Resilience, Dedication, Attention To Detail…Student Managers Get It Done…

What do the NBA Coach of the Year and arguably the professional sports executive of the year (we will find out at the Sports Business Awards this week) have in common with people you may not know but I recently met, Will Conley and Jack Bernstein, as well as Lawrence Frank, the fictional character Ollie McLellan, and countless other successful people in and out of sports?

They were managers in college. Not managers of a store, or managers of a baseball team on the field. They were student managers…those hundreds of young people whose work behind the scenes doing all the little, often unnoticed things…keep coaches, athletes, recruits, staff members focused on their job on the field.

The two high profile former managers…Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mike Daigneault and NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman..were managers at the University of Connecticut (men’s basketball) and the University of Michigan (football and hockey)…and are just the latest examples of those who loved the business, loved the sport, loved the people and found ways to stay involved on a career path that did not really have a north star at the end. Frank, now the President of the Los Angeles Clippers, was a student manager at Indiana, one of a legion of former managers in Bloomington who have gone on to success in and around basketball and business. The two I met recently and mentioned above, Conley and Bernstein, are still in school but are cut from a similar cloth, with the drive and passion that you hear in their voices that you believe will help them be successful. Conley, who I met at the World Congress of Sport, was a walk on punter at Michigan who found his way into a managers role and on to the field for the Wolverine’s national championship, while Bernstein, who I met through a colleague in the communications world, Madelyn Flax, is a men’s lacrosse manager at Syracuse, where we spoke for a fee minutes as he was hustling to finish spring classes and help the Orange coaches and players get ready for the NCAA tournament. Both shared one key quality in doing what they did to support the coaches and the athletes…joyful dedication…because that’s what managers do. They are not on the field, but they are as close as you can get, and have a great understanding of all the attention to detail that is needed to build chemistry and forge relationships.

How and why do I know so much about being a manager? I was one myself. First in high school for basketball, where we won a state championship in 1981 at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, and then for three years for men’s basketball at Fordham, where I forged many of the relationships and the bonds with so many people that still exist today. Now the managers back then were more like Ollie from “Hoosiers” who I mentioned above. It was more about helping with practice prep, getting things like tickets aligned, and coordinating road schedules, and there were maybe two or three. Today for elite programs there are hordes of managers, many on scholarship for elite programs, doing everything from analytics to health and wellness training. It’s not just about keeping the scorebook. However, that’s at the highest level. Almost every team on every level has a manager behind the scenes. They are the worker bees, the ones who appreciate the time being out in on the court or the ice or the pitch, because often times they are THIS close to playing as well (some do in practice by the way…and there are legions of stories of elite women’s programs were managers, many of them guys, help in game prep by practicing against the best women at schools like Tennessee and UConn and even at Columbia) but for whatever reason can’t seem to actually put on the uniform, but they are usually quite invaluable to the team dynamic. I have often said that managers sometimes care even more than the athletes, because they see things from a different perspective. They are there shagging flies or rebounding when players need it, knowing that that is what is needed to help those who are playing get that much better, without they themselves hardly ever getting that chance. They do it for the passion and the joy of being a part of the team, without ever scoring a point.

I tried to look up how many leaders in any industry tied back to being managers at some point. Unlike athletes, there is no real hierarchy I can tell for managers where it readily comes up in discussions. Everyone wants to hear the stories of how so and so laced up for alma mater and what that was like to be on the court. No one ever askes what it was like to make sure the energy bars were aligned or the video was finished and the stats handed off. That’s for those behind the scenes who take pride in just being a fiber of the fabric of sports. However, when you hear someone was a manager, at least I can smile and give someone some extra time, because you know that person was putting in the time for the love of the business.

Now what do I think of when I hear someone was a manager, and why do I think they should get a second or third look every time? They have that passion and selfless joy, they have great attention to detail, they are strong time managers, they are curious learners, they usually can go beyond the emotions of a game to get stuff done, they understand the athlete/coach leadership dynamic, and they almost always show up early and certainly leave late.  They are also usually pretty amazing at helping maintain chemistry, and can be great listeners and sounding boards for leadership, and those playing things out on the field, because they can balance the elite needs with the hard business work.

I’d love to build the database for student managers and always seek to connect with those who have done it. Yes it has evolved more to a coach in waiting position at the biggest of the big, and we have some high level success stories to point to, but for most, they are in it for the love of the game and the path forward. Look around and ask, I’m sure you will find a few doing great work in any industry…and always wanting to give the credit to others. They just want to get stuff done.