March 19: EXSS Faculty Panel
Dr. Coyte Cooper
- Born in Alaska
- Hobbies: Wrestling, video editing, grows bonsai trees
- Favorite Book(s): Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck; Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Projects
- Putting together a marketing program for NCAA & NCWA
Dr. Erianne Weight
- From Woodland Hills, Utah
- Hobbies: Mountain biking, wakeboarding, downhill skiing
- Favorite Book(s): How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Projects
- Quantifying the benefits of intercollegiate athletic participation
Professor Barbara Osborne
- From Wisconsin
- Hobbies: Photography, running, golf
- Favorite Book(s): Harry Potter books, Stephen King books, the Wicked series
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- The Present: The Gift That Makes You Happier and More Successful at Work and in Life, Today! by Spencer Johnson
- Says UNC kind of fell into her lap
- Enjoys being a professor here because of the students
- Projects
- Looks at scholarships, funding, and NCAA rules-differences based on gender
- Is doing a content analysis on concussion legislation
Dr. Richard Southall
- From Colorado
- Hobbies: Mountain biking, downhill skiing, scuba diving
- Favorite Book(s): The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe; The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
- Legal and ethical issues in intercollegiate athletics
- Sport facility and event management
- UNC values intellectual activity and students are interested in intellectual inquiry as well
- Projects
- Expanding the adjusted graduation gap data
- Looking at taking academic rank and adding to that data
- Looks at policy implications
- Expanding the adjusted graduation gap data
Dr. Deborah Southall
- From Ohio
- Favorite Book(s): How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer
- Hobbies: Jazzercise
- Projects
- Looking at NCAA core values and how they’re perceived an practiced in:
- Division I v. Division II/Division III athletes/athletics
- Male and female non-Olympic and Olympic Sports
- Looking at NCAA core values and how they’re perceived an practiced in:
Dr. Robert Turner
- Post-Doctorate Fellow
- Background in Sociology
- From New Jersey
- Research is about the life course of athletes
- Hobbies: Dancing, going to the beach
- Favorite Book(s): Forty Million Dollar Slaves by William C. Rhoden
- Projects
- Trying to bring a player’s prospective into research
- Understanding the life of an athlete (life course analysis)
March 26: Life After Sports-Career Tips from Athletes
Sue Walsh, a former UNC Swimmer and ten-time national champion
- Wanted to be a gymnast and a swimmer after watching the Olympics as a child
- Favorite things about college sports
- Found that having teammates was like having a family
- Made the transition from high school
- Best advice (to current athletes)
- Introduce yourself to all of your professors so you can negate the “dumb jock” stereotype
- Always remember you’re representing the school
- Buffalo Bills fan
- Best sports memory
- Winning a national championship as a swimmer
- Believes that society’s standards creating an environment in which children are told to stick to one sport is bad
- Feeling after last game at Carolina
- Extremely hard
- Tough transition
- Suggests a class, etc. from the University to help with the transition
- Tips for getting into the sports industry
- Big pool of applicants and less people vacating positions
- Have a “Plan B” and you may have to volunteer/be a student intern
- Thoughts on graduate school
- Has a CPA
- Suggests spending some time out in the business world to have an idea of what you truly want to do
- Doesn’t think she would do anything she’s done in her career differently
- Would suggest writing classes and wishes there was a “Life 101” class
Tracey Williams, a four-year letter winner in basketball and softball at UNC-Pembroke
- Grew up on a tobacco farm
- Watched the Wide World of Sports as a child and wanted to be an Olympic athlete
- College sports gave her an opportunity to get off the farm
- Best advice
- Always listen because you may find something of value
- Likes to follow all professional teams with Carolina players on them
- Wants to win a national championship with Women’s Basketball
- Wants to find a way to keep up with the kids and communicate/relate with them
- Got a chance to work with the “Dream Team”
- Believes that society’s standards creating an environment in which children are told to stick to one sport is questionable but ultimately depends on the parents
- Transition from playing sports in college to the real world was hard because she didn’t really do any planning
- Make a plan and work the plan-have things lined up
- Advice
- Don’t burn any bridges
- Find a way to be irreplaceable
- Network
- Graduate school vs. real world experience
- Depends on the opportunities you have
- Wants to encourage their athletes to get their degree because they made a commitment to do so
- If she could do anything differently in her career, she’d invest
- Would suggest going to career seminars
Deunta Williams, a former first-team All-ACC UNC football safety
- Mom was too scared to let him play baseball but he played football, track
- Didn’t believe he was that good until his uncle spoke a vision over his life
- Best part about being a college athlete
- Loved the perks, competitiveness, relationships formed with his teammates
- Best advice
- Wanting to know how to play (was 5th string) his coach told him to go so hard they can’t keep you off the field
- Favorite pro team
- He is a Rex Ryan fan and a Lebron James fan
- Biggest project
- Trying to focus on a career outside of football
- Looking toward media even though he wasn’t interested in it when he was playing football
- Best sports memory
- ’09-beating VA Tech when the odds were against them
- When he became the number 1 safety in his position his senior year
- Believes some of the innocence is being taken away from the game
- Was taken off the field because he broke his leg his senior year after he chose to come back
- Feels like most athletes put all their eggs in one basket and it leaves them vulnerable
- Advice for people looking to get into sports
- Network (even if it’s a short conversation or a smile)
- Try to find a way to fit yourself into a position (find where you fit)
- What about being an athlete helped you
- Group projects
- Taking diverse classes
- If he could change anything in his career he would have been even more outgoing to people who weren’t athletes
- Would recommend taking public speaking to get you out of your comfort zone and help you think on your feet
