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Jason Southard (U.S. Coast Guard Academy) – 25-Year Award
by Jamie Baldwin, Michigan State Director of Athletic Communications/Special Awards Committee member
Southard at a Coast Guard baseball game with current head coach CC Grant
and former head coach Pete Barry.
Wherever he goes,
Jason Southard is a presence.
Maybe it’s his 6' - 9" frame (no, he didn’t play basketball). Maybe it’s his personality, his booming voice, his unofficial capacity as the “official wingspan measurement” to sell raffle tickets at the ECAC-SIDA charity raffle.
Whatever it is, he stands out in a crowd.
He also stands out professionally. He will be recognized at the upcoming College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) annual convention in June, acknowledging his more than 25 years in the profession where he has dedicated his professional career to promoting the academic and athletic pursuits of student-athletes.
Now in his 23rd year as the Director of Athletic Media Relations at the Coast Guard Academy, Southard is a cornerstone of the Coast Guard Department of Athletics. He also is the longest tenured media relations professional in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) and is serving as the President of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA) this academic year.
On campus, Southard oversees the day-to-day publicity of the Bears 25 intercollegiate sports, maintains the department's website, coordinates all the audio and video broadcasting of Bears athletic events over the internet as well as the football teams’ local radio broadcasting package.
This past April 29, Southard was recognized by The Southeastern Connecticut Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame with the Bill Cawley Media Award for his work with and service to the local media.
“On behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, it is my very distinct pleasure to recognize and commend my colleague Jason Southard for his sincere and dedicated service to college athletics by virtue of his outstanding talents in the sports information field,” said Academy Director of Athletics Timothy Fitzpatrick. “Certainly over time, Coast Guard’s Cadet-athletes and coaches have benefitted from his considerable talent and expertise, but of equal importance is the care and compassion he has shown in mentoring and developing the talent and ambition of countless young sports information professionals. He is a true example of servant leadership that others would be wise to model.”
It’s not just the love of sports that keeps Southard at his longtime post. It’s the opportunity to share the stories of the cadets at the Coast Guard Academy.
“The Coast Guard Academy is a special place where I get to work with outstanding coaches, staff and cadet-athletes on a daily basis,” said Southard. “These young men and women are the best of the best and they amaze me the way they balance their academics and athletics on top of their military obligations. It's great to see them grow from swabs (incoming freshmen) into leaders of character and officers in the United States Coast Guard.”
His career began as sports information director at Albertus Magnus College in 1993 where he worked for one year before being named the assistant sports information director at his alma mater, Southern Connecticut State University in 1994. He then came to the Academy in the summer of 1995.
Southard, a native of Seymour, Connecticut, holds a bachelor's degree in communications from Southern Connecticut State University, where he worked in the sports information office for four years.
“The only assistant I ever really recruited in my 36 years at Southern Connecticut, ‘Sully’ worked with me for four years as an undergraduate with some additional post-graduate time,” notes Rick Leddy, himself a CoSIDA Hall of Fame honoree who retired from Southern Connecticut in 2007 and currently works for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
“He has all of the tools and attributes needed for our profession and anyone who knows him will easily recognize that his strongest attribute is that he has a wonderful way with people.” Leddy concluded. “Whether the task at hand is helping a new "swab" at the Coast Guard Academy or the most notable Division I men's basketball head coaches at the NCAA Final Four, Jason has a way to put everyone at ease. I feel very fortunate to have been able to watch him grow as a student, as an outstanding professional and will always consider him part of my extended family.”
The admiration between Leddy and his protégé is mutual.
"Who knew that a recruiting visit with my mom to meet Rick Leddy in 1989 would have led me down this career path?,” notes Southard. “He has been an outstanding mentor and a great friend for almost 30 years now and I owe him a lot for introducing me to this outstanding field of sports information."
Southard has worked numerous NCAA championship events – several of them being NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Regionals and three NCAA Division I Women's Final Fours. He has been a part of 10 NCAA Division I Men's Final Fours as a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) convention staff, handling public relations for events throughout the week such as the Reese's College All-Star Game and the Allstate/NABC Good Works Team Special Olympics Clinic.
A fixture at several Connecticut sporting events, Jason is in his 16th season as a member of the gameday media relations staff for the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA, with the team since they moved the franchise to Mohegan Sun. He also had the opportunity to work the 2008 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.
Southard is also a statistician for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) boys and girls basketball championships, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff tournament each year at the Mohegan Sun Arena and the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. He recently received the Bill Cawley Media Award from The Southeastern Connecticut Champers of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame presented to the Media Person of the Year in the region.
His love of sports is certainly shared in his household. His wife, Kate, was a longtime volunteer on football game days at the Academy, and his 16-year old son, Zach, is a two-sport high school athlete. Zach plays both basketball and baseball in high school, and shares his father’s love of the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees.