20 Secrets to Success for NCAA Student-Athletes

by Rick Burton, Jake Hirshman, Norm O'Reilly, Andy Dolich, Heather Lawrence

Overview

The premier NCAA student-athlete handbook, now in a second, updated edition designed for today’s competitive market and with a new chapter on name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. Few student-athletes dreaming of athletic stardom ever make it to the pros. Yet, the discipline and skills they’ve developed while balancing a sport and academics make them ideally suited for satisfying careers elsewhere. The book’s authors draw on personal experience, interviews, expert opinion, and industry data to provide a game plan for student-athletes to help them transition from high school to college, navigate evolving rules about NIL rights, and find success in life after college. Modeled after Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, this expanded and updated guide provides a much-needed strategy for student-athletes as they prepare for postcollege careers, while serving as a valuable resource for their parents, coaches, and sports administrators across the country.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821424643
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	07/23/2021
Series:	Ohio University Sport Management Series
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Rick Burton is the David B. Falk Distinguished Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and Syracuse University’s faculty athletics representative to the NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference. Previously, he was chief marketing officer for the US Olympic Committee for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and commissioner of the Sydney-based Australian National Basketball League. He and coauthor Norm O’Reilly write a monthly column for Sports Business Journal and have coauthored three other books together. He also operates the Burton Marketing Group, which has worked with the NFL, NHL, NBL, and other leagues.

Jake Hirshman currently works at the PGA Tour in tournament business and sponsor relations for the Korn Ferry Tour. Previously he worked for Learfield-IMG College, MLB, the Rose Bowl, the Ontario Reign, and the Inland Empire 66ers. In addition to hosting the Life in the Front Office podcast, he is coauthor of the forthcoming book LOL, Loss of Logo. Hirshman is a cofounder and partner of Competitive Advantage Consulting and Sports Business Case Reviews. Additionally, he is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida and Seattle University.

Norm O‘Reilly is a leading scholar in the business of sports and the author or coauthor of sixteen books and more than 150 articles. Currently the Dean of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Maine, he held the Richard P. and Joan S. Fox Professor of Business and chair of the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University’s College of Business from 2014 to 2018. O'Reilly received the Career Achievement Award by the American Marketing Association’s Sport Marketing Special Interest Group and was assistant chef de mission for the Canadian team at the 2016 Paralympic Games. He is a lifetime research fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management.

Andy Dolich has spent over fifty years in the professional sports industry and held executive positions with the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. Together with Jake Hirshman, Dolich cohosts the Life in the Front Office podcast and coauthored LOL, Loss of Logo: What’s Your Next Move? He is an Ultimate Sports Guide columnist, the CEO of Fan Controlled Football (FCF), the president of Dolich Consulting, and a Stanford Continuing Studies instructor.

Heather Lawrence is the author of Event Management Blueprint: Creating and Managing Successful Sports Events and has twenty years of sport business experience. After more than fifteen years in academia at Ohio University, in 2021 she became the director of sport operations at CrossFit, LLC. Prior to her academic career, Lawrence was an intercollegiate athletics administrator at Southeastern Louisiana University and the University of Florida.

Table of Contents

Foreword Stan Wilcox vii

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

How to Use This Book 5

Secret 1 Create and Follow Your Student-Athlete Plan 7

Secret 2 Understand Who a Student-Athlete Is 16

Secret 3 Learn What Name, Image, and Likeness Means for You 27

Secret 4 Ride Your Success Wheel 39

Secret 5 Acquire the Life Skills You Need to Succeed 54

Secret 6 Be Balanced in Everything 61

Secret 7 Make Smart Decisions on the Other Stuff 75

Secret 8 Seek Support Everywhere 83

Secret 9 Your Major Really Matters 93

Secret 10 Take Nothing for Granted 100

Secret 11 Manage Your Highs and Lows 107

Secret 12 Face Reality in Sports and Life 120

Secret 13 Mentally Move On as a Senior 129

Secret 14 Identify Who You Are 136

Secret 15 Find Your Other Passions in Life as You Prepare to Be a Sophomore 147

Secret 16 Invest in Yourself, Your Health, and Your Future 156

Secret 17 Activate Your Student-Athlete Advantage 171

Secret 18 Create Your Brand 181

Secret 19 Be Fiscally Smart 191

Secret 20 Prepare for the Future by Tracking Trends 200

The End-Your Road Map: It's Not a Secret 211

Afterword Christopher J. Parker 217

Appendix A NCAA Student-Athlete Success Data 219

Appendix B Other Resources 237

Appendix C Contributors to the Book 241

Appendix D About the Authors 245

Notes 249