Kevin Albarez enters his second year following his return to the Bluff in October 2025 and his fifth year overall as Assistant Strategic Communications Director at Southern University, where he originally began his tenure in 2020.
Albarez serves as the primary media relations contact for Southern's volleyball, bowling, softball, cross country and track & field programs.
In his first season back at Southern, Albarez successfully promoted 16 All-Conference selections and four All-Louisiana honorees. Among those accolades were Southwestern Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Aaliyah Zabala, Newcomer of the Year Laila Clark and Coach of the Year Brittney Williams. He also promoted Tashina Alase, who was named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Co-Track Athlete of the Year.
In volleyball, Jordan Felix and Ariana Brown became the first pair of Lady Jaguars to earn All-Conference honors in the same season since 2021. Both were also named to the All-Louisiana Team. In softball, Zabala, Clark and Abigail Mitchell earned All-Louisiana honors, marking the first time since 2018 that Southern softball had multiple All-Louisiana selections and tying for the second-most selections in program history.
Prior to returning to Southern, Albarez spent two years at Louisiana Tech, where he served as the primary strategic communications contact for volleyball, women's basketball, bowling, and cross country/track & field. During his tenure, he played an instrumental role in promoting numerous All-Americans, All-Conference selections and nationally recognized student-athletes.
Albarez successfully promoted the first five-time All-American in Louisiana Tech history, bowler Allie Leiendecker, while also overseeing the promotion of National Rookie of the Year Kylee Trexler and three additional All-Americans during the 2023–24 season.
Under his direction, the Louisiana Tech volleyball program saw two student-athletes earn Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors, a Second Team All-Louisiana selection and multiple conference Player of the Week awards, marking the program's most decorated stretch in nearly five years.
Albarez also played a key role in promoting four Conference USA All-Freshman Team selections, including 2025 CUSA Freshman of the Year and First Team All-CUSA honoree Paris Bradley. The Lady Techsters also earned an additional First Team All-CUSA selection and four All-Louisiana honors during his tenure.
Another major responsibility for Albarez at Louisiana Tech was managing the social media platforms for all four sports he covered. Under his leadership, each program experienced significant annual growth in followers, engagement and overall reach, with increases approaching 40 percent. The volleyball program experienced particularly dramatic growth on Instagram, increasing its following by nearly 150 percent, from approximately 3,500 followers to nearly 9,000, during his two years of oversight.
During his first stint at Southern, Albarez served as the primary media relations contact for volleyball, bowling and softball while also serving as the secondary contact for men's and women's cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field.
Albarez joined Southern after spending 10 years as a coach and teacher at Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During his time at Woodlawn, he coached men's basketball, football, softball and baseball. He also taught geometry and sports marketing while managing facility upkeep, gameday graphics, video coordination and live-stream production for athletic events.
He began his athletics communications career at LSU, where he spent nine years working on the stat crew after interning with the Sports Information Department during the 2011–12 academic year. During his time with LSU, Albarez assisted with the coverage of football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball. He contributed to coverage during seasons in which each program reached postseason competition, including football's appearance in the National Championship Game and softball's run to the Women's College World Series.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Albarez earned his bachelor's degree in Sports Administration from LSU in 2011 and his Master of Arts in Teaching in 2013.
