Southern Miss hires new Esports coordinator

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - From the middle of a pandemic to a celebrated national title, the University of Southern Mississippi’s Esports program has been on the rise since its inception.

Its new coordinator wants to keep expanding the electronic sports footprint in Hattiesburg.

“My main focus coming here is a focus on a path to an industry approach to Esports,” USM Esports coordinator David Dickert said. “So, it’s showing the university, showing students, showing professionals that Esports can tie into so many different things.”

Although competition is one aspect of Esports, few programs focus on the process of helping students become successful after graduation. Dickert said.

“Right now, there’s a lot of conversations going around the county about what Esports means to university students, what it means to high school students looking to compete at a university level, and a lot of programs focus on competition,” Dickert said. “But Esports can fill gaps.

“Behind you right now is an entire production set up that we purchased specifically to help students who might not be interested in competing, but are interested in the production side of things.”

Anyone wanting to join USM’s Esports team can stop by and talk to Dickert at The Thad Cochran Center.

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