(Rio Grande) – The University of Rio Grande has announced the hiring of Mackenzie Halley as its Director of eSports. Halley, who resides in Rio Grande, started his collegiate career at Rio before going on to become a 2014 graduate of Ohio University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management.
Halley has owned his own business venture, Final Boss Con LLC, since February 2022. Final Boss Con is a convention – staged inside the Lyne Center on the Rio campus – for gaming enthusiasts and casual gamers, wrestling, anime, cosplay, horror and tabletop games with a goal of bringing the “nerdy” community of Southeast Ohio and beyond together with vendors, creators, artists, etc.
“I’m very excited. It’s nice to be coming back to a place where it seems like I’ve always been involved in things going on and where a lot of people already know me,” Halley said. “It felt comfortable…very quickly.”
Halley, who has also has worked as a Property Manager for LandBaron Properties since May 2015, as well as serving as an Administrative Assistant with Gallia County Local Schools since October 2016, inherits a program which fields teams in games such as Overwatch, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Brothers, Rocket League and League of Legends.
In April, the RedStorm’s League of Legends team captured the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship and its Overwatch 2 squad finished as the ECAC runner-up. Rio Grande is also affiliated with the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC).
“We’re thrilled to welcome Mackenzie as our new head coach to the program,” said Rio Grande athletic director Jeff Lanham. “His vision for collegiate eSports align perfectly with our goals for excellence and innovation. We believe that coach Halley will not only enhance our competitive edge, but will also contribute significantly to the personal and academic growth of our student-athletes.”
Halley becomes the program’s fourth director in as many years of its existence, replacing Bobby Vedda, who departed after the conclusion of the 2023-24 school year. He added that he’s looking forward to providing some stability to the program and building upon what’s already in place. He’s confident that he knows exactly how to go about doing just that.
“I thought that, if ever there was an opportunity, I wanted to pursue based on what I’ve learned and done. I felt like I had the ability to add on to what’s already been established,” he said. “I know the games and look forward to the coaching part, but I’m really attracted to the background side of the position – going out and finding kids to come here and be a part of the program.”
Halley said his Final Boss Con venture – the fourth version of which is already scheduled for May 17 and 18, 2025 – could immediately provide a benefit the Rio program. “We’ve had vendors and fans that I’ve met and become friends with who’ve come from as far as Cleveland just for that show. They learned about Rio’s eSports program because they came and set up a booth here,” he said. “It’s those kind of things that allow us to reach a large portion of the young community and if that leads to them wanting to be a part of the eSports team – or to just come to Rio in general – that’s great.”
Article submitted by Randy Payton, Sports Information Director for University of Rio Grande
