Jeff Hodges, the former Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications at the University of North Alabama, completed his 40th year promoting the UNA athletic teams and student-athletes in 2022-23. He now serves UNA as the Athletics Historian and is still the chairman of the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame.
A Decatur, Ala., native, Hodges has helped promote six national championship teams, hundreds of all-conference and All-American student-athletes, two Harlon Hill Trophy winners, worked at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the College Sports Communicators, formerly known as CoSIDA.
CSC
A long-time member of CSC, Hodges was elected to the CSC, Board of Directors as a College Division Representative in 1992-93 and served three years in that role
In July of 1997 he was honored by CSC as the recipient of the Warren Berg Award, presented annually to a college division member “who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of college sports information, and, who by his or her activities outside the field, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession.” In addition to receiving the Berg Award that year, Hodges was also inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame at the age of 36.
In 2002, Hodges joined the CSC Board in a more prominent role as the organization’s national secretary, and he is now in his 21st year in that position.
In 2009, Hodges received the CSC 25-Year Award, honoring a quarter century in the collegiate athletics communication profession.
He was honored again by CSC in 2016 with the President’s Award for his work on the organization’s Strategic Planning Committee.
At the 2017 CSC Convention, Hodges received the Arch Ward Award. The Arch Ward is one of the organization’s oldest and most prestigious awards and it is presented annually to a CoSIDA member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college athletic communications, and who, by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession. Hodges became just the second Arch Ward winner from a non-Division I institution since the award was first presented in 1958.
In 2022, he was again honored with the President's Award, this time for his work with the CSC Executive Director Search. It was his sixth all-time CSC award, tying him for the second most by anyone in the organization's history.
Hodges 23 total years on the CoSIDA Board of Directors in the third longest tenure of anyone in the organization’s history.
UNA
A 1982 graduate of UNA with a B.S. degree in Journalism and History, Hodges was a two-year letterman on the Lions’ tennis teams, and played No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles on the 1981 Gulf South Conference championship tennis squad. He worked two years as a student assistant in the Office of University Relations at UNA and worked for six months as a sports writer at the Florence Times Daily newspaper before being hired as the first full-time SID at UNA in July of 1983 at the age of 22.
He was honored by UNA with the Faculty/Staff Alumni Service Award in 1994, as Alumni of the Year for 2001 and as Distinguished Staff Member in 2018.
During Hodges time at North Alabama, the school’s athletic publications have received more than 80 national awards from CoSIDA, including 25 “Best in the Nation” awards.
In addition to his other duties at North Alabama, Hodges created UNA's Athletic Hall of Fame and has served as its chairman since its creation in 1990. He was inducted into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.
Hodges has hosted 54 NCAA Division II Football Playoff games, including 28 Football National Championship Games. He also helped host the 2011 and 2018 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championships and 13 other NCAA regional events in basketball, baseball, cross country, volleyball, golf, women’s basketball and softball.
He has helped promote 11 UNA student-athletes who earned both All-American and Academic-All-America® recognition.
During his 40 football seasons at UNA, Hodges has worked 455 of the Lions' 458 games played since being hired in 1983.
Olympics
Hodges served as press officer for the United States Olympic Committee at the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival in North Carolina, and again at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival in San Antonio, Texas. He was then selected to serve as a Press Officer on the USOC staff at the XVII Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994.
At the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, Hodges served as Venue Press Chief for volleyball at the Omni, where he supervised all press operations for both the men and women’s volleyball competition.
After serving as the Venue Press Chief at the 2001 U.S. Nordic Ski Festival in Park City, Utah, Hodges worked as the Venue Press Chief for Ski Jumping at Utah Olympic Park at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
College Football
Hodges served as media coordinator for the NCAA Division II Football Championship Game for 28 consecutive years (1986-2013) and was on the Board of Directors of the Shoals National Championship Committee, which sponsored the game. After helping create the Harlon Hill Trophy in 1986, Hodges served for 32 years as chairman of the National Harlon Hill Award Committee, which presents the annual NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year trophy. In 1999 he created the Division II Football Hall of Fame and also served as its chairman until UNA's move to Division I in 2018.
In 1995 he successfully promoted the first and only defensive player to win the Hill Trophy in the award’s history, in UNA linebacker Ronald McKinnon. Then in 2003, Hodges promoted UNA’s second Hill Trophy winner in quarterback Will Hall. The University of North Alabama also has three members of the Division II Football Hall of Fame in McKinnon, Cody Gross and Bobby Wallace.
In 1995 Hodges was also appointed to the Honors Court (selection committee) of the College Football Hall of Fame and he served in that role for nine years.
In 2008, Hodges received the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding SID Award from the All-American Football Foundation. The award is presented to athletic media relations professionals who have done outstanding work to promote collegiate football.
Other
In 2009 he was placed on the selection committee for the College Baseball Hall of Fame and continues to serve in that role annually.
Family
Hodges is married to the former Karen Owen, a 1984 University of North Alabama graduate, who served as Associate Director of Creative Services prior to her retirement after 35 years on the UNA staff. Their son Dillon, and daughters Shanna and Melanie, are all UNA graduates.
