Alvernia Tabs Joshua Buchanan To Lead Esports Program

Reading, Pa. (January 26, 2021) - Alvernia University Director of Athletics Bill Stiles announced on Tuesday the hiring of Joshua Buchanan as the University’s first head coach of Esports.

Buchanan joins Alvernia’s staff after three years with Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. 

“We are so excited to have Josh join our team,” said Stiles.  “He started the program at Ashland and quickly built it into one of the most reputable in the country. I was so impressed with his vision for the role esports can play in building engagement and community - which fits perfectly with the Reading CollegeTowne initiative.”

Buchanan was Ashland University’s first Esports coach, and led the Eagles efforts in building the program to a nationally ranked organization in just two seasons. 

During his two seasons with Ashland, Buchanan led the Eagles to a first place finish in the American Video Game League (AVGL) Collegiate Fortnite Tournament Series, and a first place finish in the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) Fortnite Spring Cup 2020. 

Buchanan also led the Eagles to a third place finish in Overwatch and fourth place finish in League of Legends in the Ohio Collegiate Esports Series. Ashland also finished in the top ten in the country in Counter Strike: Global Offensive under Buchanan’s leadership.

"I want to give a huge thank you to President Loyack, Dr. John McCloskey, Bill Stiles, the search committee, and the athletic department for welcoming me to Alvernia,” said Buchanan. “I’ve always made it my goal to provide unique experiences and opportunities for my students, and I’m excited to take this goal to the next level with the immense support of the Alvernia administration, students, and community.”

"Our team has a huge opportunity to serve the Alvernia and Reading community through our role in the Reading CollegeTowne initiative,” added Buchanan.

Alvernia’s Esports program will compete out of Alvernia’s Reading CollegeTowne at 401 Penn Street in Downtown Reading beginning in the Fall of 2021. Ground was broken on renovation to 401 Penn Street on January 12th of this year. In addition to housing esports, the lower levels of the building will include student gathering space, high-tech general-purpose classrooms, and cutting-edge labs for three new engineering programs. The upper levels of the building will be retrofitted for student housing, with initial designs to house 66 students, with build outs available to accommodate up to 200 students.

Alvernia will be the 12th school in the Middle Atlantic Conference to sponsor esports and will join most of the schools as a member of the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE).  All scheduling and competition will take place through NACE with one local, off-campus tournament each year.  The addition of esports allows Alvernia to play a national schedule against teams the university rarely otherwise competes against--including some larger Division I schools--without leaving campus.

Alvernia Esports will begin competing in the 2021-22 academic year. Buchanan will begin with Alvernia at the start of February. 

# GOLDEN WOLVES #