Phil Hess joined the Stony Brook athletics staff in August of 2007 as the Director of Athletic Communications. Hess oversees three full-time assistants in the Athletic Communications office and serves as the media contact for football, men's and women's tennis and men's lacrosse.

Hess comes to SBU after five years as the Sports Information Director at Oakland University. In his time there he ran the Sports Information Office in addition to serving as the media contact for men's basketball, volleyball, men's and women's tennis, golf and softball. He also was the media coordinator for the first round of the 2007 NCAA men's basketball tournament and was a media liaison for the 2004 Ryder Cup.

Before his time at Oakland he served as the Director of Athletic Media Relations at East Tennessee State University where he was the media contact for football, men's basketball and baseball. Prior to his position at ETSU he served as the Associate SID at William & Mary where he was the contact for five sports including men's basketball. During his time at W&M he also was the media assistant at the 2000 NCAA Volleyball Final Four, 2001 NCAA Women's Basketball East Regional and the 2001 PGA Michelob Open.

Prior to his position at William & Mary he served as the men's basketball contact at West Virginia where he was also the media director for the NCAA Region VI gymnastics meet. Before his time at WVU, Hess was the Assistant SID at Utah State for two years after starting his sports information career at VMI where he was an Assistant SID as well as a press assistant at the 1995 NCAA Men's Soccer Final Four.

Hess graduated from the University of Michigan in 1982 after which he was an aerospace engineer at NASA for nine years where he was a member of the team that returned Shuttle Fleet to flight status. He also received his Master's degree in Sports Management from the University of Richmond in 1993.