SEWANEE, Tenn. - Announced on Wednesday, Layton Jackson, who served at the University of the South for the last six years as its Director of Athletic Communications, has stepped down to accept the role of Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications at the University of West Alabama.
During his tenure on the Domain, he was responsible for the promotion of the University of the South's 24 varsity sports.
"Layton has been a vital part of Sewanee Athletics for over six years. He has been a virtual multi-tool accessory with a skill set that ranges from writing captivating stories about our student athletes and teams and administering the tech spectrum of game management for 24 sports, managing rosters, photography, statistics and web pages for over 550 student-athletes. He served as the community link between the Department of Athletics and so many loyal alums, family members and the Sewanee faithful. From his live vocal performances of the National Anthem, to his colorful voice on live streaming play-by-play, Layton is the face and voice of Sewanee Athletics for many. He will be greatly missed by his many friends on the mountain, but his countless innovations have left his chair in a much better place for his successor. The Tigers all wish Layton all the best as he returns to his native state in the heart of the south," said Director of Athletics John Shackelford.
Getting Sewanee Athletics on the map started with video streaming. Jackson was instrumental in the hiring of ATW Sportscast to stream 13 of the department's sports, including adding full-time avenues in baseball, softball, basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, volleyball and swimming and diving.
Furthermore, with the help of Track Tennis, Jackson was involved in having live streaming implemented for the tennis programs.
Away from the playing field, he led the charge of making the community-led "Coffee With the Coach" shows live on Facebook. Because of this, fans, families of current student-athletes, alumni and prospective student-athletes have been able to watch their favorite coaches either live or on-demand.
Another step in getting more traction to Sewanee is a redesign of the athletic website, sewaneetigers.com, to SIDEARM Sports in 2021. There, Jackson was responsible for the upkeep of the website, including uploading stats and maintaining student-athlete and coaches biographical pages.
Social media was also a part of the day-to-day operations, and with the acquisition of PrestoShots in 2019, the entire athletic department was able to promote their respective sport with graphics and video.
In total, he was a part of 12 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Tournament Championships and covered the national championship doubles team of Brooke Despriet and Katherine Petty at the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship.
He represented the University as media liaison for seven SAA Tournaments, two Women's National Indoor Championships with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), two NCAA tennis regional championships and the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Tennis Championships.
He recently completed a four-year term as the chairperson of the Sports Information Council for the SAA, in which he also served on the search committee for the league's Assistant Commissioner in 2022.
He also participated in several committees, including voting for All-Region Teams with D3football.com and D3hoops.com and the Associated Press Division III Football All-America Committee.
On campus, he was a member of the Sewanee Athletics Hall of Fame and the University of the South's Staff Partnership Council.
Jackson assisted with the promotion student-athlete success in the classroom by sending in nominations to the Southern Athletic Association's (SAA) Academic Honor Roll and the Sigma Alpha Alpha honor society, as well as with the respective coaches organizations.
In 2021, he got involved with academic support by joining the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America® Committee.
In his time at Sewanee, he covered 48 Academic All-District® selections and one Academic All-American®.
The University of the South will conduct a national search for the next Sports Information Director.
For the latest news on the Sewanee Tigers, follow @SewaneeTigers on
Twitter and
Instagram, and like us on
Facebook.
