Patrick Pierson is in his sixth season as Illinois’ Director of Football Branding and Creative Media in 2026. Pierson oversees all branding of the program, team and recruiting content, and leads the Illini’s efforts in above the cap name, image, and likeness.
Pierson has helped elevate Illinois to new expectations under head coach Bret Bielema. Illinois had its winningest two-year run in program history from 2024-25, which included a program-record 19 wins, 15 Power-4 wins (the fourth-most in the Big Ten), six ranked wins, and two bowl victories over SEC opponents in the 2024 Citrus Bowl (#14 South Carolina) and 2025 Music City Bowl (#23 Tennessee). The Illini have 37 wins and 23 Big Ten victories since 2021, highlighted by back-to-back 9+-win seasons in 2024 and 2025 for the first time in program history and a program-record 10 wins in 2024.
Pierson has helped bring the Fighting Illini program back to national relevance with continued appearances in the AP Top 25 and College Football Playoff rankings, three bowl games, three national award finalists, 14 All-Americans, and 12 NFL Draft picks since 2021. Illinois has had three national award finalists and seven top-100 draft picks since Bielema's arrival. Jer'Zhan Newton (2023, Nagurski), Chase Brown (2022, Doak), and Devon Witherspoon (2022, Thorpe) gave Illinois three finalists in National College Football Awards Association awards over a two-year span for the first time since 1994-95, while Illinois was one of five schools with three or more players drafted in the first three rounds in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts, along with Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and Penn State.
Illinois has seen huge improvements in recruiting results with Pierson on staff, including signing the top-rated class in program history. The Illini's 2026 class was ranked #21 in the nation by 247Sports, eclipsing the previous high of #22 in 2007 and 2008. Illinois' rise in recruiting continued by signing the program's fifth-straight top-50 recruiting class in 2026. Prior to Bielema's arrival in 2021, Illinois had signed only three top-50 classes in the previous 10 years combined. Pierson has helped Bielema sign four of the five highest-ranked Illini recruiting classes of the past 15 years, according to 247Sports.
Pierson came to Champaign from Oregon, where he was Associate AD/Communications for the Ducks from 2018-20. Pierson was the main media contact for the Oregon football team that won back-to-back Pac-12 titles and the 2020 Rose Bowl while managing a communications staff of six that promoted Oregon’s 20 athletic programs.
Prior to Oregon, Pierson was the Assistant AD/Communications at Arkansas from 2015-18, when he worked with current Illinois head coach Bret Bielema. He started at Arkansas as the Director of Men’s Basketball Communications from 2013-15 before transitioning to lead the football team’s communications efforts and oversee the athletic department’s communications office.
Pierson moved to Arkansas from Florida Gulf Coast, where he was the primary communications contact for the 2012-13 FGCU men’s basketball team that made a run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen under the famous #DunkCity branding to become the first No. 15 seed in NCAA history to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. He was named the school’s Director of Sports Information in 2010 before being promoted to Assistant AD for Communications in 2012.
Pierson was the main basketball contact and Sports Information Director at St. Bonaventure University from 2007-10. He started his career in college athletics as Assistant Sports Information Director for the Bonnies from 2004-07.
Pierson graduated from Robert Morris University in 2004 with a degree in sport management.
He and his wife, Sarah, reside in Savoy, Illinois.
