Southeast compliance director takes job in Texas

Southeast Missouri State's assistant athletic director for compliance is leaving for an identical position much closer to home.

Jayson Santos, a Houston native, soon will become the assistant athletic director for compliance at Texas State University in San Marcos.

Like Southeast, Texas State fields a Division I athletic program that participates in I-AA for football.

Santos, whose last day at Southeast will be Sept. 19, said he enjoyed his two-plus years at the university. But the opportunity to work in the area where he grew up was too good to pass up.

San Marcos is located about 170 miles from Houston and about 30 miles from Austin, where Santos attended the University of Texas before attending law school at Texas Southern University in Houston.

"There are a lot of good people in the athletic department here that made the experience I had enjoyable," said Santos, who started at Southeast in August of 2006. "This was my first full-time job at a university and I appreciate Southeast for giving me the chance.

"But I was looking for an opportunity to get close to home. I've got a lot of family, a lot of friends there. And I'm a warm-weather guy."

The 29-year-old Santos was Southeast's first-ever assistant athletic director for compliance to concentrate full time in that area.

That position previously had been labeled assistant athletic director for compliance and student services.

Santos' hiring was deemed an important one for the university because before his arrival, the NCAA alleged that both Southeast basketball programs had committed rules violations.

In June of this year the NCAA penalized Southeast for major and secondary violations in its women's and men's basketball programs.

And the NCAA recently announced that it was beginning a new investigation into the Southeast men's basketball program.

Santos said despite all the trials and tribulations Southeast has experienced over the past few years, he believes the athletic department is moving in the right direction regarding NCAA compliance.

"It's a lot of trial by fire. There are a lot of things the university is working through," said Santos, who before coming to Southeast worked as an intern in membership services with the NCAA national office in Indianapolis. "They're trying to move in the right direction and I think they are."

Santos said his ultimate goal is to become a Division I athletic director.

"I enjoy compliance a lot, but I would really like to eventually be in upper management," he said.

Southeast athletic director Don Kaverman lauded the work Santos has done and said the university is conducting a national search for his replacement.

"He's done an outstanding job," Kaverman said. "He came here under difficult circumstances. He re-established the credibility of that office.

"We hate to lose him, but he's got a great opportunity to get back close to home."