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Day three at #CSCUNITE23 included a luncheon celebration of the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Class of 2023, and Dick Enberg Award recipient. CSC honored its Academic All-America Hall of Fame class at a luncheon where ESPN’s
Holly Rowe served as emcee.
Four of the greats in their sports also balanced academic success with philanthropic work:
Andrew Cain holds multiple career pitching records at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and captained one of only 71 nuclear submarines in the US Naval fleet.
Rick Miller, an accomplished goalkeeper, finished his soccer career at Bentley University with a school-record goals-against-average that stands today; also today, Miller is CEO of Being Chief LLC where he is a noted business leadership coach and also an adjunct professor at his alma mater.
Kevin Warren, a 1,000-point scorer for Grand Canyon University, served as the Big Ten Conference commissioner before returning to the NFL as the new president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
Lindsay Whalen, a three-time All-American and conference player of the year, led the University of Minnesota to the 2004 NCAA Women’s Final Four, had an all-star WNBA career, and is the former Minnesota women’s basketball head coach.
Basketball great
Tamika Catchings was in attendance to receive the prestigious Dick Enberg Award. A four-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), Catchings was a consensus All-American at the University of Tennessee for the late legendary head coach Pat Summit and went on to an all-star WNBA career. Today, Catchings focuses on philanthropic work through her Catch the Stars Foundation. Started in 2004, the foundation “empowers disadvantaged youth to achieve their dreams by providing goal- setting programs that promote fitness, literacy, and youth development.”
Named for the late Enberg, a lead spokesperson and advocate for the Academic All-America® program until his passing in 2017, the Enberg award is presented annually to an individual who has distinguished themselves nationally through their career achievement and meaningful social contributions while promoting the values of education and academics. With Rowe asking them questions in sit-down interviews, their messages and recollections as collegiate scholar-athletes were thoughtful, often humorous and insightful.
Day #3 #CSCUNITE23 Convention Highlights:
No one can ever accuse the CSC convention planning committee of building a schedule without variety and without pertinent topics. Tuesday was full of interactive, targeted and specialized programming galore! Sessions were full and questions were plenty as topics included the magic of innovation, achieving leadership roles as a female, and identifying and strengthening your brand story. Additionally, Three collaborative panels with NACDA Affiliate organizations.
There were three Tuesday mega-sessions where CSC partnered with NACDA affiliates NACMA (the marketing association), ICLA (licensing group) and N4A (The National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals) on presenting professional development sessions for all members. For the CSC-NACMA session, Orlando Magic personnel were invited to speak on “the magic of innovation,” a discussion led by the Magic’s
Jay Riola, Executive VP of strategy and innovation, a SportsBusiness Journal's (SBJ) Forty Under 40 Class of 2022 member.
With the N4A, the session was entitled “#AspireHigher: Women In Athletic Leadership” and was a real-talk, honest discussion with audience Q&A. The session had three powerful women spotlighted:
Patti Phillips, Women Leaders in College Sports’ CEO;
Jackie Nicholson, Rochester Institute of Technology Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and N4A president; and moderator
Mary Beth Challoner, CSC’s third VP who serves as University of Toronto Director, Intercollegiate Athletics & High Performance Sport.
The CSC-ICLA session focused on “Strengthening Your Brand Story: Make It Personal” with special guests Howie Burke (Getty Images Director, Sports Business Development);
Deanna Cardillo (TCU Director of Branding and Licensing);
Todd S. Shumaker (partner at Church Church Hittle + Antrim); and moderator
Matt Panto (Ivy League Associate Executive Director, Strategic Communications & External Relations).
Other Programming Highlights
Following the Academic All-America Hall of Fame luncheon, attendees joined CBS Executive VP of Communications
Jen Sabatelle and CSC Executive Director
Erik Christianson for a discussion on CBS Sports’ storytelling and what the network broadcasters and producers need from the sports communicators to tell the most pertinent stories. And, a second diversity and inclusion panel took the form of a town hall, following their conversation circles from Sunday.
A Genius Sports discussion this year took a different turn in 2023; instead of speaking directly about NCAA LiveStats software/software development, the session instead welcomed special guests Mustafa Abdul-Hamid (Boost founder) and Nate Schnader (Big Ten Conference Chief Information Officer) with moderator
Oliver Wells (Genius Sports VP for Strategic Sports Partnerships) for a a discussion on “storytelling using data and analytics.”
Training in Educational Lounge sessions (hands-on training and small group discussions) were held throughout the day. People attended in droves Adobe softball explorations, social media and digital video strategies, how to manage up from your present seat, emerging trends in technology, including AI and ChatGPT; and statistical and sports rules breakouts.