The AthleticDirectorU Podcast

Advent CEO John Roberson joins the AthleticDirectorU Podcast to discuss the role sports can play in returning to normalcy, engaging with fans during these uncertain times, making and communicating tough decisions, leading with purpose, and aligning on points of differentiation.

Read more from John Roberson at https://athleticdirectoru.com/articles/the-renewal-of-college-athletics

Boston College Associate Vice President of Major Giving and Development Wesley Ellison Stewart and Oklahoma Senior Associate Athletics Director for Administration and Development Zac Selmon sit down with CarrSports Consulting's Kevin Anderson to discuss what makes a successful fundraiser, cultivating donors, the balance of the annual fund and sport-specific goals, and much more. Ellison Stewart and Selmon also touch on their career aspirations, their career paths, work-life balance, and developing future fundraisers.

2:11 - What skill sets are required to be a successful fundraiser 3:51 - How do you identify, involve, and cultivate donors? (Ellison Stewart) 4:46 - How do you determine what kind of gift or how much you're going to ask for? (Selmon) 5:49 - How do you balance annual fund giving with sport-specific fundraising goals? 7:49 - How do you determine when to bring the athletic director or the coach into the fundraising process? 10:41 - How are you coordinating with university and other department to get people to come to games? (Selmon) 11:46 - Explain the process you went through to bring Boston College's first athletic campaign to the public. (Ellison Stewart) 13:12 - What was your career path that brought you to your current positions? 14:59 - How can your ADs or the people that are in your positions at their universities help you, not only be successful at your job, but your career aspirations as well? 17:26 - With your job being on 24/7, how do you balance your work and your private life? 19:51 - How do you lead and develop your fundraisers? 22:07 - What are your career aspirations? 24:03 - How do you manage different generations of individuals?

Collegiate Sports Associates Founder & President Todd Turner moderates a conversation between Eastern Kentucky Athletic Director Matt Roan, Saint Mary's Athletic Director Mike Matoso, and Cal Baptist Athletic Director Micah Parker on creating a culture and environment for success with limited resources. The trio of ADs discuss assessing the culture upon their arrival, implementing their own culture, tough decisions for a new AD, reallocating resources, and much more.

1:30 - When you began your tenure as an AD, how did you assess the culture and prepare yourself to lead in that environment? 5:01 - How did you implement your own style, set of values, and strategies after evaluating the current environment? (Parker & Matoso) 7:50 - Did you have to make some tough decisions when you came in the new role? 10:38 - Did you have to reallocate resources to make changes to change the culture and get it moving in the right direction? 13:13 - How did you assess people's performance with limited staff and possibly limited abilities to move them elsewhere? (Matoso) 14:10 - How did your career path prepare you to become an AD?

Jonathan Gantt, Associate Athletics Director for Creative Solutions at Clemson, joins Jay F. Hicks on the Sports Creatives Podcast. Gantt discusses how his team and Clemson Athletics have handled these uncertain times, communicating with his team and administration, the appropriate content for Clemson during this crisis, and engaging student-athletes.

3:52 – During the beginning of this crisis, what was the discussion like among creatives on your staff and who came up with the plan your office on how to move forward and how to react to all of this? 7:06 – What did the first 24 to 48 hours look like for Clemson? 9:49 – How is your team, from full-time staff to grad students to student workers, communicating and still making things work during these uncertain times? 14:58 – What is the communication with your administration in terms of obviously messaging and tone, and determining what things need to be discussed? 21:06 – What conversations are you guys having internally on what is appropriate and how to make those decisions on what content is shared for the overall brand, and then with the specific teams? 26:53 – How is your team engaging with the current student-athletes during these uncertain times and moving forward?

Washington AD Jennifer Cohen and Milwaukee AD Amanda Braun discuss how they identify and hire coaches and staff, culture and fit, expectations for other leaders making hires, and more.

1:36 - How do you try to find people that fit within a certain system that you've built at your respective athletic programs? 5:23 - What is the process for determining is a candidate is both qualified and genuine in the interview process? 8:26 - Do you have somebody that plays devil's advocate during hiring process? (Cohen) 10:08 - Is there a difference between hiring a star basketball or football coach as compared to hiring an Assistant AD? 12:59 - How do you know if a potential head coach has what it takes to succeed at your institution? 17:18 - How are you ensuring that the other leaders in your organization are meeting your expectations for new hires? 20:32 - How far ahead are you thinking when it comes to hiring?

Matt Oberlin, Associate AD of Capital Projects, Facilities & Events at Central Michigan, and April Messerly, Associate AD/Facilities & Operations at West Virginia, sit down with Athletic Director U to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on facilities, event management and capital projects. Oberlin, current president of CEFMA, and Messerly, a past president of CEFMA, discuss concerns among their peers, how facilities are being maintained, the impact on capital projects, and more.

0:32 - Introduction 2:24 - What are some of the concerns and discussions during this time with regard to facilities, event management and capital projects? 5:39 - How are you handling the maintenance of athletic fields? 9:06 - How have these changes impacted the relationship and communications with the university? 10:45 - What is the impact of the current state of affairs on capital projects? 17:22 - What has your communication with coaches been? 21:34 - How will the COVID-19 pandemic change how you think about details of facilities in the future?

Jay F. Hicks sits down with Michigan's Digital Strategy and Creative Lead Brian Wagner and Texas' Assistant Director, Digital and Social Strategy Marc Jordan to talk about the NCAA's United For One campaign, led by this duo. The trio talked about the hours and days when the NCAA was beginning to cancel competitions and then seasons due to the corona virus outbreak, how their respective social and digital teams are continuing to operate, how their creative and social teams are continuing to tell the brand story, and so much more.

3:36 – Can you walk us through the origination and execution of the United For One campaign? 11:03 – How do you feel like the campaign was received online, in terms of getting the message out? 14:22 – How did your respective athletic departments handle when competitions and later seasons were beginning to be canceled? 20:53 – How are you operating with everyone on your respective digital social and external teams, including graduate assistants or student workers? 26:15 – How are you guys continuing to create content and tell the brand story? And then what does that look like moving forward? 32:03 – Have you found that you've either altered or kept your voice or your tone in the brand that you've build and found appropriate ways to do that?

INFLCR Founder & CEO Jim Cavale sits down with State Representative Chip LaMarca and Darren Heitner of Heitner Legal, two of the leaders behind the NIL bill that recently passed in the Florida State Legislature.

Teamworks Founder & CEO Zach Maurides sits down with Athletic Director U to discuss communicating to constituents amidst all the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Maurides discusses how organizations can utilize the Teamworks platform, which is open to all athletic departments for free through the end of April, and the importance of instant communication with student-athletes, staff, coaches, and other stakeholders.