Tommy Dillard has joined the Tennessee Tech Sports Information staff, accepting an internship position in which he will work behind-the-scenes with all of the university’s 14 intercollegiate teams during the 2011-12 season.

Dillard, 25, comes to Tech from his position as sports editor of the Murray Ledger & Times, a 7,500-circulation daily newspaper in Murray, Ky. Dillard served as the beat writer covering Murray State athletics and coordinated coverage of the university as well as several high schools. He was also responsible for page and section design, photography and web site maintenance.

At Tech, Dillard will handle several aspects of media relations for the athletics department, including the production of publications, press releases and human interest articles. He will help to provide game coverage, live stats and web streaming, and assist in maintaining the official athletics website, TTUsports.com. He will serve as the primary sports information contact for the soccer and men’s basketball teams, as well as the golf, cross country and track teams.

He joins a three-person TTU sports information staff that includes Assistant Athletic Director Rob Schabert and intern Nick Burns, taking the internship position vacated when Kate Nicewicz was named assistant SID at the University of New Mexico.

Prior to being named the sports editor of the newspaper in Murray in 2010, Dillard served three years as assistant sports editor covering local high school athletics.

He has also worked for the Associated Press, covering Murray State home athletic events as well as non-sports-related work. He was a weekly guest on a local sports talk radio show aired on an ESPN Radio affiliate in Murray. In college, he served as the sports editor of his campus newspaper, the Murray State News.

Dillard has earned numerous awards from the Kentucky Press Association, including a first-place honor for Best Sports Story in Daily Class I in 2008 for his game coverage of the Murray State women's basketball team's first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Duke in College Park, Md. In 2010, he earned second place honors for Best Sports Section in Daily Class I.

A native of Germantown, Tenn., Tommy graduated from Murray State in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He recently married the former Elaine Kight.