Jason Erickson joined the Utah Valley University athletic department in September 2014. He leads the publicity efforts for men’s basketball, women’s soccer, and men’s and women’s golf. Now in his 23rd year working in collegiate athletics, his career has spanned from NCAA Division III (Otterbein College) to the conference level (Western Athletic Conference) to Division I (Idaho State/Utah Valley), giving him a wide-ranging perspective on athletic communications, media relations, and strategic publicity.
In 2024, Erickson received the Utah Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Golden Spike Award for his feature story, The Unseen Crossover: Jaden McClanahan’s Anime-Inspired Passion on the Court and in Life. The story, which highlighted the unique intersection of McClanahan’s love for anime and basketball, significantly expanded UVU basketball’s visibility, engaging both sports fans and anime enthusiasts. It was widely shared on social media and received national attention, including coverage on ESPN+.
Erickson has also earned multiple College Sports Communicators (CSC) publications and digital design awards. His 2017-18 men's basketball game notes were recognized as one of the best in the nation, ranking third nationally behind only Kansas and Oklahoma in the CSC Publications & Digital Design Awards. In addition, he was the recipient of CSC's ChangeMaker Innovation Award for his creative promotion of WAC Player of the Year and NBA prospect Fardaws Aimaq, a native of Canada. He developed the Big Maple campaign, which played off Aimaq’s Canadian roots and included sending custom-labeled maple syrup bottles featuring Aimaq’s accomplishments to national media. The campaign successfully garnered widespread coverage, including a segment on The Dan Patrick Show. His
Big Maple campaign also won two National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) "Best Of" Gold Awards at the 2022 NACMA national convention.
Erickson has served as the men’s basketball sports information director for every Division I head coach in Utah Valley’s history, including
Dick Hunsaker, Mark Pope (now the head coach at Kentucky), Mark Madsen (now the head coach at Cal), and Todd Phillips. During his tenure, he has been part of two WAC regular-season championship runs and played a pivotal role in shaping the national narrative around UVU basketball. One of the most memorable seasons of his career came in
2022-23, when he helped guide the publicity efforts for Utah Valley’s record-setting 28-9 season, which included a WAC-best 15-3 conference record and a program-record 12 road wins (most in the nation). The season culminated in a run to the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) with
wins at New Mexico, at Colorado, and at home over Cincinnati in the quarterfinals. Utah Valley finished the season ranked No. 10 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 poll and achieved its highest-ever end-of-season rankings in the NCAA NET (58) and KenPom.com (64).
Playing a key role in securing national exposure for Utah Valley Athletics, Erickson has worked closely with ESPN to generate coverage for the program. He helped facilitate ESPN’s coverage of UVU’s historic Toughest 24 campaign, which gained national recognition and was prominently featured on SportsCenter. He has also built relationships with ESPN anchors, producers, and writers, who have highlighted UVU on SportsCenter multiple times, further elevating the program’s national presence. As part of these connections, he has visited ESPN’s campus in Bristol, Connecticut, multiple time to further strengthen UVU’s national visibility.
Erickson also played an integral role in the creation of the Wolverine Sports Network, a partnership with ESPN The Fan (960 AM/103.9 FM in Utah County, 98.3 FM/101.5 HD2 in Salt Lake County). The network has expanded UVU’s radio reach from a single local station to nearly statewide coverage, ensuring that Utah Valley men's basketball broadcasts reach a broader audience. The network features a full pregame, halftime, and postgame show for every UVU men’s basketball broadcast, along with a weekly men’s basketball coaches show that provides fans with exclusive insights into the program.
In addition to the Wolverine Sports Network, Erickson helped establish a partnership with KSL TV in 2017 to expand UVU Athletics' reach in Utah. The agreement included streaming UVU athletic events, featuring exclusive content on KSLsports.com, and securing UVU’s presence on the KSL TV app. This partnership has provided unprecedented exposure for the Wolverines, enhancing the program's visibility in the region and beyond.
Erickson spent four years at Idaho State University (2003-07), where he served as the Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations. He led publicity efforts for women's soccer, women's basketball, cross country, track and field, and tennis, while also assisting with football and men's basketball. He guided media efforts for two WNIT appearances and an NCAA postseason berth for women's basketball and coordinated publicity campaigns for several All-Americans, including 2007 AP and WBCA All-American Natalie Doma. Erickson also coordinated media efforts for three NCAA championships and four Big Sky Conference championships and served as the color commentator for radio broadcasts of ISU women’s basketball games. During his time at Idaho State, he was mentored by Frank Mercogliano, one of the most well-respected and knowledgeable professionals in college athletic communications.
Before Idaho State, Erickson worked at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, where he served as a public relations specialist at the Speed Skating Oval in Kearns, Utah. In this role, he worked with international media from around the world, including coordinating interviews, setting up broadcast positions, and assisting with media logistics. He was also responsible for assisting the Russian delegation of media, utilizing his language skills to help facilitate coverage. Additionally, he worked with the Netherlands’ live morning show broadcasts from the Oval and assisted with international broadcast logistics as part of International Sports Broadcasting (ISB).
Erickson attended Utah Valley State College (now UVU), where he was the sports editor of The College Times (now UVU Review) and played a key role in covering the school’s athletics programs. He was also the sideline reporter for the school’s first-ever live broadcast of an athletic event, covering a men’s basketball game when UVU was still competing at the junior college level.
Erickson holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and broadcast journalism from Southern Utah University (2002) and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Idaho State University (2006). A native of West Valley City, Utah, he is a member of College Sports Communicators (CSC), the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
He has a 16-year-old son, Nash.
