Sport and the Growing Good

Dennis Scanlon is a Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Administration and a Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) at Penn State University. In addition to his renowned career as a researcher and teacher, he’s served in a critical leadership capacity at conference and campus levels as the Big Ten leads the way in a new era of college athletics. 1.        Dennis’ experience as a student-athlete at Villanova. I looked at the professors and thought, ‘this could be a cool job!’” 2.        What is a Faculty Athletics Representative? How did Dennis become one? 3.        Dennis’ regular FAR routines at Penn State. Active engagement in most dimensions of athletics endeavors, including academic eligibility, health and wellbeing, and admissions. 4.        How Dennis’ research and teaching agenda provides interesting perspectives into college athletics in the modern era. Legal issues, policy issues, economics issues.   5.        Some areas of uncertainty currently in college sports: Title IX, Labor law, collective bargaining. 6.        The importance of higher education leadership. Keeping the primary mission of the university centered. 7.        Challenges presented by frequent turnover in leadership positions on campuses. Institutional history. The “tragedy of the commons.” 8.        How his experiences as an athlete, coach, and parent of Division 1 athletes have contributed to his perspectives on college sports. “What we’re doing at the Division 1 level trickles down to these other levels.”

Omar Brown is the Senior Vice President of Community and Impact at the Big Ten Conference. He has a rich history of leadership with and beyond the conference. In his current role, Omar leads the way with student-athlete experiences and with community engagement. 1.        Two big parts of Omar’s job: 1) Student-athlete experience. 2) Community work. 2.        Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Two SAAC meetings per year. 3.        CBS Championship games initiative. 4.        Big Life Series to Selma and a farm in Iowa. 5.        Reading week. 6.        Community work. In conjunction with big events. Renovating rec centers. Tours of campuses. Supporting teachers in Indianapolis. Renovating school in Indy. 7.        Adopted local school as “junior journalists.” 8.        What is the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) on each campus. Each team has one or two reps. Each campus has a small executive committee to lead their campus. Two of these individuals are chosen to represent their school at the Big Ten. 9.        Why are there typically not as many football or basketball players on SAAC? 10.  SAAC at Big Ten talks about college sports issues and brings it back to their own campuses. 11.  Variance in SAAC across the conference. 12.  The richness of student-athlete resources provided by Big Ten athletic departments. 13.  Why making campus visits is important to Omar.  14.  Big Life Series. How and why did it come about? 15.  The Selma Big Life experience. Badgers in Selma.  16.  The Iowa Big Life experience.  17.  Marcus Carpenter. 18.  Future Big Life Series experience possibilities. 19.  Why community engagement around big events? “How can we make their community better?” Focus on local community residents. 20.  Omar’s regular routines. Why we wanted to get on campuses. “You really build the relationships there.” 21.  A job in Omar’s past: Organizational Transformation Consultant at Deloitte. Figuring our influential and impactful stakeholders. 22.  Leaders that Omar admired and why. Kevin Warren (preparation, presentation, perception, calmness). Tony Petitti (getting things done, avoiding “scope creep,” authenticity). 23.   “Anyone can work in sports.” Interconnectivity in college sports.

Katie Ahrens Smith is the Vice President of Policy and Compliance at the Big Ten Conference. She’s got a rich history of campus level leadership and offers a unique perspective on different leadership roles and on the interaction between institutions and the conference office.  1.        Why Katie entered athletic administration. 2.        What is the Senior Woman Administrator in an athletic department? Variance by institution. 3.        What does a campus-level sport administrator do? 4.        How does a campus-level sport administrator interact with the conference office?  5.        Olympic sport oversight committee at the conference. 6.        Ways that Katie is growing in the conference office role. Situational leadership. 7.        Impacts of the growth of volleyball on the game, the experience of the student-athletes – and the leadership work surrounding it all. 8.        The impacts of the Big Ten Network on a new generation of athletes. 9.        What is the policy and compliance team at the conference doing amid an era of rapid change in the college sports world. 10.  Katie’s keys for communication. Be accurate. Prepare. Listen.

A key charge for coaches is bringing their teams together to form a collective identity. Team identity formation is a complex process that can shape the group’s journey in profound ways. In this session, Coach Jackson offers some insights on team identity formation. 1.        What is worth noting early in an NBA season. 2.        Setting the tone for a new season: Speaking with the team about pressure. 3.        Visualizing the new season ahead. What did Coach Jackson visualize? Pre-mortems. “How do we incorporate new people into the system? We start with their habits. How to build skill sets…Doing that goes through some basic drills to get your body in shape.” 4.        What intangibles do you look for in getting the individuals you want for your system? Looking at how individuals handle mistakes. “We used to watch players’ demeanors on the floor.” 5.        Dennis Rodman’s impact upon team identity: “He was going to extend the effort.” 6.        Off-seasons can create individuals who are isolated or even egotistical. “As a coach, you want to get that taken care of. To make them part of the group.” 7.        Functional diversity. Valuing different roles on the team. 8.        The “dark night of the soul.” Leading teams through difficult times. 9.        A team bonding through its punishment by the coach. 10.  Building incremental evidence of a team’s identity. 11.  Punctuated equilibrium. Rapid and radical identity change of a group. 12.  Group identity formation being impacted by the competition. “It’s a standard that your group has to live up to.” 13.  Responding to the Pistons’ intimidation attempts. “We’re standing our ground. We’re not going to be intimidated by you. But we’re not going to make a big issue out of it … We’re peaceful Warriors. We’re going to contest you and resist you. But we’re not going to stand up and get in a brawl. That’s not necessary… Those are little things that you see as a coach that you’ve got to have some resolve and some ideas about how you want to present yourself as a team.” 14.  Identifying the “essence” of our opponents and ourselves. Pressure as a key construct in one’s essence. Talking to players, “How do you feel about pressure?” The coach has to be able to discuss this. A team must be able to “join together to collaborate under duress to be successful.” 15.  Being able to sell what you’re going to teach. 16.  The coach as “horse rider” metaphor. Understanding the student and how they best learn. 17.  John Wooden: “My coaching was done in practice.” Players led the way during games because they’d been coached. 18.  What did Coach ask prospective players? “How do you see yourself fitting in with our group?” This question gets perspective on the player and how they understand the team. 19.  Meditation routine with teams. Body check. Breathing. “One breath, one mind.” 20.  Understanding teams deeply in order to get through difficult times.

A.J. Edds is the Vice President of Football Administration at the Big Ten Conference. He plays a central role in guiding the sport throughout the year – including communicating with internal conference colleagues as well as coaches and administrators at each institution. 1. Coaches who AJ admired over the years. Rick Wimmer (at Greenwood High School). Kirk Ferentz (at Iowa). 2. “We exist to serve our members.” Officiating, internal operations, scheduling, championship administration, media, fairness, etc. 3. A.J.’s roles in shepherding football in the conference. The importance of communication. 4. Communicating with football coaches and helping them work together productively. “Off-line consensus-building.” 5. Working with coaches: “I’m a better employee because of the expectations of the guys.” 6. Getting to know each of the coaches as people in order to best collaborate with them. 7. Technology changing the work. Replay center. IPads. Wireless coach-to-player communication. 8. How the central location of the conference’s replay center allows for greater consistency. How collaboration plays out on a given review. 9. Being both thorough and efficient in review process. 10. A.J.’s aspirations for the sport of football.

Becky Pany is the Senior Vice President of Sport Administration at the Big Ten Conference. She works closely with campus and conference partners to ensure that the conference offers a fair and robust sports experience.  1.        Back injury that allowed Becky to serve as a student coach and ultimately an internship and role in the athletic department at IU. 2.        Being a utility player. Learning from a variety of roles. 3.        The work of a campus-level sport administrator. A “bridge” between the program and the department (and vice-versa). Note: this is a critical and increasingly challenging role in the era of resource reallocation in college athletics. 4.        Roles as conference VP of sport administration. “Arbitrator of fairness.” 5.        The dynamics of working with coaches. Competitors and collaborators. Annual business meeting for each set of coaches. “They come together and work through all operational aspects related to their sports.” Talking through and standardizing championship manuals. 6.        How the governance process plays out for policy and rules changes. Coaches provide recommendations and then the ideas move through the chain of governance. 7.        Collaborating on complex matters like scheduling and team travel amid conference expansion. Example: how does a school’s academic calendar shape their scheduling and travel possibilities? 8.        Technologies that assist with putting schedules together. 9.        Routines with the SWAs on each campus. 10.  Values that guide her work. Fairness. 11.  Continuing to learn through relationships. Listening.

Laura Anderson is the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at the Big Ten Conference. She draws from a rich diversity of professional and personal experiences to lead the conference through a period of rapid change. 1.        Leaders who Laura has learned from. Empathy and concern for the team. Trust. 2.        Her professional background. Accounting. “How to go into a place and learn everything you can about it.”  3.        Working in a volatile industry. Drawing from a diverse set of career experiences. 4.        Main responsibilities as CFO. Overall financial operations. 5.        Big Ten’s non-profit status.  6.        Big Ten as “central repository” and advocate for various services for the conference institutions. 7.        Money flows through Big Ten office and to the schools. Investing the money to maximize the money even for short time periods. 8.        Everyday routines. Talking “a hundred times a day” in the office with a colleague. Meetings with other senior leaders at the conference office. Conversations with campus contacts. 9.        Interactions with campus athletic department CFOs. Regular individual conversations and times when everyone comes together at the Big Ten office. 10.  Key phases of the year. Financial audit. 990 tax form. January budgeting and planning. March and April roll-out to governance structure. 11.  Technology and AI. Data protection. 12.  Communicating strategically with diverse constituents. 13.  “To be successful in a finance role, you need to be a people person.” 14.  Humility. Adaptability. Grit. Personality.

Kerry Kenny has worked at the Big Ten Conference for 17 years, holding multiple positions leading up to his current role as chief operating officer. In this role, he collaborates with the commissioner and many others in leading the conference through a rapid period of change. 1.        Lessons learned playing basketball for Lafayette University. “I showed up every day.”  2.        Attributes that Kerry looks for: note-taking and listening; authenticity, credibility, accuracy, positivity. “They may not be the most outspoken, but when they do choose to speak, they have credibility.”  3.        Having a positive attitude.  4.        Knowing the names of others as a sign of respect. 5.        Kerry’s strengths. Hand-written notes. Being intentional with every interaction. Learning about others. 6.        Kerry’s key components of work: 1) being “the best #2” for Tony; 2) managing the office day-to-day; 3) point person for television and media deals, HR, scheduling, etc. 7.        What prepared him: exposure to different parts of the operation over the years. “I’ve sat in their seat.” 8.        The importance of the conference’s physical office space: replay center, meeting spaces, everyday office spaces. 9.        Importance of geography: “Chicago holds a special place in Big Ten lore.” 10.  Office’s convenient proximity to the airport. 11.  The importance of face-to-face conversation – both planned and unplanned. Creativity. Collaboration. Camaraderie. 12.  Continued learning. Staying on the cutting-edge.  13.  Routines with external partners.  14.  Nuance, skill, and discretion in communication. Being an “information merchant.” Understanding how much information to offer in a given conversation. Separating the personal from the professional. 15.  Mental preparation and “re-setting” before important conversations. Understanding who you’re talking with.  16.  “KYP.” Know your personnel. Know your plan. Keep your poise… 17.  Discipline as a leader.  18.  Stories that illustrate what is unique about the Big Ten. 

Why should coaches work with compassion? How can they do it? 1.        Coach’s perspective on coaching clinics and professional development. “It’s a collaboration of thought and ideas.” “You have to go there with intention on what you want to learn.” 2.        The importance of storytelling in coaching. “We are telling stories to ourselves all the time…So stories are part of our brain’s activity.” 3.        Cataloguing stories that lend deep insights into key points you want to make. 4.        Framing a team’s journey as a story: “We have a journey to make…What kind of story are we going to tell ourselves?” 5.        Why is compassion relevant as a coach. “As a coach, you are called to drive people farther than they think they can go. To give more effort than they are capable of. And, in the process of doing that, they’re putting their lives and limbs in jeopardy a lot of times. They are playing with this controlled abandon…You’re trying to extend that level of energy to a point where they will be able to change the contest that they’re involved in…In the process, players overextend themselves, they get injured, they lose. You have to commiserate in loss and there is compassion.” 6.        Shaquille O’Neal aspiring to be like Wilt: Being able to play heavy minutes. John Salley serving as a “go-between” for Shaq: “He wonders, do you think he’s doing a good job?” 7.        Connections between Buddhism and Christianity: “In Buddhism, compassion is the response from the Buddha. In Christianity, love is the response from Jesus. The two come together.”  8.        “We all suffer…Suffering is part of human nature.” 9.        “It doesn’t have to be the big hug, but it has to be the understanding and the care. It can even be in the eyes.” 10.  Compassion: “to suffer with.” It has an action element with it. 11.  Compassion can “come from some basic things: a touch, a greeting, a ‘job well done…’” 12.  Acknowledging challenges as a coach is important. 13.  The critical nature of turning points. 1) newness; 2) injury; 3) not going well; 4) critical incident. 14.  “Every coach who has done this for a while knows his way around a training room. Being there to support and commiserate.” 15.  Elvin Hayes’ injury at a critical time. 16.  Kobe Bryant ankle sprain during the finals: Handling it with compassion and firmness. “I’m so sorry that you’re not going to be able to do this.” Energy in coming back from the biggest disappointment of his career led to a big victory two days later. 17.  Compassionomics book. 18.  The details of compassion. Wording of questions. Touch. Physical presence. 19.  The team supporting Scottie Pippen after a personal loss. Brought him to the middle of the room and putting a hand on him. 20.  Johns Hopkins University study: Compassion reduces anxiety. 21.  Showing a team “we’re in it together.” Example from a hostile environment. Sacrificing himself for the good of the team. 22.  Virtuous cycles. Virtue compounds. 23.  Coaches are “Riding the racehorse…The team is running the race. You can rank at the reins and yell… but the reality is, we’re in this together…You need to do it in a humanistic, compassionate way.” 24.  Getting Michael Jordan to be patient with Steve Kerr, who’d been struggling to contend with John Stockton. 25.  “Some of it has to be, ‘How compassionate can we be with ourselves?’”  26.  Discipline. “Silly fines.” More serious issues. Knowing when there’s something bigger going on in a player’s life. 27.  Re-integrating someone into the fold after a discipline or suspension: It starts in the center circle before practice. 28.  Acknowledging outside events and discussing them as a team.

Practice is where teams come together and hone their ways of playing together. Coaches play a central role in creating effective practices.  1.     When looking for players, what should we be looking for? Winners. What kind of record do they have and what role have they played in it? 2.     “One of the great things about the Lakers and the Bulls teams was their acknowledgement of how important practice was. The effort that went into practice and how competitive it was.” 3.     Keeping practice competitive: Balance talent in practice to replicate what you’ll be facing in the game. 4.     Pat Summit: “A winning gym is a noisy gym.” 5.     “Gyms are noisy places…I tried to mute sound so that your voice could be heard. I think it’s really important for a coach to have a voice that’s understandable and recognizable.” 6.     Silent practices to mix things up. 7.     “Just basketball terminology practices.” 8.     Music or not in practice? (Coach Jackson’s preference was not.)  9.     Physical positioning of the coach in practice. “Move through practice with the team…I think it’s really important for you to be close to the action.” 10.  Coach Jackson’s practice plan. Connecting it all to the system. 11.  Coach Bill Fitch: 28 two-a-days in 29 days! 12.  Neuroplasticity. 13.  Repetition.  14.  “How do you keep the flow going? How do you keep the energy going?...That’s fine…but you can be hurrying to a lickin’ if you have such energy that become unintelligible…You need to play under control. Controlled frenzy. Controlled chaos.” 15.  How did you communicate with coaches throughout practice? Meeting an hour before practice. Making sure all coaches had a role, had a voice. 16.  “We all are fallible. But we are given the authority to teach and to coach.” 17.  “Credibility comes from success. It comes from voice…And also, maybe vulnerability is too strong of a word. Maybe the word is approachable. We should be approachable.” 18.  Using warm-up/stretching time to connect with players. 19.  Habits after practice. 20.  Naps to rejuvenate. 21.  Pre-practice meetings.  22.  George Mumford and the “midpoint line” to gauge team mood. 23.  How did you take pressure off the players? “Stop the outside noise.” 24.  Keep the group protected. “It’s important that we stay small and tight.” 25.  How long should a practice be? (1:45 to 2:00)