For OU ECCI competitive manager Josh “Thumper” Riesenberg, his journey through university and OU Esports has been, and will continue to be, a winding journey of exploration.
Riesenberg’s roots in gaming go all the way back to when he was nine. From a young age, he competed in titles from Call of Duty to Rainbow Six: Siege. He even gained semi-pro status in competitive esports before he retired early in his college career.
“But a friend of mine on the Overwatch team asked, ‘Hey, can you just help us with this one thing?’” Riesenberg said. “I didn’t really have any experience. I was experienced in teaching but not coaching. So I decided to try that and really loved it. So I just kept working through and got better coaching.”
Eventually, Mike Aguilar, current director of OU ECCI, saw Riesenberg’s potential in administration and encouraged him to be the first to coordinate and lead all the OU Esports competitive teams. But Riesenberg continued to stretch his limits from there and was a pivotal part of the department’s newly formed research committee.
“Every time I’ve moved, it’s into a position that previously did not exist,” Riesenberg described. “So it’s not like someone had done this job and they graduated or said they weren’t doing more and Mike needed a fill, and I was the best candidate. There wasn’t an actual head coach of the Overwatch team before me.”
For Riesenberg, being in his roles throughout OU ECCI has given him experiences that are rare in college, and he has been able to develop skills that even those in the workforce struggle with.
“The moment anything comes out of your mouth, it’s no longer what you said anymore, it’s what your audience hears,” Riesenberg explained.”So it’s about understanding communication goes both ways and goes up and down the hierarchy. You normally take six months to two years in a company before you’re like, ‘Okay, this is who I talked to for this this is who I talk to for that’.”
Though Riesenberg has completed his MBA with a certificate in entrepreneurship, this is not the end of his academic journey. He has applied for a PhD in strategic communication through the OU Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and he expects to start in the fall of 2025.
His time with OU ECCI has prepared him for the challenges that come with the curriculum planning and research that he will complete as a part of his PhD program.
“I have to ensure that everything I’m doing is applicable,” Rosenberg described. “One of the things that makes OU Esports different is that we’re preparing the students for engagement and employment, even if it’s not within the gaming or esports industry. Doing research and teaching the classes that I’m going to design and teach, they can’t just be this nebulous thing up in the cloud that no one other than another PhD will ever read or understand. This has to be down to the common student.”
Though looking forward to his PhD and continuing to work with OU ECCI, Riesenberg is also taking the moment to look back on what the department has meant to him.
“It’s everything,” Riesenberg said. “The ability to stay connected with the community, I much more identify with, as well as being able to help kids find their way a little bit. You know they’re not completely on their own. And then they build their own communities. It’s a totally different culture.”
