While more than 250 former college players were being selected at the NFL draft in Kansas City, Missouri, last weekend, a select group of young professionals were learning more about the business of college and pro football.
The second NFL/NCAA Administrators Academy, also in Kansas City, welcomed 12 graduate assistants, interns and emerging professionals within their first two years of a full-time role for four days of personal and professional development programming. Put on by the NCAA's leadership development department in partnership with the NFL, the academy aims to expand participants' capacity to perform in leadership roles in college and professional athletics administration.
"It's just been a tremendous opportunity to grow and develop," said Cordavien Suggs, a former Mississippi State football player and a McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative Future Leader working at his alma mater. "It was a great weekend overall, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
With a focus on developing ethnic minorities and women, the academy provides young professionals with professional development resources and the necessary skills to adapt to an evolving sports business landscape.
"One takeaway from the academy is just to make the best out of every opportunity you receive, especially an opportunity like this to get in front of so many people from the league and from the NCAA," said Thomas Williams, a McLendon Future Leader and diversity, equity and inclusion assistant at Georgia. "I just learned so much about opportunities I didn't even know existed, different career fields, things I can look into and things I can take back to my student-athletes. I'm honored to be a part of the program."
The in-person programming included educational and leadership sessions led by sports business professionals and industry experts.
Session leaders from the NFL included Roman Oben, vice president of football development; Nana-Yaw Asamoah, senior vice president of partnership strategy and new business; Aaron Perez, senior director of strategy and operations; and Leslie Satchell, a senior consultant. Attendees also engaged with NFL team executives like Ted Crews, executive vice president of communications for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kyle Davie, a McLendon Future Leader working at Louisville, said the academy's speakers collectively left him with a learning and growth mindset.
"I saw vice presidents, executives, everyone was taking notes on whichever speaker was speaking," Davie said. "Everyone wanted to know a little bit more or take something away. So just the idea that I can continue to learn no matter what point I'm in, I want to take that with me and keep doing that."
Camille Wilson, a former tennis student-athlete at Agnes Scott and current football operations and team logistics analyst for the Houston Texans, also spoke to the attendees. For Wilson, who was part of the inaugural NFL/NCAA Administrators Academy cohort, the opportunity to present to this year's attendees felt like a full-circle moment.
"This program personally has landed me in an ideal job for myself. Being able to be at the Texans because of this program, it just means so incredibly much to me," Wilson said. "Being able to be here and get the foundation of what it means to be great, to lead and see the incredible people that are ready to pour into you, it just meant so much to me. Had I not had the foundation of these incredible people, I would not be where I'm at in this point in time."
Felicia Martin, senior vice president of inclusion, education and community engagement at the NCAA, helped attendees develop their own "playbook" to achieve personal and career goals. Part of that playbook included gaining a better understanding of their DiSC personality assessments, which the attendees took a deep dive into to start the program.
"I learned a lot about myself and also how to work with other folks who may not have the same personality type as me or ways that we just work in different spaces," said Mya Johnson, assistant director of student-athlete development at Oregon State. "It was so insightful."
Jamari Tansmore, graduate assistant for North Carolina Central's football team, echoed Johnson.
"We've been so blessed and excited to hear from many professionals, many speakers who came and talked to us about self-assessment and self-reassessment," he said, "and the importance of really knowing yourself and always continuing to learn about yourself."
The four days of in-person programming will be followed by a five-month mentorship experience for the attendees to foster professional and personal development through a consistent and structured connection. The goal of the mentorship program is to expose the attendees to prominent leaders in the sports business industry and reinforce what they learned at the academy.
"The mentorship is really important because that's the follow-up," Oben said. "What did you learn? How are you going to use those things? That really helps your trajectory along your journey in the sports business."
2023 NFL/NCAA Administrators Academy Roster
- Anthony Bello, Southeast Missouri State
- Madyson Cole, Women Leaders in College Sports
- Kyle Davie, Louisville
- Zoe Davis, Northwestern
- Aaron Feazelle, Oklahoma
- Ashley Gimbel, DePaul
- Mya Johnson, Oregon State
- Emily Jordan, California
- Tatiyanna Sanders, Fairleigh Dickinson
- Cordavien Suggs, Mississippi State
- Jamari Tansmore, North Carolina Central
- Thomas Williams, Georgia
