Rick Steinbacher serves as UNC's Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Communications. In that role, he manages all of the athletic department's external communications including marketing, GoHeels Productions, corporate partnerships, ticket sales, gameday customer relations and revenue generating initiatives.
A 1993 Carolina graduate and football letterwinner, Steinbacher has worked at UNC since 2000. He was part of the football program from 2000-06, and served as Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and New Media from 2006-12 before being promoted to his current position. He also was a long-time member of the Tar Heel Sports Network broadcast team as the color analyst for UNC football broadcasts.
The Greenville, S.C., native played football at Carolina from 1990-93, starting 30 games at inside linebacker and earning third-team All-ACC honors as a senior, when he captained a team that went 10-3.
After graduating with a degree in business administration, he spent five years in sales and marketing with Procter and Gamble, based in Charlotte. Steinbacher then joined Tar Heel Sports Marketing, where he was a Vice President for Account Development.
Steinbacher and his wife, Valerie, a 1989 UNC graduate, have two daughters, Donna and Kiersten, both of whom are students at Carolina. His brother Steve was also a football player at Carolina from 1984-88, his sister Donna was a swimmer from 1986-87, and his sister-in-law Erika Steinbacher was an All-ACC diver at Carolina from 1984-88.