Late Summer/Early Fall

Within the first few weeks of starting my internship my perspective of intercollegiate athletics changed dramatically. As a student-athlete in a Division III athletics department I was blissfully unaware of all that it takes to run a team and a department. The eight weeks of summer class had prepared me for this dramatic change, but taking part in the difference has been very illuminating.

The vast majority of our class information and discussions focused on Division I athletics. After our eight week summer intensive I believe Division I athletics are most in need of change; however, I also believe the change that is coming for Division I will not help serve the best interests of the student-athlete. The most significant personal outcome for me after “boot camp” is my realization that I have no desire to work in Division I athletics. The culture is such that progress will be extremely difficult and right now I don’t believe I have a thick enough skin to handle the likely disappointment.

During my internship I hope to gain a greater understanding of the world of Division I athletics. I hope to observe those in leadership positions in order to continue to grow my leadership skills and hone my leadership style. I believe changes can come from proper leadership that harnesses the skills of all those involved. I hope to learn what it takes to be a good leader or, more importantly, how to achieve success as a leader.

Week 8

This week of Sociology of Education was both depressing and empowering. We spent the week looking at what makes the collegiate student-athlete who they are - high school.

Many high school student across the country are denied the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities. Often those that take part in sports do so with extremely limited resources. The PBS special “The Story of American Public Education” was particularly shocking. While it may have been slightly out of date it was nevertheless a vivid reminder of the state of out public school system. For those student-athletes that make it to the collegiate level, we as athletic administrators, have an obligation help them to the highest levels of success. By making school a place that students want to be we can help them toward a more productive future.

This week was very discouraging to me, but it also made me want to become a part of college athletics even more to perhaps help bring about change. Collegiate athletics are an opportunity for many to get an education. It is critical that we as leaders articulate the goal is the education and not the sport. Collegiate athletics are loosing site of the opportunity they are providing student-athletes - the scholarships are for an education not simply a chance to compete.

Week 7

Week seven was Human Resources in Intercollegiate Athletics. We spent the majority of the week discussing various leadership styles and ways they can be utilized. I enjoyed hearing the female administrator perspective. Hearing our instructors speak about their varying backgrounds was particularly illuminating. The changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics guarantees that people from many different backgrounds can be found in an athletics department. Understanding how different backgrounds can enhance a group is essential to productive leadership.

I was particularly interested in Chris Volez’s discussion of managers versus leaders and the vary levels in between. Some projects or situations call for a good manager and some for a good leader. I appreciated her emphasis that one is not better than the other. I wish I was creative and ambitious to be what Ms. Volez’s described as a leader, but I realize that I am much more of a manager. I have no problem with this distinction and her discussion helped me understand how they can both help further each other.

Week 6

During class this week we examined one of the most critical components to running a athletics department - Development and Fundraising. Nothing can happen within an athletics department without donors and certainly not progression, which is crucial to a healthy department. The legendary athletic director, Andy Geiger, made it abundantly clear that the key to a strong development program is the relationships. Jennifer Cohen and O.D. Vincent then confirmed his statement and explained that making a donor feel appreciated is central to a good relationship, but to never forget that they are people first and then donors.

If your donors are integral to the success of you department, your friendships with your donors are the foundation of that success. There is nothing keeping a donor connected to an institution except goodwill. Ensuring that such goodwill remains strong is the fundamental duty of the development office. By fostering relationships development offices give them advantages when it comes to the actual asking of a gift. As an athletic administrator I will be sure that personable skills are at the top of the list when looking for qualified development officers.

Week 5

After this week of law I am certain the only reason I didn’t become (or haven’t yet become) a lawyer is because both of my parents are lawyers. If I hadn’t been so determined to stand against their chosen career path I may have discovered the joy of the law long ago.

While some of the definitions of legal terms learned this week may not stick in my head in a few years, I will certainly remember our discussion of the NCAA Division I manuel and the entirely arbitrary nature of intercollegiate athletic law. The members of the NCAA have become overly paranoid about other members cheating. The result of this paranoia is an oversized manual that very few people fully understand. Intercollegiate athletics is constantly changing and thus the law must change right along with it, but at what point do we say we have just gone too far? At what point has the idea of protecting the student athlete experience been overlooked?

I truly enjoyed this law class and if my career as an athletic administrator doesn’t work out I could strongly consider going back to school once again to then become a lawyer. Right now, I am glad there are compliance departments within athletics departments and I imagine, during my internship, I will become good friends with the compliance directors. Best to not try and interpret the NCAA law yourself and instead, turn to those who are sure they know what they are doing.

Week 4

During Student Populations and Experiences in Higher Education we touched on social issues such as race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and many others. I would like to thing that sport provides us with a level playing field for all, but more than anything we drape sport in a veil of ignorance - we claim a level playing field without any foundation.

While reading “Game One” by Tom Farrey we were presented with the children that are pushed into their sport at increasingly younger ages. The pressure on these children often drives them to burn out. The growth of youth sports can be seen as a wonderful opportunity for kids to participate in sports early and often, but such advancement is also pushing youth toward professionalism or more accurately commercialization earlier than ever before.

The NCAA attempts to combat this trend through their commercials highlighting that the vast majority of collegiate student-athletes to not turn pro. Still, those of lesser backgrounds turn to sport as their chance to get out or escape their underprivileged lives. Student-athletes are turning to their athlete identity rather than their student identity in an attempt to secure their future. We as future administrators are face with the most difficult task of how to turn the focus toward the academic portion of the student-athlete experience.

I believe education is the greatest tool for future life. Many of the social factors discussed this week are leading student-athletes to attend college for their sport rather than to play their sport in order to attend college. While we as administrators may not be able to change society before college, we can certainly change the culture within our athletics departments.

Week 3

I had a great time in accounting this week! I haven’t been in a science or math class in nearly four years and I didn’t realize until this week that I was missing that mindset. Not only did I enjoy the math related concepts Coach Hodge taught us, but I also appreciated understanding more of the details that are part of the budget process.

With the foundation knowledge of accounting gained in this class I am confident that, when presented with a budget, I will not panic and sit blankly staring at the information presented to me. This is extremely important to the running of an athletics department. While very few people outside of the business office of an athletics department are expected to have financially oriented minds, money, accounting, and budgeting are used everyday in athletics departments.

Prior to this class I had no education in accounting. My mother was a bank lawyer and yet I managed to stay far away from any accounting information she brought home from the office. After this class I feel better about asking questions regarding budgets because I have a background that will allow me to ask intelligent questions. Despite the fun I had during this week, I certainly will not be working in a business office. However, now I feel as though I can speak with the accountants and not loose my head when they explain the daily transactions of an athletics department.

Week 2

Throughout this week I found a common theme in our discussions to be identity. We spoke a lot about our personal moral compass when debating the question, what is the purpose of athletics with education? We all bring our own core values to the discussion which then shape our opinions. One of my core values is wisdom. I believe there is nothing more important to the growth of a people than education and athletics can help to educate people - there are lessons in life that are best learned through sport. Education is meant to provide a foundation for all future endeavors of the students life. Education should help prepare the student for what may happen. Education allows for understanding and provides the basis of knowledge that people need to become productive members of society.

Identity was also tackled through discussion of various institutions mission statements. In many cases the mission statements of the institutions were similar across the different NCAA divisions; however, the missions statements of the athletics departments varied significantly across divisions. The question here then becomes, does the student athlete identify with the mission of the institution or the mission or the athletics department? At my undergraduate institution the missions were one in the same - or at least I can make that argument seeing as your department of athletics doesn’t have it’s own mission statement. This discussion then blended nicely into identity with regards to school mascots.

Identity is key when describing the experience of the student-athlete because they inherently have dual identities. It is critical to understand both the student and the athlete when attempting to understand the student-athlete. Our discussion of identities helped me understand how important being a Division III athlete was to my experience. I really think my future in collegiate athletics lies either in Division II or III.