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Sports Information
Assistant AD for Media Relations
9TH YEAR AT NSU
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Jason Pugh took the reins of the Northwestern State sports information office in May, 2019 following the retirement of longtime assistant athletic director/sports information director Doug Ireland. In five-plus years at Northwestern State, Pugh has coordinated publicity for three baseball All-Americans -- pitcher Adam Oller (2016 Collegiate Baseball; American Baseball Coaches Association), David Fry (2018 Collegiate Baseball) and Logan Hofmann (2020 Collegiate Baseball). He spearheaded efforts to ensure all NSU baseball games are available via streaming audio beginning in the 2017 season, broadcasting select home and road games solo or serving as the color commentator on Demon Sports Network coverage. During his 12-year tenure at The Times, Pugh was the Northwestern State football and men’s basketball beat writer from 2010-2013 and covered the 2012-13 NSU team that captured the program’s third NCAA Tournament berth. While at The Times, Pugh covered the first three World Series that have took place in Texas, one College World Series, one NCAA Men’s Final Four and Super Bowl XLV. He has won first-place awards in Best Feature Story and Best Sports Story from the Louisiana Press Association and first place in Best Prep Feature from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. He also has captured numerous other awards for writing and design from the LSWA. While a student at Louisiana-Lafayette, Pugh was the sports editor of the campus newspaper, The Vermilion, for two years and was a part of the sports information office for three years. In 2000-01, Pugh was the primary media contact for the inaugural season of Lady Cajuns soccer and for the nationally ranked Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team, which made its lone College World Series appearance the previous year. He was the media relations contact for the 2001 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament in Lafayette. A 1997 graduate of Airline High School in Bossier City, Pugh was named the 2001 Louisiana-Lafayette Department of Communication Outstanding Graduate. He completed his master’s in sport management from the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at the University of Massachusetts in May 2015.
Assistant Sports Information Director
4TH YEAR AT NSU
After running the sports information show at Louisiana Christian Unviersity, Brad Welborn was promoted to assistant sports information director in June 2022. Welborn began his Northwestern State tenure in July 2019 and is the primary contact for NSU volleyball, women’s basketball and softball. At Louisiana Christian, Welborn was responsible for the publicity and statistics for the school’s 18 athletics programs. He used his technical skills to implement live video streams for all Louisiana College home sporting events as well as a social media presence for the Wildcats on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. That included graphics and schedule posters as part of the publicity package. Welborn has won three Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association feature writing awards and a radio sports story award from the Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press. He placed in the “best sports writer” category at the Southeast Journalism Conference. Welborn has radio experience as he hosted a two-hour morning program on KJVC 92.7 FM for more than six years and was a play-by-play announcer for various high school sports. He obtained an associates degree in telecommunications at Bossier Parish Community College in 2009 and a bachelors degree in convergence media and sports journalism at Louisiana Christian in 2019. Welborn also served as the media director at Southside Baptist Church for more than seven years, creating graphics and producing videos.
Jonathon ZENK
Assistant Director of Communication
1ST YEAR AT NSU
After a two-year stint at LSU-Alexandria, Jonathon Zenk returned to Northwestern State as its assistant director of communication in July. Zenk, who was a graduate assistant at in the NSU sports information department from 2018-20, spent the past two years as the sports information director at LSUA where he coordinated public relations and media coverage for all seven of the the school’s athletic programs. After his first year at Northwestern State, he was presented the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Ace Higgins Award, given to the state’s top student assistant sports information staffer. Zenk graduated in 2012 from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. There, he worked for the ‘Fourth Estate,’ the school paper throughout his time in school. At Green Bay, he covered men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and women’s volleyball. Following his time at Green Bay, he has written stories online for sites, such as Packers Talk, Twins Daily and Football Dialogue. A River Falls, Wisconsin, native, Zenk was a sports intern at the River Falls Journal in 2007, where he covered softball.
