Updated June 2024
• 2023 Southwestern Athletic Conference SID of the Year (story)
• Tallahassee Democrat article on Josh (story)
• Padilla spearheaded the 2023 website redesign (story)
• Padilla created Rattlers digital streaming service Rattlers+ (story)
• 2023, 2024 Stats Perform FCS Top 25 voter
• 2023, 2024 Walter Payton, Buck Buchanan, Jerry Rice, Eddie Robinson Awards voter
Josh Padilla became the director of athletic communications & digital strategies at Florida A&M University in July 2021 and was elevated to associate athletic director for communications & digital strategies in July 2023.
A native of Tampa, Florida, Padilla came to Florida A&M after two years at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) as the coordinator of social media.
After three seasons at Florida A&M, Padilla has led the Rattlers’ communications and digital media department to new measures. Padilla has led the charge to successfully nominate 190 SWAC Player of the Week, 125 All-SWAC (First and Second Team) honorees, 20 individual SWAC awards, and campaigned for Isaiah Land to win the 2021 Buck Buchanan Award (FCS National Defensive Player of the Year), being the first Rattler to win the coveted award. Padilla continuously provided information on the Rattlers’ football program to the poll voters and playoff committee as the Rattlers earned three straight top-25 appearances and an at-large playoff bid for the first time in over 20 seasons in 2021.
From a digital standpoint, Padilla has grown FAMU Athletics tremendously. The FAMU Athletics Instagram page has over 27 million video views on its official page, not including the total views of videos that went viral on other pages, such as ESPN, Sportscenter, and more. The Instagram page also ranked 36th in total interactions and 31st in followers gained among all NCAA Division I athletic pages. The athletics Facebook page Nearly doubled the number of followers and increased the reach by 750% from the two years before. Padilla also grew the FAMU Football X page from 8,000 followers to over 50,000, generating over 20 million impressions during the 2023 football season.
Padilla also led the charge in redesigning famuathletics.com, launching their digital streaming platform Rattlers+, and introducing the department's first mobile app. In three seasons (July 2021 - June 2024), famuathletics.com had 5 million sessions from 2.1 million users, increasing by more than 194% from the previous seasons (July 2018 - June 2021).
While at MTSU, Padilla oversaw the social media accounts for the main athletics and football pages and assisted in photography, website design, and more. When he took over the social media accounts, the athletics Instagram saw the 2nd largest growth in Conference USA. Football Instagram saw the largest increase in Conference USA, gaining over 15,000 followers, more than the total number of followers for seven other Conference USA schools.
Before arriving at MTSU, Padilla served as Florida International University’s men’s basketball assistant director of basketball operations. During his time at FIU, he assisted in the daily operations of the basketball program as he helped oversee an operating budget of $400,000, managed equipment inventory, assisted in team travel, assisted in volunteer coordination, organized team activities, and worked with departments within athletics.
Also, he served as an academic liaison for the student-athletes working with the Student-Athlete Academic Center and helped improve the program’s APR from 933 to the program’s best 978, 980, 980, and 981 from 2014-2018.
Padilla earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation and sport management from Florida International University in 2015.
List of Nominated SWAC Individual Award Winners
2021-22
- Isaiah Land, Football, Defensive Player of the Year
- Dominique Washington, Volleyball, Player of the Year
- Dominique Washington, Volleyball, Newcomer of the Year
- Jessa Long, Volleyball, Libero of the Year
- Irem Ucar, Volleyball, Setter of the Year
- MJ Randolph, Men’s Basketball, Player of the Year
2022-23
- Dominique Washington, Volleyball, Player of the Year
- Irem Ucar, Volleyball, Setter of the Year
- Brooke Hudson, Volleyball, Libero of the Year
- Brooke Lynn Watts, Volleyball, Newcomer of the Year
- Sara Rakim, Tennis, Player of the Year
- Genesis Whitelock, Tennis, Freshman of the Year
2023-24
- Jeremy Moussa, Football, Offensive Player of the Year
- Isaiah Major, Football, Defensive Player of the Year
- Brooke Hudson, Volleyball, Libero of the Year
- Ahriahna Grizzle, Women's Basketball, Player of the Year
- Zoryana Hughes, Softball, Pitcher of the Year
- Zoryana Hughes, Softball, Co-Freshman of the Year
- Samantha Smith, Softball, Newcomer of the Year
- Caleb Granger, Baseball, Pitcher of the Year
