Forrest Gmitro - Assistant Athletics Director of VFL Films - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Forrest Gmitro

Title:
Assistant Athletics Director of VFL Films
Email:

Updated: March 2023

Forrest Gmitro (pronounced: juh-MEE-troh) joined the Tennessee Athletics staff in February 2023 and serves as Assistant Athletics Director of VFL Films. He maintains oversight and provides direction to Tennessee’s talented and nationally respected creative video department, VFL Films.

A Chicago native, Gmitro brought with him to Rocky Top diverse creative and leadership experience spanning the Pac 12, SEC and NBA.

Immediately prior to his hiring at Tennessee, Gmitro spent close to two years in a multi-faceted creative role with the athletics department at the University of Utah, where he rose to the position of assistant athletics director for digital & creative media. In that role, he was responsible for devising, implementing and managing the strategy, vision and direction of the Utes’ digital and creative media unit, comprising of the areas of creative video, photography, social media, graphic design and brand management for Utah’s 20-sport athletics program.

As a member of Utah’s senior leadership team, he furthered the overall vision and goals of Utah Athletics by shaping digital strategy, to include the development and innovation of storytelling, brand-growth and fan-engagement content for distribution across the department’s social and digital channels. While managing a sizable full-time staff, he regularly collaborated with key partners and campus departments, including Utes Sports Properties and the department’s official apparel provider, to explore additional revenue-generating opportunities and innovative strategies.

Gmitro spent six years on staff with the University of Florida Athletic Association from 2015-21, ascending from marketing coordinator to social media and digital content coordinator in 2018. In addition to conceptualizing and producing content for the Gators’ men’s basketball and volleyball social platforms, he also was responsible for creative video production, photography, motion graphics, GIFs, advertisements, in-venue messaging and recruiting materials.

He launched Florida Athletics’ presence on TikTok and also worked to enhance the department’s data asset management, archiving and file sharing practices.

His postgraduate career in athletics began with a one-year stint as a marketing coordinator with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns during which he oversaw all the of organization’s grassroots marketing efforts.

Gmitro earned his degree is Journalism from the University of Arizona in 2014. During his time in Tucson, he flexed his creative muscle as UA’s mascot, Wilbur the Wildcat.

He and his fiancée, Taylor, will be married in June of 2023. The couple has a cat, Boo.