The Business of Sport ODU’s sport management grads promote fun and games behind the scenes By James J. Lidington Graduates of ODU’s sport management program are in demand, and they’re landing some interesting jobs once they receive their degrees. Approximately 120 undergraduates and 35 graduate students currently study sport management at Old Dominion, according to Robert Case, program coordinator. Another 30 students are taking it as a minor. The master’s program is one of only 30 accredited programs nationally. Both programs, which began seven years ago, are concentration areas within the Darden College of Education. Students who pursue a degree in sport management benefit from both a demanding curriculum, which includes many courses in the College of Business and Public Administration, and a strong internship program. In the graduate program, students can choose to conduct research for a master’s thesis or complete an internship experience. Over the last few years, thesis projects have included everything from an examination of the economic impact of the nationally recognized Portsmouth Invitational Tournament to a study of the attitudes and perceptions of Saudi Arabian women regarding participation in sports activities. “We now attract student applicants from all over the United States and Canada,” said Case. “By the time they graduate, our students are competing for some of the top sport management positions in the country.” Before Tara Higgins (M.S.Ed. ’03) walked across the stage at commencement, she had been offered jobs with NBA franchises in Phoenix, Orlando, Miami and San Antonio, all of which came her way because of her degree, her internship and the connections she made at a sport management conference in February 2003. The South Hadley, Mass., native chose Phoenix, where she is working as group sales coordinator for the Phoenix Suns, the WNBA franchise Mercury and arena football’s Rattlers. As an intern in the ODU athletic department, Higgins did everything from writing a grant proposal to tossing stuffed Chick-fil-A cows down to fans from the catwalk at the Ted Constant Convocation Center, part of an overall effort in developing marketing strategies to enhance the game experience of fans. “The biggest thing I got out of the program was the fact they had us do an extensive internship, getting real-world experience,” said Higgins. Another of the program’s many success stories is Richard Gaul ’01, a native of Carrolltown, Pa., who is an account executive with Washington Sports Entertainment Group. He was hired for the job a month after completing his internship with the organization. Season, partial and group ticket requests for the Washington Wizards and the Mystics of the WNBA keep him hopping almost year-round. Gaul was on the job for Michael Jordan’s final season in a Wizards uniform, when the team played before sell-out crowds at the MCI Center. “In sales, you deal with individual people and larger companies. It pulls out a lot of the techniques and strategies that I learned in classes [at Old Dominion]. The rest is flying by the seat of your pants,” he said. Some graduates go on to work at other colleges and universities, like Alisha Tucker, director of compliance at Villanova University. In the position since November, Tucker oversees maintaining the academic eligibility of the school’s student-athletes and interprets NCAA and Big East conference rules. Tucker, a Hampton native, earned her master’s degree with a concentration in sport management in 2001. She completed an internship in the compliance office at Michigan State University and later moved into a permanent position there. She was at MSU 2 H years before accepting the position at Villanova. While at ODU, Tucker completed an internship with the lacrosse program at Christopher Newport University, a position that had her serving as a de facto assistant coach, conducting team workouts, handling team budgets, scheduling events and hiring officials. That experience, along with the rest of her ODU career, prepared her in ways she didn’t imagine possible. “It all started to make sense when I got into the job,” she said. “The ethics class, the sports administration classes were really pivotal. Had I not gone to grad school, I wouldn’t have been equipped to do what I am doing now.” In addition to getting jobs in major cities across the nation, a number of graduates have found work right on the Old Dominion campus. “At ODU, we had no former students employed in the athletic department when I arrived in 1996. Since that time we have had over 10 full-time positions in sport management, athletic administration and sport event management filled by our graduates. This reflects truly remarkable growth in sport management,” Case said.