Career Highlights:
- MA, Sports Administration, University of North Carolina 2001 – 2002
- Assistant ticketing manager, University of North Carolina – Jul 2001 – Jul 2003
- Assistant athletic director – ticketing and corporate sales, University of Utah Athletics – Jul 2005 – Oct 2010
- Deputy athletic director, Oregon State University – Jul 2015 – Nov 2021
- VP for athletics, Abilene Christian University – Nov 2021 –
Can you take us back to when you first decided to apply for the course and what your thinking was then?
I grew up out West in California and had actually studied Politics and Economics at undergraduate level and was on a path towards studying Law. I was a sports fan but wasn’t a college athlete or college coach, so I didn’t really see it as my desired profession, but always appreciated sport.
During my undergraduate experience and professional experience that followed shortly after it, I just didn’t find the same passion and love as I would later find in sports. I had a particular interest in college sports and so searched for programmes across the country that could provide the foundation for a career in that space.
At that time, there was significantly fewer sports management programmes to choose from at the postgraduate level. What really stood out about the University of North Carolina was its emphasis on college sports administration, which obviously aligned with my interests.
It also combined classroom experience with practical application through the internship opportunity in the second year of the programme which involved working in one of the most prestigious athletic departments in the country.
Can you explain your experience of the internship further?
After the first year where we were taking classes and also teaching undergraduate classes, the second year involved us working on a thesis and also a full-time internship. There was a matching process where we would identify our desired programmes and the programmes would interview us.
My role was ultimately within the ticket office, which was an area I wouldn’t have thought would be particularly suited to me and candidly wasn’t my first choice, but I found a home there. There were several people there who I worked with that were great to work with and learn alongside. This included two current division one athletic directors in the US – Richard Hart and Matt Roberts. I was on the phone all day talking to people across the great state of North Carolina about North Carolina Athletics and it was a great practical experience that set me up for my professional future. I ended up getting into ticketing at Louisiana State University as a first job coming out of the programme. My boss at LSU was friends with my boss during the internship at North Carolina and he made the initial introduction for me that lead me on the career path I’ve been on since.
So, I’m very grateful for that ticket office experience and the people there that looked out for me personally and gave me that first chance. The fact they took an interest in me and tried to help me along the way was invaluable for my future career pathway.
On that career pathway, since graduating from the University of North Carolina, you’ve stayed in college sports. What do you enjoy about working in the space?
The US is obviously somewhat unique in terms of its system of marrying high-level athletics with high-level education, whereas in other countries you are generally going to be at some kind of sporting institution if you are an elite level athlete. The system we work in here is complex and growing more so by the minute. The reason being that a lot of folks enjoy college sports in a similar way to professional sports, as an entertainment industry where they can enjoy watching their favourite teams and following their results.
However, most of the people that work within the space view it as an education business. The passion and the entertainment side of it definitely allows us to create more opportunities business wise, but if you’re just focused on that element and not the educational mission of getting these young people degrees and developing their passion outside of sport, so they can become impactful members of their communities, we are missing out on an opportunity.
It’s a very misunderstood business at times and that’s why I feel like a dedicated programme, whether it’s at North Carolina or elsewhere is a really good background and understanding to the educational element of what we do. Otherwise, we might as well work in professional sports, which is of course a worthy career and something I’m a huge fan of and certainly not meaning anything negative about, but I think we have to keep the distinction from college sports clear. That’s why I believe a graduate degree and diving into the educational mission of what we do is a worthy reminder and foundational piece that allows you to understand that distinction.
You are now vice president for athletics at Abilene Christian University. What type of work does this entail on a daily basis?
There’s lots of different aspects. One of the most enjoyable is that I regularly get to hear and interact with the stories of the athletes and staff members that are part of the institution who have amazing life changing experiences. At the same time, you also get to deal with all of the challenging dynamics at play. In this role, I’m effectively a parent of 450 student athletes, so it’s fair to assume that someone among that group is making a bad decision or facing a challenge every day. We obviously try to help them navigate those situations so that’s a significant element of the work we do. There’s also the personnel management of the staff we have here which again is about problem solving and service.
Every day I come into the office and have a set plan, which ultimately plays out about one in 10 days. The other nine it’s about making sure everything and everyone is going in the right direction and adapting to the unique scenario of the day.
There’s also the need to ensure we have the resources and revenue to carry out our work. That could involve advocating for our department on campus, or advocating to generous people within the local community, making sure that they understand our mission and why what we’re doing matters.
Overall, I feel so blessed and lucky to have what I view as one of the best jobs. I constantly get to be around the next generation of leaders who are at a really critical time of their life and we’ve got and because of sport we’ve got an opportunity to get their attention and impact their lives, which is an incredible and very rewarding responsibility.