Cody Kanaday joined the University of Montevallo Athletics staff as Assistant Director of Media Relations on Oct. 5, 2026.
Kanaday serves as the primary athletic communications contact for cross country, volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball, and track and field. In his role, he oversees communications and media relations efforts for his assigned programs, including writing previews, recaps and feature stories, maintaining statistics and records, coordinating media information, managing website content and producing social media and creative content.
Prior to joining Montevallo, Kanaday worked in Athletic Communications at the University of West Alabama. He joined the department in January 2026 as an intern before transitioning into a graduate assistant role in June 2026.
At West Alabama, Kanaday served as the primary athletic communications contact for the Tigers’ volleyball program. He managed the program’s day-to-day communications and media relations efforts while also assisting the department through photography, graphic design, digital content and game-day communications operations.
Kanaday has also built extensive experience in digital media, photography and sports communications outside of collegiate athletics. He has served as social media manager for Cullman Daily since 2019, helping grow the local news organization’s social media presence to more than 225,000 followers while covering breaking news, community events and high school athletics.
Kanaday is also the owner of 256 Photos, a photography business he founded in 2014. His work includes sports, graduation and event photography throughout North Alabama, with 256 Photos serving as an official graduation photography partner of Cullman County Schools.
A native of Hanceville, Alabama, Kanaday graduated summa cum laude from the University of West Alabama in May 2026 with a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications with an emphasis in Sports Communications. He graduated with a 3.88 GPA and was a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Association’s honor society. He previously earned an Associate of Science in Paralegal Studies through the Fast Track program at Wallace State Community College.
Kanaday also brings an extensive background in sports officiating. He began officiating soccer at age 12 and has since officiated basketball, volleyball, soccer, football, baseball and softball. He began officiating high school athletics with the Alabama High School Athletic Association at age 16 before advancing into collegiate officiating.
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