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SID/Media Outlets
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Jason Pugh took the reins ofthe 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 selecthome and road games solo orserving as the colorcommentatoron 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 NCAATournament berth. WhileatTheTimes, Pugh had theopportunityto coverthefirstthreeWorld Seriesthathave took place in Texas, one CollegeWorld 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 SportsWriters Association. He also has captured numerous otherawards forwriting and design from the LSWA. While a studentatLouisiana-Lafayette, Pugh was the sports editorofthe campus newspaper, The Vermilion, for two years and was a part ofthe sports information office for three years. In 2000-01, Pugh was the primary media contact for the inaugural season ofLady 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 ofAirline High School in Bossier City, Pugh was named the 2001 Louisiana-Lafayette Department ofCommunication Outstanding Graduate. He completed his master’s in sport management from the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at the University ofMassachusetts in May 2015. Mat t VINES Assist a n t Sp or t s I n f orm a t ion D ire ct or
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Former sports journalist Matt Vines stepped into the assistant sports information director role this summer after serving three years as the assistant director ofcommunication 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 ofothersports. Vines, a former sports writer atThe 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 directorofcommunications. Since becoming an SID, he’s won a first-place feature writing award from the Louisiana SportsWriters Association. In his printjournalism career,Vines won two first-place feature awards and one third-place feature awards from theTennessee 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.
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After running the sports information show at Louisiana College, Brad Welborn is beginning his first yearas the assistant directorofcommunication Welborn began his Northwestern State tenure in July and will be covering volleyball, women’s basketball and trackand field assisting in otherduties. At Louisiana College, Welborn was responsible for the publicity and statistics for the school’s 18 athletics programs. He used his technical skills to implementlive video streams forall 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 ofthe 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-hourmorning program on KJVC92.7 FM formore than six years and was a play-by-play announcerforvarious high school sports. He obtained an associates degree in telecommunications at Bossier Parish Community Collegein 2009and a bachelorsdegreein convergencemedia and sportsjournalism atLouisiana College in 2019. Welborn also served as the media director at Southside Baptist Church for more than seven years, creating graphics and producing videos.
Foot b a ll P re ss B ox n a m e d a f t e r Dou g I re la n d
Longtime Northwestern State scribe Doug Ireland spent countless fall nights on theTurpin Stadium press level, feverishly recounting the latest Demon football contests. Now, that press area high above theTurpin turfwill bearhis name. Starting in the2019football season,media will composetheirown NSU football articleson theDoug Ireland Media Level ofTurpin Stadium aftertheLouisiana Board ofSupervisorsapproved the measure in theirJune 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 ofthe media area ofthe stadium press box to reflect his immeasurable contributions to the university.” NSU director ofathletics Greg Burke, who has been a part ofthe Demon athletics department for most ofIreland’s 30 years as sports information director, said honoring Ireland in a visible way is an easy decision. “Itis appropriate and fitting forDoug to be honored in this enduring manneras an illustration ofthe lasting markhe leaves on the NSU athleticprogram afterso many years ofservice and dedication,”Burke said. A 1986 broadcast journalism graduate from Northwestern State, Ireland returned to his alma materin January1989 and began a three-decade careerpromoting NSU’s 14intercollegiate teams.
Armed with nearlya decade’sworth ofexperience in newspapersand asan assistantsports 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 ofAmerica. The award-winning sports information director took home 33 Louisiana SportsWriters Associations honors just since 2000, including the 2017 LSWA Story oftheYear.
