How to become a college athletic director?

[Anonymous]

My junior has locked in on this being a great job for herself someday. I can see it - she loves sports, loves coaching, loves helping people, has an extroverted and outgoing personality.

I have no idea how to get from A to B though. I assume going to a university with a robust athletics department that you could intern for would help? Better to play a club sport at a big D1 school or to play on a D3 team? What would one major in? Should she be looking at schools that tout their "sports management" programs?

Any thoughts or advice from people who know college athletics better than I do would be really helpful!

[Anonymous]

My senior DD wants to major in sports management/sports PR/ journalism. She has applied to LSU, Michigan State, UMass Amherst, Pitt, Ohio U, Xavier, Louisville, and South Carolina. Her ultimate goal is to work for a professional team. She has been accepted to several of the schools with substantial scholarship money.

[Anonymous]

Google some athletic directors and read their bios. Email some and ask for informational interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My senior DD wants to major in sports management/sports PR/ journalism. She has applied to LSU, Michigan State, UMass Amherst, Pitt, Ohio U, Xavier, Louisville, and South Carolina. Her ultimate goal is to work for a professional team. She has been accepted to several of the schools with substantial scholarship money.

Syracuse???

[Anonymous]

Play on a team, but also be a student manager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Play on a team, but also be a student manager.

adding, my DD is a manager for wrestling and gets to lean about recruitment from the coach's side.

[Anonymous]

Have her talk to her high school’s AD. They should have some advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My junior has locked in on this being a great job for herself someday. I can see it - she loves sports, loves coaching, loves helping people, has an extroverted and outgoing personality.

I have no idea how to get from A to B though. I assume going to a university with a robust athletics department that you could intern for would help? Better to play a club sport at a big D1 school or to play on a D3 team? What would one major in? Should she be looking at schools that tout their "sports management" programs?

Any thoughts or advice from people who know college athletics better than I do would be really helpful!

This is a great q.

I feel this is way more opaque than how to become a GM, sporting director in pro sports which I have lots of knowledge about.

College sports jobs otoh are so opaque.

I wil say do not get suckered into sports management programs.

M7 mba will help way way more, especiallly mit sloan (sloan connection to the sport world ironically is immense), HBS,GsB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My junior has locked in on this being a great job for herself someday. I can see it - she loves sports, loves coaching, loves helping people, has an extroverted and outgoing personality.

I have no idea how to get from A to B though. I assume going to a university with a robust athletics department that you could intern for would help? Better to play a club sport at a big D1 school or to play on a D3 team? What would one major in? Should she be looking at schools that tout their "sports management" programs?

Any thoughts or advice from people who know college athletics better than I do would be really helpful!

OP, my junior is the same but thinks she wants to go into sports medicine. She doesn’t have the grades and wrong fit. What you’ve described is her to a T and I’m going to suggest this. Whenever I mention coaching all she thinks is HS.

Thanks for posting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google some athletic directors and read their bios. Email some and ask for informational interviews.

👍
I could tell you how to become nationals GM or Wiz GM…

…I have no idea how gtown ad or umd ad gets their job.

I do know at power 5 school (b10, sec, pac12), the skills seem to overlap a lot with being a media executive as you are selling a product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My junior has locked in on this being a great job for herself someday. I can see it - she loves sports, loves coaching, loves helping people, has an extroverted and outgoing personality.

I have no idea how to get from A to B though. I assume going to a university with a robust athletics department that you could intern for would help? Better to play a club sport at a big D1 school or to play on a D3 team? What would one major in? Should she be looking at schools that tout their "sports management" programs?

Any thoughts or advice from people who know college athletics better than I do would be really helpful!

This is a great q.

I feel this is way more opaque than how to become a GM, sporting director in pro sports which I have lots of knowledge about.

College sports jobs otoh are so opaque.

I wil say do not get suckered into sports management programs.

M7 mba will help way way more, especiallly mit sloan (sloan connection to the sport world ironically is immense), HBS,GsB.

Can you say more about sports management programs? I see them cropping up more and more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My junior has locked in on this being a great job for herself someday. I can see it - she loves sports, loves coaching, loves helping people, has an extroverted and outgoing personality.

I have no idea how to get from A to B though. I assume going to a university with a robust athletics department that you could intern for would help? Better to play a club sport at a big D1 school or to play on a D3 team? What would one major in? Should she be looking at schools that tout their "sports management" programs?

Any thoughts or advice from people who know college athletics better than I do would be really helpful!

This is a great q.

I feel this is way more opaque than how to become a GM, sporting director in pro sports which I have lots of knowledge about.

College sports jobs otoh are so opaque.

I wil say do not get suckered into sports management programs.

M7 mba will help way way more, especiallly mit sloan (sloan connection to the sport world ironically is immense), HBS,GsB.

Can you say more about sports management programs? I see them cropping up more and more.

These are mostly money making programs for universities that sucker kids into a degree that isn’t that useful. About 5x worse than “public policy” degrees had flood this town.

There are Not many “good jobs” in sports that actually pay you for a having a middle class life.

So much of it is 60% networking 40% skills and if you see bios in pro sports junior execs/execs in 2021 have indistinguishable profiles from mbb consultants to be honest.

I worked for two mlb teams in the front office and have two family members who work in sports as decision makers.

Unless you are a former pro or high level d1 athlete, some mit grad with a history of blogging gets their interview requests accepted vs sports management grad.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend who is a physician and trying to work his way into Athletic Director. It's tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My senior DD wants to major in sports management/sports PR/ journalism. She has applied to LSU, Michigan State, UMass Amherst, Pitt, Ohio U, Xavier, Louisville, and South Carolina. Her ultimate goal is to work for a professional team. She has been accepted to several of the schools with substantial scholarship money.

Syracuse???

Out of our price range.

[Anonymous]

Sports management programs are BS. Play on a team amf manage a team. Most ADs have coached college along the way.