University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Athletic Director for Communication (VB, WSOC, No. 2 FB, MBB, WR)
- Email:
- joel.wauters@uni.edu
- Phone:
- (319) 273-3642
Since his return to Cedar Falls, Wauters has provided sports information services for multiple championship seasons for the Panthers, including the men's basketball team's 2022 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular season title and NIT appearance, Northern Iowa's 2026 Arch Madness title run and NCAA Tournament berth, as well the Panther volleyball's four straight MVC regular season and tournament titles and subsequent NCAA Tournament appearances. Additionally, he has covered three NCAA Men's Wrestling Championships, including the final three years of Parker Keckeisen's historic career, headlined by a 2024 national title.
Prior to returning to UNI, Wauters served as the Sports Information Director at NAIA Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, where he oversaw media relations and statistics for the university's eight varsity teams. He served as director of game operations, staffing games and setting up venues for home events, while also managing a staff of student employees.
Wauters also worked as the Director of Media Relations for the Cedar Valley CourtKings, a semi-pro men's basketball team in the Midwest Basketball League based in Waterloo, Iowa from late 2017 through the 2019 season, where he oversaw all media operations for the organization that included pregame and postgame stories, website management, graphic design, and in-game promotions. Additionally, he also served as the team's interim play-by-play radio broadcaster during the 2018 season.
From December 2018 until August 2019, Wauters was an in-studio producer and co-host for "On Press Row" with Gary Rima, the former radio voice of UNI Panther football and men's basketball. The weekday sports talk radio show aired on News Talk 1540 in Waterloo and focused on sports in Iowa.
Wauters graduated from UNI in December 2018 with a bachelor's degree in digital media: journalism. While at UNI, Wauters was the sports editor of UNI's bi-weekly student newspaper "The Northern Iowan," where he covered a variety of sporting events, including the 2018 MVC Swimming and Diving Championships and the U.S. Bank Stadium Basketball Classic.
A native of Elberon, Iowa, Joel currently resides in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
