2019 Catamounts /// Support Staff
MIKE TAYLOR
NICK MASHBURN
HEAD ATHLETIC EQUIPMENT MANAGER
DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS
Mike Taylor is in his 18th year of his second stint at Western Carolina, returning in the spring of 2001 after a five-year absence. The Raleigh, N.C., native’s first full-time stay on WCU’s staff was for five seasons from 1991-95, also serving as the athletics equipment manager. All told, Taylor is entering his 24th season on staff at Western Carolina University.
Nick Mashburn joined the Catamount football support staff in the spring of 2019, moving into the Director of Football Operations position from across the WCU campus where he had spent a little over a year working as an Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions.
A member of the National Athletic Equipment Managers Association (AEMA), Taylor’s numerous duties include purchasing, fitting, maintenance, administration and organization, management, professional relations and education, accountability, overseeing the laundry operation, coordinating field setup for games and practices, and supervising the student assistant managers. Taylor’s ties to Western Carolina extend further. He was the football sideline reporter for the Catamount Sports Network while working as store manager at Sylva’s Four Seasons Sports. Taylor was also a student manager for four years, including one year (1990) as head student manager. Between his time at WCU, Taylor was the football equipment manager at Arizona State from 1995-96.
ALAYNA LEDFORD
ASSISTANT ATHLETIC EQUIPMENT MANAGER Alayna Ledford enters her second season on staff as Western Carolina’s Assistant Athletic Equipment Manager. She moved into the position prior to the 2016 fall camp after working the previous year as student assistant.
In his current role, Mashburn manages all aspects of the team from roster maintenance to team travel including meals. He also works extensively with entities on campus including admissions, dining services, housing, etc. Prior to returning to his alma mater in admissions, Mashburn held a variety of positions at the middle and high school ranks. While service as the in-school suspension (ISS) coordinator at Enka Middle in Asheville, he aided the middle school football program in coaching the defensive ends and assisting with the offensive wide receivers and tight ends, while also coaching middle and distance runners for the track & field program. He then made the move to Owen Middle in Black Mountain, N.C., where he taught health and physical education while also serving as the defensive coordinator and line coach on the gridiron while continuing to work with the track & field programs, coaching the throws and jumps. In the summer of 2017, Mashburn made the move to the high school ranks at McDowell High where he taught social studies in the classroom and worked as the defensive coordinator for the junior varsity squad while continuing to coach both the offense and defensive linemen on the football field. Originally from Candler, N.C., Mashburn graduated from Western Carolina University, earning his B.S. in Education in May 2013, and is currently enrolled in WCU’s Masters of Sport Management. While an undergrad in Cullowhee, Mashburn held leadership positions as a resident assistant and an orientation counselor, while also serving as the vice president of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, and was involved in WCU’s University Participant Program.
SANDY NEUENSCHWANDER
Ledford’s involvement at WCU began in 2014 when she served as a student marketing assistant for Catamount Athletics before making the move into equipment. In August of 2016, Ledford worked as an event & facility operations intern at Kennesaw State University. Ledford earned her associate’s degree from Southwestern Community College in 2013 and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Sport Management from WCU in 2016. She was a member of both Beta Alpha Psi – the International Honor Organization for Financial Information Students and Professionals –and WCU’s Sport Management Association.
JUSTIN SPEROS
DIRECTOR OF SCOUTING / QUALITY CONTROL Justin Speros joined the Catamount football support staff as the Director of Scouting / Quality Control during the summer of 2019 prior to the start of fall camp.
Administrative Support Associate, Football Office
Sandy Neuenschwander joined the Western Carolina football administrative support staff during the summer of 2011. Neuenschwander is entering her 14th year of service at Western Carolina University, working with both the Office of Admissions and Human Resources prior to joining the staff of the Catamount Club staff. Most recently before moving into athletics, Neuenschwander was employed by the WCU Office of Law, Equity and Audit. Prior to coming to work at WCU, Neuenschwander spent 10 years as the office manager at the Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley. Her work experience also includes two years as an administrative assistant at the Irene Wortham Center in Asheville and two years of inside sales at Carolina Builders in Fletcher, N.C.
Through his position, Speros will work extensively with the football coaching staff, director of football operations, and other football support staff with all video aspects of the football program including practice and game film, as well as film trade for scouting and recruiting. He will also assume social media roles in the promotion of the team (@WCU_FB).
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
Originally from Virginia, Speros comes to Cullowhee after spending the past six months as a coaching assistant with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. In addition to his time with the Browns, Speros also interned with the Jacksonville Jaguars football operations staff during the summer of 2018.
Jim Wilson joined the athletic performance staff at Western Carolina University after serving as a graduate assistant at Merrimack College working with men’s lacrosse, women’s tennis, field hockey and football.
A 2017 graduate of Clemson, Speros served as an offensive student assistant coach with the Tigers football program while an undergraduate student, parlaying that into a position as the recruiting operations assistant in January of 2018.
While at Merrimack, under Wilson’s tutelage in athletic performance, the men’s lacrosse team won the 2018 NCAA Division
Speros comes from a football family. His grandfather, Leo, was a running back at Maryland in the 1950s while his brother, Jimmy, played collegiately at Richmond. His father, Jim – also a Clemson alumnus – was an assistant coach in the NFL with the Washington Redskins, serving on the staff of the 1982 championship squad under NFL and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, and also the Buffalo Bills. A highly successful businessman, Jim went on to own a Canadian Football League team in Baltimore, Md., the Baltimore CFL Colts – later known as the Baltimore Stallions – as well as expansion into the United Football League. 2019 CATAMOUNT FOOTBALL
JIM WILSON
II National Championship.
He did a three-month internship with UCLA football in 2016, from May to August and also interned at the University of Southern California and did a year-long internship with Vanderbilt’s football program. Wilson earned his undergraduate degree in exercise science with a minor in entrepreneurship at High Point University. He was also a student-athlete at on track and field team competing in the shot put and discus and was a team captain for the program.
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