Derek Mason has added an off-the-field member to his Vanderbilt staff in Jake Kirkendall and promoted in-house candidate Dr. Christiana Russell within the Commodore program.

Kirkendall will serve as Director of Football Operations for Vanderbilt, a position he briefly held at Tennessee under Butch Jones. Before landing in Knoxville, Kirkendall held the same role at Eastern Michigan for eight years. He is a graduate of Ohio.

Dr. Russell has been serving as Vanderbilt’s Director Player Development this spring, she was previously the program’s Director Office of Transition Programs. Before landing in Nashville, Dr. Russell worked five years at Auburn in an off-the-field role.

The coming season will be Mason’s fifth in Nashville, he currently has an 18-31 overall record and a 6-26 SEC record.