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This feature is one of the many profiles we are doing to showcase our diverse CoSIDA membership during 2017 CoSIDA Membership Recognition Week. To see all the feature stories, please click HERE.
 

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Jason Southard: United States Coast Guard Academy
Director of Media Relations

by Rob Knox, Towson Associate Director of Media Relations/CoSIDA 1^st Vice President
 
United States Coast Guard Academy director of media relations and current ECAC-SIDA president Jason Southard has an interesting story on how he got started in athletic communications.
 
“First of all, I couldn’t play dead in a cowboy movie so I became the stat guy and wrote game stories for the local papers, so I guess I was the SID without even knowing what an SID was,” Southard said. “I was actually recruited out of Seymour (Conn.) High School. I told my high school guidance counselor, being smart, that I wanted to get paid to watch games and he said I have just the guy for you. He introduced me to CoSIDA Hall of Famer Rick Leddy, the SID at Southern Connecticut at the time. I went with my mom on a “recruiting visit” and the rest is history.”
 
Southard, who began his career as a student assistant at his alma mater Southern Connecticut, hasn’t stopped writing, working, learning, growing, laughing, mentoring, and making a difference in the lives of his student-athletes since. Southard will celebrate 25 years in the business this summer at the annual CoSIDA Convention in Washington, D.C. 
 
Southard recently saw one of his goals accomplished as president when the ECAC-SIDA board of directors agreed to sponsor three registration grants for one individual from each division (NCAA I, II and III) to attend the annual ECAC-SIDA workshop. One of his other ECAC-SIDA goals is to have more people get involved in the organization during the year and see new faces each and every year at the workshop.
 

“Being president of ECAC-SIDA is an honor,” Southard said. “I was asked by my peers to join the board a few years ago and be a part of this great organization which strives to help each and every one of us do our jobs better every day with new technology and by the sharing of best practices each year at the workshop. This current board and our upcoming workshop hosts have done a tremendous job. I’m looking forward to an outstanding workshop in Burlington (Vermong) in early June.”
 
Southard, who attended his first CoSIDA convention in 1996 in Boston, has been a monument of excellence and a fountain of inspiration during his distinguished career. He has spent the last 23 years at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
 
The diehard New York Yankee fan has made significant contributions to the field of sports information.
 
Passionate, personable and persistent, Southard is the longest tenured media relations professional in the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC).
 

“I owe it all to Rick Leddy, the former Southern Connecticut SID and current National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) senior director of communications,” Southard said. “He is the type of guy that would give you the shirt off his back and I can’t thank him enough. He brings me to the Final Four every year to assist him with media relations and other needs. It’s a week I look forward to every year, it’s like a family reunion each year with Rick and the outstanding staff at the NABC.”
 
Of course, Southard has witnessed how the profession has changed and technology has evolved during his career. When Southard started in the business, he used TRS-80 color computers and some phone couplers to file stories, do statistics, and more.
 
“We are being asked to do more and more each and every year with social media, graphics and video,” Southard said. “There is simply not enough time in the day to do all of this, so you have to do what works for you and remember what works best for you may not be what works best for another school. I feel the writing aspect of the job has taken a hit and the quality of writing is not what it used to be.”
 
While the job responsibilities have changed and the time demands have grown, Southard still makes it a point to spend time with his family. He loves watching his son Zach play high school basketball and baseball. Southard also helped coach his son’s baseball team. He can also be found in The Bow and Arrow Sports Bar, which is in the Mohegan Sun Casino.
 
Southard keeps things in perspective.
 
“Don’t miss your family or friends events when you don’t have a game,” Southard said. “If your child has an event in the middle of the day (school play, game) during the week and you don’t have a game, go. We all work long, long hours on other days miss enough family events.
 
“Enjoy what you can when you have the opportunity and don’t feel guilty about it. That work that you think you needs to get done will be there the next morning, I promise. Go home enjoy some family time, pick up your kid at the bus stop, throw the ball around the yard or just go home and have a meal with your family.”

Southard explains why he has spent over two decades at the Coast Guard Academy.
 
“It’s much more than winning and losing here at the Academy. It’s about developing leaders of character who will serve and protect this country,” Southard said. “These young men and women are the best of the best and being around them on a daily basis and getting to know them and promote them and their stories makes every day a great day. Seeing them take command of ships, become pilots, be part of record drug busts and have important roles in disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey is incredible.  However, it’s always nice to win a few games along the way especially against our rival Merchant Marine Academy!”