BLOG: Ellerbe Visits NCAA for Pathways Program
10/2/2017 11:21:00 AM | General
CSUN Athletics' Associate Athletics Director for Marketing, Branding and Fan Development Dawn Ellerbe is visiting the NCAA offices in Indianapolis for the prestigious Pathway Program. Twenty-five senior-level athletics administrators, who have committed to becoming directors of athletics, were selected for the 2017 program, which is designed to elevate those in senior-level positions within athletics administration to the next step as a director of athletics. The year-long program is an intensive, experiential learning opportunity for selected participants. More information is available here.
Ellerbe will be blogging about the 2017 NCAA Pathway Program for gomatadors.com.
Decisions, Decisions!
I am excited to be back in Indianapolis for part two of the NCAA Pathways program. The goal of the program is to help elevate participants to their next career step towards the Athletics Director's chair.
As I navigate the journey through my career in Athletics, I am aware there will be situations that call for tough decisions. While there are few things that can prepare you for being in the Athletics Director's chair before you become an AD, the Pathways Program allows you the chance to use your imagination.
During the first part of the program in June, we explored the ins and outs of the AD job, we did panel interviews for the AD job and we did interviews with the media for the AD job. Now during part two of the program, we have the AD job and it's time to make the tough decisions.
Like the first part of the program, the second part also required some pre-work. The assignment challenged us to decide on a coaching change with a clear explanation supported by the methodology used to reach the decision. On a daily basis, an Athletics Director's decisions can directly affect about 400 people in the department, including student-athletes, coaches and staff, and when you consider staff, donors, fans and the community, that number grows exponentially. Talk about pressure!
What people see from the outside seems like an easy decision, influenced solely by the win-lose column or negative actions by a member of the program in question. This is not always the case; a number of factors go into a decision to make major change in an Athletics Department. Once you get past the effect on the student-athlete and department, you have to consider data analysis, on field statistics, ticket sales, revenue, donors, corporate partners, media communications, facilities, support staff, the strategic plan and the list goes on.
While the decision ultimately falls on the Athletics Director, she still has to rely on a staff of advisors she can trust to help make the right decisions. During our case study, we have help from a group of administrators with diverse backgrounds and from different department sizes, resources, and levels of experience.
My group will present Monday on our decision, the thought process and the plans moving forward. Our decision will affect the lives of an entire coaching staff (head coach, assistants and support staff) it may change the experience of more than 80 student-athletes, and could ultimately affect the direction of the entire athletics department.
Later today, we will attend the NCAA Division I Council Standing Committee meetings at the NCAA National Office.
This process was a true growth experience, and far different from my daily grind of marketing and fan development. I needed this opportunity. I am sure I will walk away from part two of the program with a newfound understanding of what goes into major decisions in college athletics.
Ellerbe will be blogging about the 2017 NCAA Pathway Program for gomatadors.com.
Decisions, Decisions!
I am excited to be back in Indianapolis for part two of the NCAA Pathways program. The goal of the program is to help elevate participants to their next career step towards the Athletics Director's chair.
As I navigate the journey through my career in Athletics, I am aware there will be situations that call for tough decisions. While there are few things that can prepare you for being in the Athletics Director's chair before you become an AD, the Pathways Program allows you the chance to use your imagination.
During the first part of the program in June, we explored the ins and outs of the AD job, we did panel interviews for the AD job and we did interviews with the media for the AD job. Now during part two of the program, we have the AD job and it's time to make the tough decisions.
Like the first part of the program, the second part also required some pre-work. The assignment challenged us to decide on a coaching change with a clear explanation supported by the methodology used to reach the decision. On a daily basis, an Athletics Director's decisions can directly affect about 400 people in the department, including student-athletes, coaches and staff, and when you consider staff, donors, fans and the community, that number grows exponentially. Talk about pressure!
What people see from the outside seems like an easy decision, influenced solely by the win-lose column or negative actions by a member of the program in question. This is not always the case; a number of factors go into a decision to make major change in an Athletics Department. Once you get past the effect on the student-athlete and department, you have to consider data analysis, on field statistics, ticket sales, revenue, donors, corporate partners, media communications, facilities, support staff, the strategic plan and the list goes on.
While the decision ultimately falls on the Athletics Director, she still has to rely on a staff of advisors she can trust to help make the right decisions. During our case study, we have help from a group of administrators with diverse backgrounds and from different department sizes, resources, and levels of experience.
My group will present Monday on our decision, the thought process and the plans moving forward. Our decision will affect the lives of an entire coaching staff (head coach, assistants and support staff) it may change the experience of more than 80 student-athletes, and could ultimately affect the direction of the entire athletics department.
Later today, we will attend the NCAA Division I Council Standing Committee meetings at the NCAA National Office.
This process was a true growth experience, and far different from my daily grind of marketing and fan development. I needed this opportunity. I am sure I will walk away from part two of the program with a newfound understanding of what goes into major decisions in college athletics.
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