College Sports Information Directors of America

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Greg Seitz – Jacksonville State University, Athletic Director

CoSIDA 25-Year Award

by Shelly Poe – Auburn University, Assistant AD/Communications/Chair, CoSIDA Advocacy Committee and former CoSIDA President

Adjustments during the 2020 pandemic response have made folks around the world familiar with the phrase “zoom meetings,” but Greg Seitz has always been the champion of a zoom lifestyle.

“Greg has been an SID, interim athletic director three times, a full time AD, member of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four and SEC Basketball Tournament Media Coordination Committees, heads up the Alabama Sports Writers Association, chairman of the Zoom Club, and is a bona fide New York Yankees fan.  Don’t know where he finds the time,” said Georgia Hall of Famer Claude Felton, also a CoSIDA Hall of Famer. “But a wizard can be defined as one who is skilled in magic.  I can only assume Greg’s picture is next to the word ‘wizard’ in the dictionary.”

Now athletics director at Jacksonville State University, Seitz, who is receiving his 25-Year Award from CoSIDA this spring, has made collaboration and connection a hallmark of his career, first as sports information director at JSU and now in his administrative role - all while following a passion for communication and helping people that started in his hometown of Waynesboro, Tenn., and at his alma mater, the University of North Alabama.

“When I was in college working for (CoSIDA) Hall of Famer Jeff Hodges in the sports information office at North Alabama, I got an idea of how much I loved this work and how it could impact others,” Seitz recalls. “I was doing some similar things in high school and actually my college recruiter from UNA, Larry Thompson, who was also the tennis coach there, said I could do this type of work in college, which really was appealing to me.
 

“At first, I was a business major, but after working in the sports information office, I switched to journalism. From the start, it was a lot of fun. Our teams were really good at UNA – men’s basketball won the national championship —and UNA always hosted the D2 national championship football game. That gave us a number of opportunities to learn and to contribute.”

“I first met Greg in 1988 when he was a student at Wayne County (Tenn.) High School and the next year he came to work for us at North Alabama as a student worker in the sports information office - making a whopping $3.35 an hour,” UNA’s Hodges recalls. “He was immediately one of the most energetic and innovative people I had ever met or worked with and he is still that same person today, 30-plus years later. He would do anything you asked him to, things you didn't ask him to do and come up with ways to improve the things that the rest of us were doing.

“Every other SID in our league knew Greg and was impressed from watching his work as a student so he went directly from his last day at UNA to his first day at Jacksonville State.”

After graduation, Seitz joined the athletic staff at Jacksonville State as assistant SID, and then was promoted to sports information director in 1999. He later added the titles of associate athletics director and senior associate athletics director, as well as serving as interim athletics director three times.

“I never had any driving aspiration of becoming an athletics director – sports information and media relations are my passion and always have been – but I was interim AD three times here at JSU, the last time for 18 months while we underwent a presidential change, and then I was named the permanent AD in 2016,” Seitz noted.

“For me in the athletics director role, it was a great opportunity in coming up through the ranks from the sports information side. It allowed me to develop critical thinking, problem solving, working on deadlines – all huge assets to what I do today. Over the years, I also took charge of promotions and selling tickets, so I gained some understanding for that, and Oval Jaynes gave me more administrative responsibilities for sports, which was also an education.”

During his tenure as athletics director, Seitz has already put his signature on a number of prominent projects and challenges met.

“Seitz has led the Gamecocks during unprecedented times, with a tornado that ripped apart the campus and now the COVID-19 pandemic,” former Auburn basketball SID Chuck Gallina, now campus director of public relations at the University of Memphis, explained. “His direction helped build a jewel of baseball stadium in the $7.5 million Jim Case Stadium, the renovation of Pete Mathews Coliseum and was heavily involved in the design of the $47 million stadium expansion of Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium. He’s another great example of someone coming from small-town America to becoming a great leader, and I consider him a great friend.”

Florida State basketball SID Chuck Walsh, Deputy Director of Sports Information for the Seminoles, agrees.

“I met Greg at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Regional in Nashville in 2012. He was the Florida State locker room steward that year; I couldn’t have asked for a more professional person to help me navigate the responsibilities of the championship. Greg and I have become really good friends and he’s a person I know I can go to for answers to professional questions or when I just need a friendly voice to talk to. 

“The thing that makes Greg such a great friend and an incredible resource is that that even now as the director of athletics at Jacksonville State, he never tries to one-up you or feel the need to make it known that he is an AD at the Division I level,” Walsh stated. “Greg is the guy you can have a meal with and he’s the same person sitting across from you at the lunch table that he is when he is sitting in the selection room as a member of the FCS Football Committee.”

That camaraderie across all levels is a Greg Seitz trademark.

“Greg is a friend to everyone. He has built so many relationships with people at all levels and types of sports throughout the country,” Craig Pinkerton of the SEC communications staff said. “He truly is the Will Rogers of college athletics.”

Like Rogers, Seitz has never met anyone in athletics that he doesn’t like, and he’s willing to assist in any way possible.

Currently the chair of the FCS football committee and a member of the NCAA Football Oversight Committee, Seitz just concluded a term on the NCAA championships financial working group. A member of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Division I Final Four media coordination team for the past 12 years, he has served as an NCAA site representative for the baseball regionals and super regionals, and worked at the College World Series. The first SID to be elected president of the Alabama Sports Writers Association, he has hosted numerous Alabama high school championships as well.

“What makes Greg stand out in his roles in college athletics are two things: he’s a trusted source and his servant leadership. No matter what role he’s been asked to play over the last 25 years, Greg always turns in his best performance,” Bob Rathbun, the TV voice of the Atlanta Hawks, offered. “You can count on Greg to get the job done, done well, with great integrity. His servant leadership shines through daily as the AD at Jacksonville State. They, and we, are lucky to have him as a leader and a role model.” 

“Greg and I go back to 1993, when he started as the SID at Jacksonville State and I started my career as Henderson State’s SID. We developed a friendship then and it has lasted all these years, through about a dozen Final Fours, countless Yankees games and endless Seinfeld quotes,” David Worlock, the NCAA’s director of media coordination and statistics, said. “Greg is as genuine a person as I know. He is likeable, loyal and passionate about intercollegiate athletics and will always remain true to his sports information roots. Greg’s combination of talent and work ethic is exemplary, but his sincerity and friendship are what truly set him apart.”

“I met Greg when he came to JSU in 1993, and he immediately immersed himself in learning all he could about the athletic department and its history,” Mike Parris, JSU’s assistant AD for broadcasting and a fixture on Gamecock radio, recalls. “During his time as a SID, he worked different sports, and was always on top of everything happening. His ability to interact with coaches, student-athletes and fans enabled him to make a smooth transition into the athletic director's position. You can see his love of JSU in his decision-making and his day-to-day operations of the athletic department.”

Seitz’s leadership has made a lot of friends for JSU across the country, as athletics administrators and media covering schools big and small follow the Gamecocks because of their friendship. He takes the time to visit with friends on every road trip, grabbing a bite to eat and touring their facilities, and his colleagues range from student workers to CoSIDA Hall of Famers, a number of whom meet each week on a Seitz-scheduled zoom call to check in on one another and share memories and stories.

“Greg has played as large a role in my career in athletics as anyone, and I know several others across the country feel the same way,” Jacksonville State associate AD for media relations Josh Underwood said.

“It’s remarkable to see someone so dedicated to one institution as Greg has been to Jacksonville State for such a long period of time. He clearly loves JSU and has served the University and its community in so many ways.”

All in this profession hope to make an impact while following their hearts, but only a rare few get to stay in one spot and watch that impact compound. For Greg Seitz, that place is Jacksonville State. To paraphrase Lou Gehrig, Seitz, a lifelong Yankees fan, really does consider himself one of the luckiest men in college athletics.

“We have a great staff here at JSU – really good people as well as talented people – and it’s a wonderful experience to come to work each day,” Seitz said. “It’s the people you surround yourself with who make every experience rewarding. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”