KNOXVILLE -- The University of Tennessee announced the addition of Jason Yellin to the athletic communications department as the assistant athletic director for media relations. Yellin, who is in his seventh year at the University of Massachusetts and currently serves as the associate athletic director for media relations, will have direct oversight of the media relations department for Tennessee Athletics and will be involved with the football communications team.

“Jason has considerable experience in media relations but also owns a diverse background in many areas related to communications and intercollegiate athletics,” said Jimmy Stanton, associate athletic director for communications at Tennessee. “We are excited at the opportunity to add him to our talented communications team, and we believe his energy, personality and skill set make him an excellent addition.”

In addition to overseeing the media relations department at UMass, Yellin also serves as the primary media contact for football, men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse. He also served the sport supervisor for the men’s lacrosse team. A member of the athletic department’s senior management team, his responsibilities at UMass include the athletic department website, UMassAthletics.com, all strategic media planning and branding enhancement, as well as negotiation and oversight of UMass’ television and radio broadcasting agreements.

Yellin was directly involved in the recent initiative that elevated the UMass football program from FCS to FBS status. He was also the executive producer for the documentary “100 Years of UMass Basketball.”

He joined UMass in 2004 as assistant athletic director for media relations after spending six years at the University of Maryland in the athletic media relations office, where he worked with the football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and lacrosse programs. Before his time at Maryland, Yellin spent two years at ESPN, where he was involved with ESPN.com internet production and served as the team pages editor.

A native New Yorker, Yellin also worked for eight years in the media relations department at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., from which he graduated in 1996. His wife, Jennifer, is also a Stony Brook alumnus and was a collegiate swimmer. The couple has a 9-year-old daughter, Hailey, and a 4-year-old son, Quinn.

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)