SENATOBIA - Northwest Mississippi Community College has announced the hiring of Jake Gordon as the college's new director of athletics, NWCC President Dr. Michael J. Heindl formally announced Thursday afternoon.

Gordon arrives at Northwest from Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, where he spent the last three seasons as the assistant athletic director for the Buccaneers. While at Blinn, he was in charge of eligibility of all student-athletes, gameday operations and live streaming all home games on the college's YouTube channel.

"The competition in community college athletics in the state of Mississippi has always been something that has impressed me," Gordon said. "When I saw this position open up, I jumped at the opportunity. After talking with everyone, I am excited to have the chance to lead such an established program at Northwest. I am looking to do things the right way and build upon what Northwest has already done to help the Rangers continue to thrive as one of the most successful athletic programs in the NJCAA. I am thankful to Dr. Heindl, Dr. Matthew Domas and the committee members for their consideration of me as an athletic administrator, and their faith in me to lead this successful program."

Gordon brings eight years of experience at the NJCAA level, previously serving two seasons as the assistant athletic director at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio. While at Lakeland, he assisted with the day-to-day operations of the athletic department, eligibility and the Athletic and Fitness Center. Gordon was also in charge of athletic communications, administered the website, promoted the College's seven NJCAA Division II sports programs, administered an academic tracking system for student-athletes, oversaw the academic retention program for student athletes and held event management duties.

Prior to his tenure at Lakeland, Gordon also had an earlier stint at Blinn as the communication and sports information specialist for three seasons. Gordon was instrumental in providing coverage to the media on the Buccaneers' national championship volleyball program in 2014, four national titles in cheer and dance and three national tournament appearances for volleyball, softball and women's basketball.

Gordon worked at various newspapers in Utah prior to his arrival at Blinn, including the Salt Lake Tribune, Tooele Transcript-Bulletin, Deseret News and The Vernal Express. While at the Vernal Express, he served as the sports editor, covering high school and local sports for Uintah County, designing sports pages and maintaining the sports section of the website.

"Jake Gordon brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from two successful NJCAA athletic departments at Blinn College and Lakeland Community College," Heindl said. "We are excited that he and his family will be joining us as our athletic director during an important period of growth in athletics at Northwest."

Gordon is a native of Tooele, Utah and received his bachelor's degree in mass communication from the University of Utah and Master of Business Administration in sports administration from Saint Leo University. He and his wife, Tiffany, have two children, Lucy and Andrew.