Editor's Note: CoSIDA has initiated a
new series entitled "Our Stories" where specific members of our national association will be profiled, or provide a POV commentary/blog to be shared on
CoSIDA.com.
Want to recommend a CoSIDA member for the "Our Stories" series?
Please contact Barb Kowal, CoSIDA Director of External Affairs at
barbkowal@cosida.com or via phone (512-730-1234).
The first member profiled is Coppin State Director of Athletic Communications
Rob Knox, the newly-elected CoSIDA third vice-president. Prior to his CoSIDA appointment, Knox was selected to participate in the 2015
NCAA Leadership Institute which was held in Pittsburgh this July. The Leadership Institute provides tailored programming to assist racial and ethnic minorities in strategically mapping and planning their athletics administration careers. Participants receive professional development programming over the course of a calendar year which includes two, one-week programs at the beginning and conclusion of that year.
Below, Knox writes about his Institute experiences and explores the role that athletic communications professionals play on campuses and in conference offices.
In His Words: Attending the NCAA Leadership Institute
by Rob Knox, Coppin State Director of Athletic Communications/CoSIDA 3rd Vice President
The decision to apply for the NCAA Leadership Institute in Pittsburgh was one of the best I ever made in my life. Being selected as one of 20 participants in the program, designed and facilitated by NCAA leadership development, was a blessing and an experience I will never forget.
We entered the Institute as individuals and departed as one family forever bonded by our engaging experiences at the Omni William Penn Hotel in which we shared laughs, learned plenty, developed a deep network of colleagues across the country and encouraged each other. It didn’t matter the size of the school or the conference affiliation as we became one team committed to each other’s growth.
As CoSIDA's third vice president, representing the organization and Coppin State University during the weeklong conference was an honor.
Being surrounded in a room full of leaders with the same goals from every spectrum of athletics from compliance directors, academic coordinators, directors of student-athlete welfare, senior women’s administrators, associate athletics directors, athletic trainers, marketing directors made me realize how much our voices are valued.
It was refreshing to step out of my comfort zone this week and interact with different people outside of athletic communications.
As athletic communications professionals, we bring a unique perspective to the table in that many of the athletic directors that spoke with us acknowledged. They heavily involve their athletics communications directors in any major decisions that are being considered. More often than not, we are expected to add input.
Though the day-to-day diligence of game management, statistical reporting and writing recaps will never cease in importance, it’s even more critical for us to be able to provide leadership that is proactive in terms of messaging, branding, and crisis communication. We are entrusted to maintain relationships with various constituents while generating unique content.
Being a strong communicator and one that an athletic director can trust is extremely important in today’s intercollegiate athletic world because it actually goes beyond sports information and more into strategic thinking that aligns with the University’s vision and values.
We are expected to confidently engage with athletic administrators consistently to always understand the big picture and provide the direction needed to make decisions that affect fans, stakeholders, employees and student-athletes. We are key members in many cases of the athletic department’s administrative team.
My week was amazing, intense, challenging and eye-opening. There were late nights, early mornings, and tough decisions that everybody had to make, and time to eat a Primanti Brother’s sandwich, one of Pittsburgh’s signatures.
We were exposed to a tremendous wealth of knowledge about us as individuals, leadership styles, as well as the business of intercollegiate athletics from a variety of key leaders at several NCAA institutions. I learned much about myself as a person and as a leader thanks to the DiSC assessment I took before arriving to Pittsburgh.
The DiSC is a personal assessment tool used to improve work productivity, teamwork and communication. DiSC is non-judgmental and helps people discuss their behavioral differences. I completed a series of questions that produced a detailed report about my personality and behavior. In addition, our class was assigned to read a book called “Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward.”
More importantly, we explored our values and how they aligned to the work we do within our daily day-to-day jobs. We also created action plans in which we are responsible for holding one another accountable to complete.
Throughout the week, we were exposed to various tools that can assist us in creating a vision, shaping critical thinking and guiding decision making. Dr. Bernard Franklin, the NCAA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Inclusion Officer, addressed us about the failing leader and what we could learn from them to be effective in our roles.
We were fortunate to hear from athletics directors Jeff Hathaway (Hofstra), Patricia Hoeg (Allegheny), Josh Centor (Carnegie-Mellon) and Phil Racicot (Duquesne) during the course of the week. In addition, we listened to exciting presentations from Duquesne’s Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Gregory Frazer, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference commissioner Steve Murray, Arizona State’s Senior Associate Athletic Director of Student-Athlete Development & Performance Jean Boyd and LSU’s Director of Academic Affairs Walt Holliday.
One of the highlights for me was eating dinner and spending one-on-one time with Dr. Janice Hillard, the NBA's Director of Player Development. Another memorable moment during the week was listening to the Institute alumni panel featuring Derek Cowherd (Ole Miss’ Senior Associate Athletics Director), Dr. Karin Lee (Ball State’s Senior Associate Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator) and Adrianne Swinney (UNC-Wilmington’s Deputy Athletic Director) share their experiences.
We also visited Duquesne University and spent an entire day, touring its facilities, learning about its culture and interviewing key members of the athletics & administrative staff. Even though our schedule was packed at Duquesne, I did get an opportunity to catch up and speak with Erik Kaminski, who is the Assistant Director of Multimedia Operations. Kaminski and I were colleagues in the PSAC when he worked at Mercyhurst and I was at Kutztown.
We also spent a lot of times working in groups during the week, which helped us learn about group dynamics, working with people who share different views and values, critically thinking about the big picture, public presentation and much more. We switched groups at least twice a day, which was fun and exciting.
We also gained knowledge in a variety of topic areas that included student-athlete welfare issues, diversity and inclusion issues at all levels of intercollegiate athletics, strategic planning, budget management, fundraising, compliance, human resources and performance management within the organization, as well as understanding the role search firms play within the business of intercollegiate athletics.
My special 2015 Leadership Institute class included Armani Rice (Duke), Ariel “AP” Pesante (Hofstra), GoEun Lee (Florida Palm Beach Atlantic), Darnell Smith (Central Oklahoma), Angel Mason (Hamilton), Felicia Tucker (Georgia Tech), Carla Gilson (Georgia Tech), Terrance Jones (Delaware State), Carl Hairston, Jr. (North Carolina A&T), Cierra Gillison (Ohio State), Eric Mayes (NCAA), Payton Williams (NCAA), Shelly Terry (Oklahoma), Kydani Dover (Ole Miss), Resa Lovelace (Oregon), Trayvean Scott (Southern), Cori Pinkett (Kansas State), Dana Reynolds (Vanderbilt) and Lauren Taylor (Maryland).
These talented professionals will always hold a special place in my heart. In demonstrating their commitment to my growth, they consistently encouraged and challenged me throughout the week. They are forever friends that I will always treasure and with whom I will continue building relationships. We are already looking forward to 2016 when we meet again as a group for year two programming and graduation.
Our facilitator Lynne Kaplan, President of Do What Counts, was amazing and excellent at getting us to open up and share personal information with each other.
In speaking with fellow CoSIDA board member, Rising Star Award winner and Leadership Institute alum Chevonne Mansfield during the alumni reception, we agreed that one of our goals is to make sure somebody from our organization applies for the program every year. In the past former SIDs Dr. Kristine Kelly, Derrick Johnson, Tiffani Sykes, Harry Stinson and Shera White have participated in the NCAA Leadership Institute while they were in the profession. Current South Carolina State SID Kendrick Lewis also participated in the Institute.
I can't emphasize how impactful the NCAA Leadership Institute was for me. As you can tell, we interacted with personnel from all levels of the NCAA. I am excited to begin implementing everything I learned to make Coppin State better and CoSIDA stronger. We have a deep network of contacts that supports and believes in our membership.
For more information about NCAA leadership development programs like the Institute, go to www.NCAA.org/leadershipdevelopment.
Finally, as one participant described, participating in the NCAA Leadership Institute made me realize that “what I once thought was my ceiling is now my floor.”
That impactful statement hit home for me as I thought back to one of the emotional moments during the week in which I shared some of my personal fears and growth challenges with my class. It wasn’t easy sharing deeply intimate information with people I had just met, but as the week progressed the comfort level increased among everybody.
However, my with colleagues support, they helped me understand that we’re all a work in progress and that we all have much more to give and accomplish.
We realize there’s more of an impact we can have within the world of intercollegiate athletics with our collective talents. We were reminded to “never take a second off from being excellent so that you won’t have any regrets” and “that we all matter in intercollegiate athletics no matter our roles.”
As the memorable week concluded, we were encouraged by Ohio State’s Assistant Provost/Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Success Dr. David Graham in a rousing motivational message to “keep pushing the rock” as leaders on our different campuses.