The UConn Sport Management Program would like to congratulate undergraduate student Theus McBee on receiving Honorable Mention in the 2015 UConn Intern of the Year Awards!
McBee, a senior in UConn’s Sport Management Program, interned with the National Basketball Association at their headquarters in New York City in the summer of 2015. Click here for more details on his ten week experience with the NBA!
Dr. Joseph Cooper, Assistant Professor of UConn’s Sport Management Program, recently attended the second annual Black Student-Athlete Conference, a three-day summit from January 6-8, 2016, hosted by the African American Male Research Initiative and the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. The summit was a three-day gathering that openly examined and candidly discussed the numerous and complex issues surrounding the black student-athlete.
Joined by scholars, coaches, conference commissioners, athletic directors, academic advisors, student affairs professionals, principals, present and former student-athletes, journalists, and others, this was a “must-attend” event which constituted the most comprehensive national forum on issues related to the black experience within amateur athletics.
The conference was streamed live on the internet and can be experienced by anyone who missed it by checking out the three days of video archive links by clicking here.
To watch Dr. Cooper’s presentation directly, click to the day 3 link and scroll to 2:33:17-2:36:00 and 2:40:00-2:50:00 of the video link.
Bob Quinn becomes third UConn grad to serve as professional sports GM.
Article and Photo Courtesy of UCONNHUSKIES.COM
University of Connecticut graduate Bob Quinn has been named the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Detroit Lions. A press conference was held on Monday to announce his hiring. Quinn will oversee the Lions’ football operations and report directly to Owner and Chairman of the Board Martha Firestone Ford and President Rod Wood.
Quinn, native of Norwood, Mass., earned his master’s degree in sports management from UConn in 2000 and completed his undergraduate studies at UConn in 1998. He and his wife, Julie (a Storrs native), have a son, Kyle, and a daughter, Grace.
Before his 16-year tenure started with the Patriots, Quinn spent time as a graduate assistant in the athletics department at UConn.
Quinn becomes the second UConn graduate as a current NFL GM as former Husky All-American linebacker John Dorsey is with the Kansas City Chiefs. In addition, UConn graduate and former Husky pitcher Billy Eppler is the GM of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
“We are thrilled to have agreed to a deal with Bob to make him our new General Manager,” Wood said. “As Mrs. Ford indicated at the outset, our search would be national in scope, and we would do everything possible to identify the very best person to lead our football operation. We believe Bob is that person.”
For 16 seasons, Quinn has played an integral role in several aspects of the New England Patriots player personnel department. In the past four seasons, he served as the director of pro scouting after the team promoted him to that position in May 2012.
During his time with New England, Quinn helped the Patriots build one of the most impressive stretches in NFL history that produced four Super Bowl titles, including the most recent championship last season (Super Bowl XLIX). Since 2000, Quinn’s first year, the Patriots won six AFC Championships, 13 AFC East titles, 12+ games in a season 10 times (which includes the past six years) and 10+ games in 14 of his 16 seasons.
Quinn’s responsibilities have included both pro and college scouting during his tenure with New England. From 2009-11, Quinn was the Patriots’ assistant director of pro personnel. He worked, prior to that, in college scouting as the team’s national scout in 2008 and as a regional scout from 2004-07. Quinn served two seasons as a pro scout in 2002-03 after he joined the Patriots in 2000 as a player personnel assistant.
As a part of a continuing series, we turn the spotlight on members of the UConn Sport Management Program (SMP) Alumni Community, focusing on the diversity of experience and breadth of knowledge they have gained within the industry. Designed to help current and future SMP students learn to navigate and understand the real-world intricacies of sport management, we thank SMP alumni for their valuable contributions and insight. Today, the focus is on UConn alumnus Fernando Carrasquillo (Sport Management, 2013).
Puerto Rico: a Caribbean island and U.S. Commonwealth not only known for its cuisine, beautiful beaches and panoramic views, but also for being an island that lives and breathes baseball. Born and raised in San Juan, it was natural for me to be exposed to baseball through my father and grandfather. Looking back, I wish I had played the sport more and maybe play good enough to make it to Major League Baseball and cement myself in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I know, it’s a long shot, but one can always dream right? Still, I found a way to make it into the Hall of Fame, just not as an inducted player, but instead as a Development Intern for the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum.
I was fortunate to have been selected as one of 15 interns out of over 600 applicants and the only Latino to do so. I had fulfilled of my lifelong dream of stepping foot into Cooperstown, NY and walk into the same building where the likes of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, among others are inducted. Even though it was in the summer of 2013, and no living player was inducted, it was still a wonderful experience just to see all of the legends that have helped make baseball into America’s pastime and to spend a summer breathing into the baseball atmosphere.
As a Development Intern, I got to work all areas from the Ticket Booth, to Membership Services to even presenting artifacts to visitors of the Museum, all contributing to fundraising for the Friends of the Hall of Fame Program. This program funds the Education area, preservation of the hall and general maintenance of the Mecca of Baseball. Going from simple interactions with a father showing his son the heroes he grew up watching to letting people know that I was from Puerto Rico and that we contributed to three Hall of Famers, I realized that the Hall of Fame can go a long way to connecting generations, preserving history and most importantly, honoring excellence. I hope that I could open the doors to more Latinos forming part of this prestigious program while opening the doors to more fellow Huskies to honor our school in such a wonderful experience.
NOTE: You can read an article written for Puerto Rico’s Primera Hora newspaper by clicking here (can be translated through Google Chrome).
Fernando Carrasquillo
SMP Class of 2013
The University of Connecticut Sport Management program seeks to foster personal and professional growth in our students. Undergraduate and graduate students engage in thought provoking discussions in their classrooms. At the conclusion of the Fall 2014 semester, our graduate students had the desire to further such conversations to a space outside of the classroom setting. They wanted open dialogue with a wider audience. On December 9 the program launched its first discussion of the Issues in Sport series where we created a forum to talk about social issues and their impact on sports.
Approximately 30 students, faculty and staff members attended the Issues in Sport discussions series to discuss the relationship between sports and academic achievement in schools. Through a WebEx conversation, UConn alumnae Anne McKernan and Karissa Niehoff spoke to the audience about the role, positive and negative, that sports play in a student’s academic life. The key theme of the discussion was creating and maintaining balance for student athletes, After hearing from the guest speakers, attendants engaged in small group conversations about an article posted in The Atlantic entitled “High-School Sports Aren’t Killing Academics”.
Overall, the event served as a way for the community to express ideas and concerns about the current state of academics and sports. There was a great turnout by fellow sport management students and faculty; however, representatives attended the event from the Rainbow Center, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources as well. With such diverse backgrounds, there was much opportunity for versatile discussions and continuous networking.
The Issues in Sport discussion series will continue in Spring 2016. Dates and topics are to be determined.
Guest Speakers:
Anne McKernan (2011), the Director of Leadership Development for the CT State Department of Education and a former chief academic officer for the Enfield Public Schools and school principal at CREC’s Metropolitan Learning Center.
Karissa Niehoff (2010), the Executive Director of Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CAS-CIAC).