April 26, 2017 WACO, Texas ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" Baylor University Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades announced numerous additions to the restructured external relations department on Wednesday.

"This is an exciting time for the Baylor Athletics external relations unit," Rhoades said. "We're committed to bringing in highly successful professionals with experiences and perspectives from across the nation. These additions are a tremendous step forward as we continue Preparing Champions for Life."

The reorganized external relations division will feature three branches that report to Senior Associate AD for External Relations Doug McNamee. The Resource Development team is comprised of the Baylor Bear Foundation, athletics ticket office and ticket sales center. The Branding & Creative Services team consists of BaylorVision, graphic design, licensing and digital assets. The Engagement team includes athletics communications, spirit & traditions, fan engagement (formerly known as marketing & promotions) and strategic communications.

McNamee recruited Associate Athletics Directors over Branding & Creative Services, Engagement and Resource Development, along with numerous additions throughout external relations.

The newest members of the Baylor Athletics external team bring experience from Division I athletics departments across the nation, including Auburn, Indiana, Oklahoma, UCLA, Air Force, Rice, UCF, Oregon State, Arizona, UConn, Richmond and Southeastern Louisiana.

"We are excited about the talented professionals we are adding to our external team," McNamee said. "They bring diverse backgrounds with extensive experience leading athletics departments in our industry. These additional team members will aide us in telling the unique stories of our student-athletes and increasing revenue to provide student-athletes the best possible opportunities to be successful."

Mitch Mann joined Baylor on March 6 as Associate AD for Resource Development, directing the Baylor Bear Foundation, ticket office and ticket sales center. Mann spent the previous six years at Air Force, most recently as Associate AD of External Operations. Prior to that role, Mann was Assistant AD of Development at Air Force, and he spent three years with IMG College at both Baylor and Air Force.

Jovan Overshown will join Baylor on May 1 to oversee fan engagement, strategic communications, athletics communications and spirit & traditions as Associate AD for Engagement. Overshown spent the past three years directing internal and external communications at The King's University in Southlake, Texas.

Andrew Lentz began April 24 as Associate AD for Branding & Creative Services, overseeing digital assets, graphic design, BaylorVision and licensing. Lentz joined Baylor after working the past two seasons as Indiana Basketball Director of Creative Strategy, where he managed creative projects under the direction of Tom Crean for the nationally prominent Indiana men's basketball program. He previously spent two years on the digital media team at Oklahoma.

Cody Gougler starts May 8 as Assistant AD for Annual Fund in the Baylor Bear Foundation. Gougler was Director of Development at Air Force for the past two years, and he has previous development experience at his alma mater, Southeastern Louisiana, where he was a four-year baseball letterman.

Ryan Eklund begins May 1 as Assistant AD for Fan Engagement, where he will manage gameday experience. Eklund was Director of Marketing for the Atlanta Dream WNBA franchise in 2014-15, and he has previous collegiate marketing experience UCF, UCLA, Oregon State, Arizona and UConn.

David Kaye, who is in his eighth year at Baylor, will oversee the media relations staff as Director of Athletics Communications. A 2008 Baylor graduate, Kaye has previous experience in athletics media relations at South Alabama.

Matthew Brandsema began on April 18 as an Assistant Director in the ticket sales center. Brandsema joined Baylor after spending the last two years working for IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions at both Richmond and Rice.

Taylor Bryan will start on May 10 as an Associate Director in athletics communications, serving as the primary media relations contact for Baylor football. He has spent the past five years as Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations at Auburn, where he is currently the secondary football contact and the primary baseball contact.