Not just for coaches-in-training
"What I like most about the sports management major is looking at athletics in a different way than I had before," says a senior with a double major in sports management and business administration. "It's not just a major where you go out and learn about coaching. You take a wide variety of courses, from business classes to leadership and theory-of-coaching classes. It's a broad, diverse major." Another business administration and sports management double major says she is "really interested in learning about all the different aspects of how sport in general affects our lives." A senior agrees, "I think it's made me a lot more aware of how sports are such a major part of people's lives, whether they're actually playing or not."

A different look at sports
"You learn a little bit more about sports in general, instead of just the playing side of it. You begin to understand everything that it takes to get organized for it. There are a lot of aspects you don't realize until you sit down to start studying it," remarks a senior. "One of the courses I took, Leadership, really relates more to everyday life and how to be an effective communicator." She continues, "It even gives steps you can take to motivate people to help get things done." Sports management majors can specialize in such things as coaching, facility management, or athletics directorship; or they can keep their focus more general. A professor adds, "Students can get a broad-based liberal arts education while studying something they really like. By looking at athletics, they can learn philosophy, ethics, and different views about societal concerns, such as women and racism in sports."

In the sports arena
"I think the best thing about the program," a senior remarks, "is the required internship away from the academic setting, where you find out how what you've talked about in class actually applies, and what theories do and don't work." Another senior says, "I was an assistant to the venue manager for the 1994 Olympic Festival. Basically, I was this guy's right-hand man, and the two of us did anything and everything in organizing, managing, and set-up for track and field and wrestling. I was directly responsible for training and organizing over 1,200 volunteers." A recent graduate now working for the YMCA corporate offices in downtown Chicago says her job actually developed from an internship she did with the YMCA as a student.

A word about the sports business
Most sports management majors add business administration as a second major or as a minor. "The two majors really complement each other," says a senior major. "You get the business-oriented side, and then you get the more people-oriented side through sports management." A professor points out, "Half the courses for the major are offered through our Business Administration Department, including rigorous study in Management, Marketing, and Accounting. Students even take courses through the Mass Communication Department for the sports management major." Two classes that stand out in one graduate's thoughts are Marketing and Facility Management. She says she enjoyed how involved the classes were, saying, "Both of them were very project-oriented. We spoke with people in the business field to get answers to projects we were working on."

Let the games begin
"I think the major has given me a really excellent start to a career in sports management," says a senior whose internship was to assist the athletics director of a large high school in Tucson, Arizona, with winter sports for 2,500 students. "The athletics director I worked with said he was very impressed with my background." A professor adds, "We've had a terrific success rate with finding jobs for our graduates." A graduate who also had a business administration minor is an assistant football coach and head baseball coach at his high school. He says of his sports management major, "It really prepared me for being a coach and even going on to teach." Another professor adds, "You can go into sportscasting or the business side of sports. Sports management alums coach, manage large stadiums and facilities, and write for the sports pages."