The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference announced earlier this week it has named Matt Zircher as its 2019-20 Patrick Moore-Mike Dean SID of the Year.

Zircher spent three years as the sports information director at University of Northwestern Ohio before passing away unexpectedly in March.

The honor is named after former Madonna SID Patrick Moore, who passed away unexpectedly in 2015, and long-time WHAC statistician Mike Dean. It recognizes outstanding sports information professionals as chosen by SIDs in the conference. This year’s announcement was made during the WHAC Spring Meeting.

“Matt will be sorely missed,” UNOH athletics director Chris Adams said. “He was the ultimate professional in his approach to his job and everything that it entailed.”

Zircher hit the ground running when he first arrived at UNOH and completely reworked the history and records section of UNOH’s sports. He also implemented an RSS feed and email newsletter for fans and boosters.

Zircher made others a priority by sending out files, rosters, and whatever information was needed in a timely and efficient manner. His quick response was appreciated by sports information staff across the league.

“He was always the first to respond to me on requests for game information,” said last year’s winner Tyler Stevenson of Indiana Tech. “He was willing to help when we had overlaps in covering games. Matt knew what his job was, got it done, and did it on time.”

Zircher, who was a longtime contributing writer to the Sidney Daily News, previously worked in the athletic communications department at Wright State for 24 years before taking over as SID at UNOH in 2017.