Twitter: @jimhorten

Jim Horten is the communications and media relations contact for the men's basketball and men's and women's golf programs while also serving as secondary contact with football. He started at Chattanooga just prior to the start of the 2007-08 men's basketball season.

His duties include publications for assigned sports as well as press releases previewing and reviewing events as well as highlighting activities in support of the department's mission and core values.

Horten creates and maintains information supplied on GoMocs.com and works with coaches and student-athletes in publicizing their programs locally, regionally and nationally. This includes press conferences before and after athletic events and practices as well as working with a variety of media. 

He is very active in helping develop policies within the department in regards to social media along with a variety of other areas. Horten coordinates graphic design work for desktop/mobile wallpapers and promotional materials for his assigned sports.

While at Chattanooga, he has served as the media coordinator for the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, 2008 NCAA Division I Football Championship (FCS) and 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Golf East Regional. Other high marks for Horten include working with university and athletics staff for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's" nightly features on the Mocs leading into the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional appearance.

A native of Chattanooga, he returned to the athletics communications field after seven years of marketing to collegiate athletics. This included building the collegiate printing division at Tennant Printing in DeLand, Fla. The company worked with two collegiate athletic programs upon his arrival in 2000 and, under his direction, worked with more than 80 during his six years.

Prior SID stops included an assistant role at MTSU from 1993-98, followed by directing media relations staffs at Jacksonville (Fla.) in 1998-99 and Troy (Ala.) in 1999-2000. He worked as a student assistant at his alma mater, Middle Tennessee, working as the main contact for women's basketball as a senior in 1992-93.

Among his many professional highlights, Horten has worked many high-profile events such as several NCAA men's basketball tournament venues and numerous Allstate Sugar Bowl contests. He successfully promoted the late Al Lucas for the 1999 Buck Buchanan Award and worked with future Super Bowl Champions Osi Umenyiora (N.Y. Giants) and Lawrence Tynes (N.Y. Giants) at Troy.

A 1993 graduate of MTSU, he is an alumnus of Chattanooga Central High School (1987). His hobbies include working on his ever-developing culinary skills around following the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins.