Kennesaw State Director of Athletics Milton Overton announced the hiring of Jacob Dye as the Owls' Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing and Fan Experience on April 15, 2024. Dye most recently worked at Loyola Marymount University, where he served as associate athletic director for marketing, fan engagement, branding, and licensing.
Jacob brings over 10 years of experience in the collegiate marketing and fan engagement fields to the Black and Gold. A talented strategist, innovator, and collaborator, he has demonstrated success in growing fan affinity and increasing revenue at multiple institutions. His duties have included involvement with risk management and behavioral intervention teams, university and athletics diversity and inclusion councils, and NIL working groups.
He began his career at Mississippi State University, widely known as a preeminent NCAA marketing juggernaut, where his team was named Marketing Team of the Year in 2016 and 2017 by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA). He went on to Southern Utah University, where he helped build and grow the athletics marketing operation, maximizing ticket revenue and setting records for fan attendance. NACMA also recognized these accomplishments.
Jacob also held leadership positions with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the national governing body for collegiate tennis, during the association's most successful stretch in history. Jacob coordinated all media availabilities at the ITA and implemented consistent messaging and branding for the association throughout the collegiate tennis seasons. Jacob led the ITA communications and media relations efforts for NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, and NJCAA events. He was instrumental in positioning college tennis events for broadcast on ESPN and ESPNU; working with Tennis Channel and several media outlets to promote college tennis and its viable pathway to professional tennis. He served as the department’s spokesperson and the primary communications contact for all regional and national championship events while also serving on the external affairs team of the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III Tennis Championships.
At Denver, Jacob served a fervent fan base, leveraging significant national visibility opportunities to maximize institutional brand awareness while enhancing the in-game experience with a significant focus on student involvement. Jacob also served as Denver's athletics department liaison to Denver Sports Properties; a joint venture of PlayFly Sports, and chaired the Diversity and Inclusion Council. In addition, he served several campus entities, including the Communications Council, Alumni Association, Student Affairs & Inclusive Excellence, and Safe Zone/Ally. Jacob was also an active University of Denver Staff Advisory Council (SAC) member.
At LMU, Jacob served on the West Coast Conference External Affairs Committee to further enhance external engagement across the conference and improve championship events. Jacob also served as the Licensing Director for LMU, overseeing all branding and licensing for the University and Athletic programs.
While working with the CLC and LMU's 400+ licensees, Jacob was able to break royalty records through continuous apparel offerings, new licensee agreements, increased online options, and nurturing a new relationship with Trevco/Amazon to provide LMU branded products on Amazon.com. In June of 2023, Jacob was able to secure LMU's most significant licensing agreement with Costco, ensuring that LMU-branded hard goods and apparel would be provided in LMU-local Costco retail locations.
During his tenure at LMU, Jacob was integral to various projects and partnerships. One such project is the LMU and Los Angeles Rams partnership. On September 6, 2023, LMU and the Rams entered into a historic partnership, making LMU the first-ever official higher education partner of the Rams. With exclusive academic and pre-professional opportunities with the Rams organization, LMU students get an inside look at one of the nation's most successful sports franchises.
Jacob is an active member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA), Fair Labor Association (FLA), College Sports Communicators (CSC - formerly CoSIDA), and the International Collegiate Licensing Association (ICLA).
Jacob received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University, an Executive Masters of Business Administration from Louisiana State University, and a Masters of Science in Sport Psychology from Columbia University. Currently, Jacob is pursuing his Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Georgia.
