In the latest episode of “ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey” hosted by Alumni Direct, we speak with Keith Sconiers, former college basketball player, podcaster, speaker and entrepreneur. 

Did sports have any affect on shaping how you approach life?

"The thing that really shaped who I was and who I am as a person today really had to do with the relationship I had with my high school coach- the one who got me started playing ball. Prior to him meeting me, I had been expelled 6 times before I got to high school. My freshman year in high school I had a 1.3 GPA and had already been kicked off campus...I was going down the wrong road. And one day, we sat in the car after a booster meeting. He was giving me a ride home and we stopped at a stoplight. And he just looked at me in a very specific way and said "Hey, if you're not going to take this serious, I'm really not gonna mess with you." And it was at that point that I realized that if I didn't get my act straight, then I wasn't going to have an opportunity. And ever since then, I've tended to treat every single opportunity that I have access to with a certain level of professionalism and tenacity that it takes to see the job through. And so, I wouldn't say that it was necessarily the game...it was more the expectations of how you should approach life, that was shaped by that coach. That really had an impact on how I approached life, the sport, and everything that I attempt to do today."

Give me your thoughts on NIL.

"Man, I think it's a great opportunity. I think that if you're an athlete that's a creator, that can create a followership and can create a personal brand for yourself and can leverage that into opportunities, not only for yourself but for the community that you care about making an impact on, I think that is fantastic. I think it's great. I don't think that it's a silver bullet that's going to solve issues, per say, for athletes, because we still have professional athletes that make millions of dollars that difficulty transitioning. And so, I think that if it's not properly handled as it relates to a holistic offering to help an athlete really develop as a person and a professional, then I think that it could exacerbate the issue when it comes to transition, because now how are you going to handle not having the attention from organizations if you haven't done a good job in creating a personal brand that is beyond just who you are as an athlete? If you lose your voice after you're done playing a sport, and you're no longer a great partner for these brands, now how are you going to handle that? And so, I think it's a great opportunity, but with all opportunities come new responsibilities, and I think that if an athlete can approach it with the right mindset and the right support, I think it is a tremendous opportunity."

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