Hi all, as a student at the University of Miami I'm a major in Sport Administration. It's an interesting degree considering it's basically business specified in the field of sports. This semester I've got 3 classes related to my major -- Nutrition Science, Career Development/Personnel Management (with Kyle Wright, Lance Leggett, Kirby Freeman, and Willie Williams; Drew Rosenhaus came to speak to us last week) and Leadership Skills. The latter of the classes is interesting. It requires an interview with someone in the sports field -- someone that might help for future jobs or positions. The whole idea of the exercise it to get connections, as well as learning...leadership skills. In the past students have interviewed people like Jimmy Johnson, Pat Riley, and even Bill Clinton. This year the students in the class have tentative plans to interview people like Rosenhaus, Shaq, Stan van Gundy, Stan Kasten, Dan le Batard, and a bunch of others. And that's why I turn to y'all. Do you guys have any suggestions of people in the business, media, marketing, athletic or any sector of the sports industry that would be beneficial to interview? There are a few people I know of that I could interview, but another point is to get someone you don't know. Here's the thing: I need to personally meet them and observe what they do and how they "lead." A friend of my family is good friends with Hall of Famer and former Dolphins great Larry Little, so that's an option. Then I was thinking since I live in Alabama, try to get someone at the UA athletic department (perhaps Mike Shula, Mark Gottfried, Mal Moore, or maybe the assistant AD). I'm heading home this weekend for the BIG Bama-Tennessee game and I would seriously consider one of the guys at UA, but...it's the biggest weekend for the UA Athletic Department in probably over 10 years. So then I thought, maybe even Don Shula, but he's retired. Perhaps someone like Ricky Williams? That would be an interesting meeting, you think? I'm open to any and all suggestions and once I decide on someone, maybe if y'all have any questions that would be worth asking whomever I get access to, feel free to express your inquiries. Thanks for any help or suggestions!
If you're going for an interesting interview, Ricky Williams could make for some great angles. Asking him about how his agent handled the whole retirement controversy could help you play a unique "I'm finding out what customers want" when you try to sell it to your professor.
a ricky williams interview about leadership .. now THAT would be interesting! mark cuban is an interesting personality though and would probably be a good interview.
That's definitely a good idea. He'll answer nearly every email sent to him so asking to set up an interview would be a pretty good shot.
