyball, football, softball and baseball.
Knehans put on Sun Belt Basketball Media Days in 2022 and 2023—the first in-person media events for Sun Belt basketball in a decade—and annually organizes Sun Belt Football Media Days—which expanded to a two-day in-person media event for the first time in conference history in 2022. He has also assisted Commissioner Gill with his role on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee (2021-Present) and served on the Sun Belt’s strategic planning committees for men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball.
Knehans arrived at the Sun Belt following a five-year stint as the Assistant Executive Director, Communications & Championships, at The Ivy League. There he served as the primary communications contact for 11 sports—including football; acted as the primary sport administrator for men’s & women’s golf, men’s & women’s ice hockey and volleyball; oversaw social media strategy; and assisted in the administration of several of the league’s championship events.
Prior to joining the Ivy League, Knehans held roles with the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
A graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Knehans earned his Bachelor of Arts in magazine journalism and political science, with minors in sport management and African American studies. He graduated summa cum laude, with a 4.0 GPA, earning valedictorian honors. He completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA), with specializations in marketing and strategic management, from the Villanova School of Business at Villanova University. He graduated with a 4.0 GPA, earning induction into Beta Gamma Sigma: The International Business Honor Society.
He is an active member of College Sports Communicators (CSC)—formerly CoSIDA—and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). Knehans currently serves on the CSC New Media (2018-Present) and Advocacy (2022-Present) Committees and is a CSC Mentor (2020-Present). He was previously a member of the NAIA-SIDA New Media and Branding Committees (2014-16) and the CSC Convention Programming (2016-20) and Professional Development and Education (2020-22) Committees. Knehans completed the CSC Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship—in partnership with the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics—during the 2023-24 academic year and was recognized with the CSC Rising Star Award in 2024.