Conversations on College Athletics

Katie Thompson, Senior Account Manager at Google's Sports and Live Entertainment Team, joins Trip Durham on the Conversations on College Athletics Podcast to discuss internet marketing and how search engines play an important part of the process.

Trip Durham talks to Dan Donovan of T&M Protection Resources, LLC about the state of security in college athletics. Donovan discusses balancing the fan experience with securing a safe environment at athletic venues. The conversation covers methods to deter security breaches, issues with drones, cyber terrorism, and much more.

Trip Durham visits Wake Forest University to take a deep dive into what it takes to host five consecutive home games during a football season. Big storms aside, this in depth view includes input from a number of people who make things happen on gameday. Durham explores the approach taken by Wake Forest's athletic administrators in terms of facilities, strategic communication, fundraising, leadership, and methods of evaluation.

Jack Ford, CBS News Legal Analyst, discusses the potential effects of the SCOTUS ruling on gambling. Stressing the importance that the ruling says that individual states should decide whether to allow gambling, Ford says some states will rush to move and use this as an additional tax revenue stream while some will wait to see what plays out. Regarding college athletics, he discusses some of the primary concerns, i.e., hosting championships, new regulations, and lines of communication.

John Roberson is the CEO of Advent, joins Trip Durham on Conversations on College Athletics, to discuss the importance of telling powerful stories as an asset in intercollegiate athletics programs. Roberson talks about the importance of telling what makes a program unique and important to an audience.

Bruce Nelson, former CEO & President of Office Depot, continues to discuss the mechanisms of developing an organizational culture. His emphasis on people and trust is very obvious as he quotes from the book, The Speed of Trust, and asks the question “As a leader, what are you doing to develop trust?” Nelson mentions that everyone in an organization knows exactly what the leader will tolerate to accomplish goals, whether good or bad, so be aware of the culture you create.

From values, to culture, standard operating procedures, and getting the right people on the bus, Bruce Nelson essentially gives ADU a tutorial on successfully leading an organization. The former President and CEO of Office Depot gives insight on the aspects of executive level leadership. With a staff of over 50,000 employees, Nelson touches on the thought process in defining the culture of a national corporation. There is plenty to learn from this (part 1) audio interview.

How colleges and universities leverage their sales inventory while creating support across campus is crucial in today’s environment. In this edition of Conversations on College Athletics, Trip Durham and Dan Migala have a very open discussion about sales creativity, sponsorship trends, and the notion that none of us should ever settle.

Imagine overseeing college football, college basketball, NCAA championships, and many other college sports for all of ESPN. This includes deciding which games to broadcast (should the chips fall your way), and guessing where consumers will consume the content you do put out. This is a very real position, and the person fulfilling those daunting responsibilities is Nick Dawson, Vice President for Programming & Acquisitions at ESPN. In this edition of Conversations on College Athletics, Trip Durham visits with Dawson to discuss how the scheduling process between networks mirrors draft day process circa professional sports. The two touch on the College Football playoff relationship, cord cutting, and much more.

Danny Morrison spent nearly ten years as President of the Carolina Panthers. His time in the NFL and throughout college athletics gives us great insights to his life and how we should all approach leadership.

Part II of Trip Durham’s visit with Danny explores fostering communication, clarity, and other essentials for leadership.