Ben Prescott, sports editor 

The Berry College Athletic Department announced the hiring of Jason Hanes as the director of sports information and promotions. Hanes brings a wealth of experience with him to Berry, including journalism, social media management and graphic design, that spans from over a decade of experience in the sports information field. 

Athletic Director Angel Mason is ecstatic about the new hire of Hanes and applauds his skill set that has grown from his experience. 

“[Hanes’s ] expertise in the fields of sports information, promotions and development of young professionals adds great value to our service to Viking student-athletes and student-workers,” Mason said. 

In 2003, Hanes worked at Georgia State University as the assistant sports information director, before taking on a similar role at Kennesaw State University in 2007. Hanes also received his bachelor’s degree in communications at Kennesaw State in 2012. In September 2012 Hanes worked as the sports information director at Reinhardt University, where he was the 2014-2015 Appalachian Athletic Conference Sports Information Director of the Year. 

During his four and a half year tenure at Reinhardt, the athletic program grew from 14 to 22 sports. In 2017, Hanes decided to leave Reinhardt and began freelancing with Triple Crown Sports and recorded stats for universities in the Atlanta areas, such as Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Kennesaw State University. 

Sophomore Michael Johnson, student director of sports information, also expressed his excitement in the recent hire of Hanes. 

“I feel like [Hanes] brings a lot of experience from the industry and can really help in areas we have been struggling in such as stats and other gameday activities,” Johnson said. “He’s a great guy and really excited to be at Berry and help any way he can.” 

Part of what made Berry an attractive destination for Hanes was the institution’s commitment to the growth of its students, especially in work experience. According to Hanes, he wants to uphold this tradition and hopes to help students grow in the skills that they may learn in the department, whether it be a life-long passion such as writing or a new creative outlet they have picked up, like graphic design. 

“I’m looking forward to teaching how to evolve people’s writing, to be more what people are looking for nowadays,” Hanes said. “I’m looking forward to sitting down with people and working on graphic design and helping them find their voice through graphic design or through writing or through photography.” 

Hanes also brings skills from recording game stats to working with Sidearm, the service that Berry uses to design and upload content to its athletics website. Hanes has also worked previously at Berry as a volleyball official this past season. 

Brooke Brumbelow was the previous sports information director. She left Berry at the end of the summer in 2021 despite only being hired in January 2021. According to Mason, Brumbelow left on good terms with the school. Last semester, the Athletic Department had an interim sports information director, Jim O’Hara who filled the position until Hames was hired.