Entering his fifth season with the Mocs, Dr. Jay Blackman is the Associate Athletics Director for Communications and Marketing.  He began his career at UTC as the Director of Communications and Media Relations in December 2008 and was named Assistant A.D. in July 2010. 

Blackman currently oversees Chattanooga's communications and creative services efforts.  Specifically, he is the sport contact for UTC football, wrestling and tennis teams.  He was promoted to Associate A.D., adding marketing and promotions oversight to his responsibilities in September 2012.

During his career, Blackman has worked directly with 11 conference players of the year, nine conference championship teams, four individual NCAA Champions, two NCAA Woman of the Year candidates, 10 Academic All-Americans and two NBA Lottery Draft Picks.

Since joining the Mocs in December 2008, Blackman has implemented a broad communications plan that transformed the traditional Sports Information Office into an aggressive, forward-thinking public relations arm of the athletics department.  Under his leadership, GoMocs.com, the official web site of UTC Athletics, has seen record growth, while media coverage of Mocs athletics increased over 20% in the last year.

Blackman has also solidified his unit as a key member of the Mocs external staff.  This group has put together marketing and communications plans that resulted in record attendance at home events and earned nine NACMA "Best of" Awards over the last three years.  His 2011 Football Media Guide was also recognized as No. 2 in the nation at the FCS level by CoSIDA. 

Prior to UTC, Blackman spent seven years at the University of New Mexico where he was the primary contact for men's basketball, men's soccer and men's golf. He also oversaw the athletics department official website, www.GoLobos.com.

As the Lobo men's basketball contact, Blackman was in charge of the communications efforts for the most high profile sports entity in the state of New Mexico.  He also worked with New Mexico's 2005 men's soccer team that advanced to the finals of the College Cup and UNM's 2004 ski team, the only team national champion in school history.

Blackman has been very involved with hosting postseason events during his career.  At UTC he has served as the media coordinator for the 2008 & 2009 NCAA Football Division I National Championship Game and the 2009 NCAA Women's Basketball First & Second Rounds.  He also helped to administrate the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships hosted at the famed Honors Course in Chattanooga. 

At New Mexico, Blackman helped to oversee numerous conference and NCAA postseason events, including serving as the Tournament Director for the 2002 MPSF Men's Soccer Championships, the Assistant Tournament Director for the 2004 and 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball First and Second rounds, the 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Albuquerque Regional and the 2006 NCAA Women's Basketball Albuquerque Regional.

A native of Fremont, North Carolina, Blackman earned his bachelor's degree in Physical Education from the University of North Carolina in 1998. While at UNC, he served as a manager for the Tar Heels men's basketball team that advanced to the 1997 Final Four. Blackman completed his master's degree in Sport Management from Appalachian State in 2000 and his MBA from UNM in 2003. He earned his Ph.D. in Sport Administration from UNM in 2004.

Blackman, 37, also served as the director of media relations for the New Mexico Slam professional basketball team in 2001. He married Emily Jorgensen in May 2006 and the couple has two daughters, Talley LaRee (4/12/08) and Elin Elizabeth (4/26/11).  Emily is the current Associate Athletics Director for Student Support Services at UTC. 

Updated September 2012.