JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State Athletic Director Greg Seitz has hired Donnie Smith as the Gamecocks’ Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.
Smith comes to Jax State after 11 seasons at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla. as Assistant Athletics Director for Communications. He became The Sun Conference’s first three-time Sports Information Director of the Year last month and is the NAIA’s only two-time national SID of the Year honoree. In 2023, he received College Sports Communicators Rising Star Award for the College Division.
“Donnie is very highly regarded throughout the college athletics communications community and came highly recommended by several strong individuals in the industry,” said Seitz. “He brings a wealth of experience and is nationally recognized with his service on the College Sports Communicators Board of Directors. I’m very excited to have Donnie as a member of our senior staff and look forward to him leading our athletic communications operations.”
In addition to his responsibilities on campus, Smith assisted the NAIA as a national championship media coordinator for eight football championship games, as well as serving as official scorer for a pair of Softball World Series. He served as NAIA-SIDA President during the 2023-24 school year and was on College Sports Communicators’ Executive Board for the last two years as College Division At-Large representative.
“I’m grateful to Greg Seitz and Jacksonville State for this incredible opportunity,” said Smith. “What stood out to me the most throughout this process was the quality of people on campus and in the community and I can’t wait to get to work with all of them. It’s an exciting time at Jax State and I’m humbled to be a small part of it.”
Prior to his work at SEU, Smith spent 10 years as a sportscaster at the Regional Radio Sports Network in Indiana and was presented the 2014 Marv Bates Indiana Sportscaster of the Year award by the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. He also worked with the Indiana Football Digest, contributing as a writer, designer, and editor for the nation’s largest statewide preview magazine.