100% There

How alum Brian Fitzsimmons found success at one of the most influential companies in sports media.

From the fall 2025 issue of Sacred Heart University Magazine

Key Highlights

• Brian Fitzsimmons ’08 embodies the belief that success is earned, not given—something he has demonstrated throughout his personal and professional life
• He began as a sports journalist, working as a reporter for Sports Ticker and managing editor at MSG Networks, before making a major career shift about a decade ago into the business side of sports
• Credits SHU for instilling resilience, ambition and a strong work ethic

Success is earned, not handed out—a lesson Brian Fitzsimmons ’08 has lived throughout his life and career.

Fitzsimmons’ career path has been anything but typical. As a former reporter at Sports Ticker and managing editor at MSG Networks, he mapped out a promising career in sports journalism. But a decade ago, he shifted to the business side of sports and discovered his true passion. From that point on, he never looked back.

Today, he is the vice president of owned media for Barstool Sports, where he’s spent the last seven years leading strategic initiatives across various categories that have fostered deeper interaction, engagement and connection with an audience of over 275 million.

^{Leading the Game: As Vice President of Owned Media at Barstool Sports, Brian Fitzsimmons '08 helms strategy and innovation for one of the nation's most influential digital brands.}

Fitzsimmons joined Barstool Sports during its early expansion, holding roles in programming, product and commerce while helping turn the company from a regional blog into a national powerhouse brand.

“My career doesn’t happen without being taught to want more for myself and to be resilient—and SHU gave me that gift,” Fitzsimmons says.

His time on the Park Avenue campus taught the keys to succeeding in the sports industry, he asserts.

“More than anything, Sacred Heart conditioned me to dream big and to outwork everybody; those are life lessons that I’ve always held onto,” Fitzsimmons says.

That impulse to outwork has guided him his whole adult life.

Whether it was pushing his professors to tailor his homework for his dreams of becoming a sports reporter, working his way up the ladder at Barstool or coaching his daughter’s basketball team, Fitzsimmons has always had a work ethic second to none.

In his current role, Fitzsimmons oversees the strategy, development and performance of businesses within the company’s vast portfolio of owned brands, developing ways to give the digital company a foothold in fans’ lives beyond their phones.

Fitzsimmons’ rise at Barstool reminded him of another lesson from his days at SHU that continues to shape who he is today.

“When I first applied to Sacred Heart, the University’s mantra was ‘personal attention leads to personal achievement,’” he says. “It’s one thing for a school to come up with a catchy moniker, but it’s another thing to live it; two of my mentors, Dr. Andrew Miller and Dr. Jim Castonguay, are people who live it.”

Fitzsimmons, the SHU School of Communication, Media & the Arts' 2023 Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient, quickly learned from his professors the value of personal attention—how it can shape people, elevate their work and inspire them to aim higher.

The idea of personal attention has stuck with Fitzsimmons ever since; it guides him both in the office and at home.

“It’s difficult to balance a demanding job and home life, but I’m always striving to be the best I can at being where my feet are,” says Fitzsimmons. “If I’m at work, I’m 100% there. If I’m coaching my daughter’s basketball team, I’m 100% there; if I’m hanging out with my wife, I’m 100% there; if I’m reading a book with my daughter at night, I’m 100% there.”

Wherever his feet are planted, Fitzsimmons stands as proof that with enough hard work, dedication and drive, success can always be earned.