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VMI Athletics and new director of athletics Jamaal Walton announced the hiring of five new employees to its department ahead of the 2024-25 season.
As announced in a press release on June 21, VMI brought in Nathanial Barbee and Onier Vargas in March, making Barbee the assistant director of athletic communications and creative content and Vargas the next director of multimedia. Later in the semester, VMI hired Blake Brinkley as the assistant athletic director for corporate partnerships and Carson Griffiths as the assistant director of athletics equipment and services. In June, Antoine Prather was invited to the VMI staff as the new director of ticketing and promotions. Walton was named the new director of athletics in May.
Barbee will oversee the baseball, men’s soccer and wrestling teams for all communication aspects and assist in creative content services for all sports. Barbee comes from the University of Southern Indiana, where he served as the athletic communication graduate/student assistant for the previous three years. Barbee graduated from USI in May 2022 with a bachelor of science degree in radio and television, minoring in sport communication. He completed his master of science degree in sport management degree from USI in May 2024.
Vargas will oversee all video aspects of VMI Athletics including live game broadcasts. A Los Angeles, Calif., native, Vargas attended the Los Angeles Film School, where he received his associate of science degree in recording arts and later attended Campbell University in North Carolina, where he received his bachelor of science degree in psychology in 2023. He began working in live sports and production in 2019 for the Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros’ affiliate, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in North Carolina, during their inaugural season. In 2021, he was promoted to the Crown Complex’s audio visual manager, where he remained until August 2023. Vargas was enlisted into the U.S. Army as a combat documentation and production specialist until his honorable separation in March 2018.
Brinkley came to VMI in April to take over as the assistant athletic director for corporate partnerships. Brinkley will grow VMI Athletics’ overall sponsorship with local and national organizations. The Western Carolina University alumnus previously worked at Lamar University in Texas as the account executive of corporate sponsorships and also spent time with The Pacific Financial Group, Inc. Brinkley graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2022.
Griffiths joined the VMI staff in May and will work closely with the baseball, basketball, football, men’s soccer, track and field and wrestling teams. After graduating from Central Piedmont Community College (N.C.) in 2020, Griffiths began his sports career at North Carolina State University, working as the student equipment manager and as a summer intern for the football program. After graduating from NC State in 2023 with a bachelor of science degree in sport management with a minor in coaching, Griffiths made his way over to Wake Forest University to become the intern equipment manager for the Demon Deacons’ football program.
Prather made his way to VMI in June to take over the director of ticketing and promotions position. Prather will directly work with all VMI ticketed athletic events and have a strong force in the marketing tactics of the Institute’s athletic programs. A graduate of LaGrange College in Georgia, Prather most recently spent time with his alma mater’s athletic staff as an assistant athletic director, working specifically with ticketing, and spent time as a compliance intern. Prior to graduating in 2022, Prather spent time at Clemson University as a game operations student worker and later made his way to Southeast Missouri State University to work as an athletics intern. Prather obtained a bachelor of arts degree in digital creative film in 2022.
For more on these hires, visit www.vmikeydets.com.
