Northwestern State Softball
Brad WELBORN
Jason PUGH Assistant AD for Media Relations
Assistant Communication Director
5 T H YE A R AT N S U
1 S T YE A R AT N S U
Jason Pugh took the reins of the Northwestern State sports information office in May, following the retirement of longtime assistant athletic director/sports information director Doug Ireland. In four-plus years at Northwestern State, Pugh has coordinated publicity for two baseball All-Americans -- pitcher Adam Oller (2016 Collegiate Baseball; American Baseball Coaches Association) and David Fry (2018 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 had the opportunity to cover 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.
Matt VINES Assistant Sports Information Director 5 T H YE A R AT N S U Former sports journalist Matt Vines stepped into the assistant sports information director role this summer after serving three years as the assistant director of communication at Northwestern State. Vines will cover and promote men’s basketball and softball, assist on football and soccer and oversee graduate assistants on a variety of other sports. Vines, a former sports writer at The Jackson (Tennessee) Sun, The (Monroe) News-Star and The (Shreveport) Times, began his sports information career as a graduate assistant in 2015 before joining the university as its assistant director of communications. Since becoming an SID, he’s won a first-place feature writing award from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. In his print journalism career, Vines won two first-place feature awards and one third-place feature awards from the Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors. He also won various other quarterly awards from his employer Gannett. He covered high school, college and a handful of professional sporting events in his 10 years in newspapers.
After running the sports information show at Louisiana College, Brad Welborn is beginning his first year as the assistant director of communication Welborn began his Northwestern State tenure in July and will be covering volleyball, women’s basketball and track and field assisting in other duties. At Louisiana College, 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 two 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 College in 2019. Welborn also served as the media director at Southside Baptist Church for more than seven years, creating graphics and producing videos.
Football Press B ox named after Doug Ireland Longtime Northwestern State scribe Doug Ireland spent countless fall nights on the Turpin Stadium press level, feverishly recounting the latest Demon football contests. Now, that press area high above the Turpin turf will bear his name. Starting in the 2019 football season, media will compose their own NSU football articles on the Doug Ireland Media Level of Turpin Stadium after the Louisiana Board of Supervisors approved the measure in their June meeting. “Doug is truly deserving of this special recognition,” said Jerry Pierce, vice president for external affairs. “He has promoted Northwestern’s sports programs effectively for three decades through extensive media initiatives, and it is appropriate for the name of the media area of the stadium press box to reflect his immeasurable contributions to the university.” NSU director of athletics Greg Burke, who has been a part of the Demon athletics department for most of Ireland’s 30 years as sports information director, said honoring Ireland in a visible way is an easy decision. “It is appropriate and fitting for Doug to be honored in this enduring manner as an illustration of the lasting mark he leaves on the NSU athletic program after so many years of service and dedication,” Burke said. A 1986 broadcast journalism graduate from Northwestern State, Ireland returned to his alma mater in January 1989 and began a three-decade career promoting NSU’s 14 intercollegiate teams. Armed with nearly a decade’s worth of experience in newspapers and as an assistant sports information director at UL Lafayette, Ireland quickly put his stamp on NSU athletics. His 1992 football media guide earned “Best in the Nation” honors in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) ranks from the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America. The award-winning sports information director took home 33 Louisiana Sports Writers Associations honors just since 2000, including the 2017 LSWA Story of the Year.
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