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CSCommunicators.com/CelebrateCSC
This feature is part of our series of profiles showcasing members throughout the CSC membership during the celebration of College Sports Communicators Membership Appreciation Week for 2022-23. See more features at CSCommunicators.com/CelebrateCSC.
Travis Jarome – South Alabama, Associate AD of Strategic Communications
by Chad Jackson – Georgia Southern University, Director of Athletic Communications // CSC Membership Recognition Committee
A 20-plus year veteran of the athletics communication profession, the latest chapter of
Travis Jarome's journey brought him to Mobile, Alabama, in June of 2022 when he was named the Associate Athletic Director for Communications and Digital Media at the University of South Alabama. At South Alabama, Travis is the primary contact for football as well as men's golf.
An active member of the Collegiate Sports Communicators, he is member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Creative and Digital Design Contest Committee, Travis was named Southwestern Athletic Conference SID of the Year in 2020-21 and in 2021-22 while at Alabama State. He has also spent time at Tuskegee University, Troy University and the University of North Georgia.
His athletics communication journey began as a student at Auburn University Montgomery, where he graduated with his bachelor's degree in education. Travis and his wife, Courtney, have one daughter, Riley.
Travis shares his experiences in the business, gives some advice to those in our profession and also reflects on his work within CSC with the Diversity and Inclusion committee.
At the 2022 Sun Belt Football media days with Dan McDonald, a 2011 CSC Hall of Fame inductee and current staff writer for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.
How did you first learn about or want to get into athletic communications?
TJ: I was actually an education major working hours to be able to be an athletic trainer in the training room at AUM, while also a member of the soccer team. Once that year was over with soccer and some things happened in my family with my grandfather passing, I took some away from school. When I came back, I wanted to try something different and talked to then-Sports Information Director Tom Strother about helping out after I had been writing for a weekly newspaper in Montgomery. I helped out in the office before Tom left for Troy and really got an interest in the field.
I had planned to get into teaching and coaching, but things worked out and after two more directors came and left I got my opportunity in May 2003. The baseball coaches at the time - QV Lowe and Marty Lovrich - went to the AD and basically pushed me for the job. I got offered the position, graduated May 10, got married on May 31, officially started working on June 2 … and the rest is history.
As a student assistant and later the head SID at AUM, you had a breadth of experience in areas other than just sports information - helping with a weekly television show, helping create the athletic department's Hall of Fame. How did that experience at such an early part of your career help you become the professional you are today?
TJ: It really taught me time management and how to build relationships and network, and at the same time helped me to communicate better with our student-athletes. I don't think some people realize how much goes into working at a small school and the different things that have to be done, but I have been able to translate that into everyday.
I always tell everyone I work with - "I will never ask you to do something that I haven't done or won't do." And I truly mean that. I learned how to operate a camera for the show, be a host, conduct interviews on camera, and shoot game footage when needed for the television show which led to me being on radio and TV in all of my stops except the last one here at South Alabama. The Hall of Fame situation really taught me how to listen first and speak last, especially in a room where you have a seat at the decision-making table. I did both of those in my first year on the job and it really taught me to slow down and appreciate everything that was going on.
Jarome and his daughter Riley spending time on the golf course.
You're an active member of the CSC Diversity and Inclusion Committee and serve as its vice-chair. How important do you feel that committee's work has been for the organization, especially over the last few years?
TJ: The committee's work is one of the most important things we have going today and I was honored the day that Scottie (Rogers) asked me to be his co-chair, honored due to the efforts I know we have tried to accomplish, especially this year with Jessica Poole being President of the organization. This committee was her baby. We are striving to make a difference and keep diversity, equity and Inclusion at the top of everyone's list especially when it comes to hiring practices and when including everyone in on decision-making.
I have had the opportunity to work at an HBCU (Tuskegee) in the minority role as a white male, and have seen the impact of hiring when diversity and inclusion is at the forefront. Our athletic director at the time, Jennifer Lynne Williams, brought on multiple females in leadership roles and at the time there were two males - Terrance Jones and myself - as administrators alongside them. It bled over into my world and I used the same philosophy when it came to my hiring practices. There is still a long way to go, and will we ever figure it out, probably not but at the same time we as a committee are here to help. We may not have all the answers but we will point you in the right direction and help you.
Talk to me about your family - your wife Courtney and your daughter Riley - and how you are able to handle the work/life balance of spending time with them vs. your job duties.
TJ: It is hard, extremely hard at times. When I was a one-man shop, I missed a lot of milestones due to being on the road or having a home game. It got to a point that when I left the business to be a high school AD, I learned what I was missing. Over time, things change, but it took a minute to realize that. I eventually had to push back on things and realize what was important in life.
When Riley was born, I was at Troy, and before she was two years old she was on television at least three times at basketball games. As she has gotten older, she attends events with me and sometimes even works them. She was my stats spotter at the Camellia Bowl in 2021 and sat in the press box with me at the 2022 New Orleans Bowl. I am not proud that I missed milestones, especially being stuck in the airport and missing a birthday party, but there are things I try to do to make up for it. With Courtney, when we were dating, I was already in the business per se, so she has been used to it. Just being under the same roof with the two of them away from work is enough for me.
Living in Mobile currently while working at South and them living in Wetumpka with Riley playing volleyball is a little different so there are a lot of phone calls and drives up 65 North to go home. But I made a pact with myself and with God on a drive back from New Orleans with Alabama State baseball that I was going back to my roots which are faith, family, and work; and since that point, things have been great.
Jarome outside of a South Alabama football practice in the Fall of 2022.
If you weren't working in athletic communications, what do you think you would be doing today?
TJ: I would hope I would teach and coaching somewhere or even remain as an administrator in some role outside of communications. I did learn a long time ago that I missed it once I got out when I was at Montgomery Catholic which is exactly why I got back into it. I really don't know if I could do anything else outside of communications right now.
What do you like to do for fun away from the office?
TJ: Spending time with family and just relaxing, getting away from work. I really enjoy the time I get in January when I attend Strength to Stand with the youth from our church, and the time I get to go on a Walk to Emmaus because I unplug from technology for 72 hours and get away from the real world. I also enjoy reading and just talking to friends. I am pretty easy-going.
What's a key professional development tip that's worked for you during your career that you'd be willing to share?
TJ: Don't be afraid to shake hands, introduce yourself, or just strike up a conversation. Networking is the most important thing in this business. Make sure you have a circle of friends you can confide in in the business (small circle) and expand that out. I have met so many people over the years I have been in this business that have made an impact on me whether they know it or not, and a lot of that is by just speaking. Get involved, make an impact. I was told that a long time ago and still go by that today, and try to push more to be involved.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
TJ: Take care of yourself, both mentally and physically. You have to take care of yourself first and foremost, if you don't, no one will. When COVID hit in March 2020 that following October I went in for my wellness check and weighed 356 pounds. I vowed that day that would change and I would never look back and set a goal for myself. I hit that goal in December 2022 when I got down to 225 and felt the best I have felt in a very, very long time. Set goals for yourself and do what it takes to hit that goal whether it is taking time away from work, spending time with family, or just exercising.
I have shared my story on social media and have even had others reach out to talk and ask questions. It is all about self-care.