When Liza DeCaprio ‘25 walked the stage at commencement, she didn't have to worry about finding a job. In fact, she was already in her fifth month as the social media coordinator for the Houston Astros. DeCaprio currently oversees every post on platforms such as Instagram, X, Facebook, and TikTok. Even the Astros’ LinkedIn and YouTube accounts are under her control.
“I like to describe my job as our own team newspaper,” DeCaprio said. “We're the first news source that anyone goes to. If there's a trade, if there's any rumors, they're going to look at our socials.”
DeCaprio knew she wanted to work in baseball when she arrived at Rice as a freshman, and she said that the Sport Management courses helped give her a leg up when it came to applying for a job.
“I owe a lot to [the Sport Management Practicum] class because it taught me how to make a resume, make a cover letter, and interview. Those are skills that just aren't taught if you don't take the course,” DeCaprio said. “There's not a class called ‘How to apply for a job,’ but that class taught us how to do everything.”
Armed with real-world skills, DeCaprio went to Boston at the end of her freshman year to work at the Red Sox team store.
“Even though it was a retail job, I told myself, 'I'm going to be the best retail employee they had,'" she said.
That summer, DeCaprio did a lot of networking—and watched a lot of free baseball. She compared Major League Baseball to her experience at the collegiate level.
“I thought, ‘College baseball is so fun! How do we get more fans to go?’” DeCaprio said. “I looked into Rice Athletics' social media, and I realized that because the marketing team is so small, they're stretched so thin to cover 14 sports.”
When she realized there was not a dedicated person running the Rice Baseball social media accounts, DeCaprio got to work on a PowerPoint presentation to make her case to be that person. DeCaprio was successful, with buy-in from former baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr., and she began posting on the team's socials. She helped create the voice of the team and even traveled with them.
“We made sure that she was exclusively working with the baseball team and building up their social media and their followers by having a constant stream of content that people could go to,” said Tom Stallings, Professor in the Practice of Sport Management. “She got very good at that—so good, in fact, that she was able to land an opportunity with the PGA.”
The summer after her sophomore year, DeCaprio was a Player Engagement Intern with the PGA of America. She lived in Frisco, Texas, helping with National High School Golf Association tournaments and working with tournament data.
“Golf has always been a big part of my family,” DeCaprio said. “We always watch all the golf majors. So I said, ‘Why don't I apply to the PGA?’ I ended up getting it, and I absolutely loved working there.”
Returning to Rice for her junior year, DeCaprio continued assisting the PGA of America (remotely) and expanded her Rice Baseball social media content creation. She met Jason Wooden, the Vice President of Marketing for the Astros, at a Rice baseball game during her second semester. He saw her work in action and thought she would be a good apprentice. A month later, Ryan Freidin '24, Rice Sport Management alum and Astros Content Producer, told DeCaprio that they were posting a role for an Astros Social Media Apprentice and that she should apply.
“I thought, ‘Okay, sure, but I'm not gonna get it,’” DeCaprio said. “I applied for it, and then I got the call back the next day.”
Working for the Astros was a full-circle moment for DeCaprio. She had written a career analysis paper during her freshman year about working in marketing for the Astros, and she had done an informational interview with the Astros’ Executive Vice President in Marketing and Communications, Anita Sehgal, that same year.
“When I got hired, she said, ‘I remember our interview,’” DeCaprio said. “I was like, ‘Really? That was four years ago!'”
DeCaprio worked as an apprentice for eight months before being hired on full-time this past January. She had a unique schedule her senior spring semester, but the Sport Management Department made sure she was able to work full-time and graduate on time, just as they have done with students in similar situations in the past.
“You know, she was so competent, she was the obvious hire,” Stallings said. “And why wait until she graduates to figure out a way to make it happen? So we were able to work with the Astros and allow her to do both."
At the end of the year, DeCaprio was awarded the 2025 Lindsay Roemmich Sport Management Achievement Award, the Department's highest honor.
"She's been a great example of someone who's taken advantage of the opportunities where they were and grown in each opportunity," Stallings said. "And then she was able to turn it into a full-time job in exactly the field she wanted.”
Kathleen Ortiz, a rising senior from Kingwood, Texas, is studying Social Policy Analysis and Sport Management with a concentration in Sport Law.