Heath Nielsen is in his eighth year in the Baylor athletic department. In 2006 Nielsen was promoted to assistant athletics director for media relations after serving six years as Baylor's director of athletic media relations.

In addition to serving as the media contact for men's basketball and assisting with football, Nielsen is responsible for supervising the day-to-day operation of Baylor's media relations office and staff. He served as Baylor's interim assistant AD for media relations from August to October 2003.

Nielsen came to Baylor in 2000 from New Mexico State, where he spent two years as assistant AD for media relations. At NMSU, Nielsen was responsible for the media relations operation for a 15-sport Division I athletic program.

Prior to New Mexico State, Nielsen spent four and a half years as assistant director of athletic media relations at Mississippi State. At MSU, Nielsen's duties involved serving as the main media contact for the football, baseball and soccer programs. Nielsen is a 1994 graduate of Utah State with a B.A. degree in journalism and a minor in Spanish. He spent three years as a student assistant in USU's sports information office.

A native of Tucson, Ariz., Nielsen has worked 25 NCAA championship events and in 2002 was publicist for the Big 12 Men's Basketball All-Star Tour of Scandinavia. He has received numerous awards for his publications, including his 1996 MSU baseball media guide that was judged "Best in the Nation." He is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the Football Writers Association of America, and the United States Basketball Writers Association.

Nielsen is married to the former Deena Thurston of Logan, Utah. They are the parents of three sons, H, Kye and Sayer.