MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University football coach Neal Brown has announced the hiring of LeighAshton Watson as the Mountaineers on-campus recruiting coordinator.
"Recruiting is a vital part of our football program, and LeighAshton has done an outstanding job throughout the start of her career," Brown said. "When she was on our staff at Troy, I was impressed with her work ethic and her attention to detail. With her familiarity and experience with several members of our staff, it should make for a smooth transition. She will be a great addition here at West Virginia."
Watson comes to West Virginia after assisting the football recruiting department at Tennessee for the past year and working with Brown at Troy, overseeing the Trojan host program for two years prior to that.
At West Virginia, Watson will assist Brian Bennett, director of player personnel, with the day-to-day administration of recruiting student-athletes. She will assist with the coordination of in-person recruiting visits, assist in the maintenance of scholarship offers, recruiting targets and commitments and update the coaching staff on recruiting matters, eligibility and admission status of prospective student-athletes.
Watson will serve as a liaison with the University admissions office and the Athletics Compliance office and manage planning for on-campus official and unofficial recruiting visits by prospective student-athletes. She will assist with securing and maintaining transcripts of prospective student-athletes, analyze transcripts to ensure prospects meet entrance requirements and assist with maintaining and securing NCAA eligibility center records of prospects.
Under the direction of Bennett, Watson will assist with the organization and assemblage of coaching recruiting checklists, calendars, internet research, recruiting boards, prospects and coaches telephone directories and update databases and prospective student-athlete video libraries.
Watson will assist the football coaching staff and video coordinators in assembling and cataloging video for potential student-athletes and maintain and manage correspondence with prospects during contact periods.
At Tennessee, Watson created the itineraries for the prospective student-athletes on their on-campus visits and planned and executed events, meals and activities for official and unofficial visits. She also assisted the director of player personnel with coordinating visits, mailing lists and the recruiting boards.
She communicated plans for each prospective student-athlete's visit with the coaching staff and worked with the compliance officers to log coaches' travel and phone calls.
At Troy, Watson assisted Bennett with interviewing the hosts and communicating information to the groups on recruit visits and the schedule of events. She also coordinated the weekly meetings with the hosts and recruiting staff and was responsible for setting up game day registration, pairing official visit hosts and ordering apparel and nametags.
For two years prior to that, Watson worked national 7-on-7 tournaments for USA Football, assisting with event management and promoting events and sponsors on social media platforms.
Watson graduated with a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Troy in 2017. She served as a sixth-grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School in Enterprise, Alabama for a year.
Watson, a Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Facilitator at Troy since 2014, worked as an ambassador while in high school in 2011, served as a junior facilitator while college and remained active in the program for the last five years. She also served as an assistant facilitator in 2017-2018, recruiting staff members to take part in the seminars and also reached out to alumni about returning and also had discussions with other members about aspects of leadership.
"Recruiting is a vital part of our football program, and LeighAshton has done an outstanding job throughout the start of her career," Brown said. "When she was on our staff at Troy, I was impressed with her work ethic and her attention to detail. With her familiarity and experience with several members of our staff, it should make for a smooth transition. She will be a great addition here at West Virginia."
Watson comes to West Virginia after assisting the football recruiting department at Tennessee for the past year and working with Brown at Troy, overseeing the Trojan host program for two years prior to that.
At West Virginia, Watson will assist Brian Bennett, director of player personnel, with the day-to-day administration of recruiting student-athletes. She will assist with the coordination of in-person recruiting visits, assist in the maintenance of scholarship offers, recruiting targets and commitments and update the coaching staff on recruiting matters, eligibility and admission status of prospective student-athletes.
Watson will serve as a liaison with the University admissions office and the Athletics Compliance office and manage planning for on-campus official and unofficial recruiting visits by prospective student-athletes. She will assist with securing and maintaining transcripts of prospective student-athletes, analyze transcripts to ensure prospects meet entrance requirements and assist with maintaining and securing NCAA eligibility center records of prospects.
Under the direction of Bennett, Watson will assist with the organization and assemblage of coaching recruiting checklists, calendars, internet research, recruiting boards, prospects and coaches telephone directories and update databases and prospective student-athlete video libraries.
Watson will assist the football coaching staff and video coordinators in assembling and cataloging video for potential student-athletes and maintain and manage correspondence with prospects during contact periods.
At Tennessee, Watson created the itineraries for the prospective student-athletes on their on-campus visits and planned and executed events, meals and activities for official and unofficial visits. She also assisted the director of player personnel with coordinating visits, mailing lists and the recruiting boards.
She communicated plans for each prospective student-athlete's visit with the coaching staff and worked with the compliance officers to log coaches' travel and phone calls.
At Troy, Watson assisted Bennett with interviewing the hosts and communicating information to the groups on recruit visits and the schedule of events. She also coordinated the weekly meetings with the hosts and recruiting staff and was responsible for setting up game day registration, pairing official visit hosts and ordering apparel and nametags.
For two years prior to that, Watson worked national 7-on-7 tournaments for USA Football, assisting with event management and promoting events and sponsors on social media platforms.
Watson graduated with a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Troy in 2017. She served as a sixth-grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School in Enterprise, Alabama for a year.
Watson, a Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Facilitator at Troy since 2014, worked as an ambassador while in high school in 2011, served as a junior facilitator while college and remained active in the program for the last five years. She also served as an assistant facilitator in 2017-2018, recruiting staff members to take part in the seminars and also reached out to alumni about returning and also had discussions with other members about aspects of leadership.
