BW Sports Management Program Eyeing NFL Industry

The National Football League is one of the most well-known sports organizations in the world.

Baldwin Wallace University students in the Sports Management program are exposed to the NFL workforce in ways not many Universities can offer, whether as an undergrad or alumni of the program. With the inside connections to the local NFL organization, the Cleveland Browns, opportunities seem endless.

Being in the same region, state, city and even town of a professional organization can go a long way; one event they offer has been inviting students to help work the Super Bowl for the past seven years. The experience of being at the biggest stage and event that the NFL has to offer each year is a true-life changing experience for the students aiming towards success.

The question to ask, how well does the Baldwin Wallace sports management program connect students who are interested in the NFL job field? The answer is best described by current Sports Management major and projected 2021 Graduate, Bryce Moran.

“By having two professors that work in the NFL industry, and having the exposure it brings coming in as a Freshman helped influence my decision in coming to Baldwin Wallace,” said Moran. “It has turned out to benefit me tremendously now that I have worked for the Cleveland Browns for two seasons, much like the path that Professor Tony Dick had taken when starting his career in the sports management field.”
Professor Tony Dick has been the lead man when it comes to building careers from the bottom up. From his time as a student at Baldwin Wallace working grounds crew for the Browns, to today where he is on multiple Browns organizations and a Sports Management professor at Baldwin Wallace, Dick knows what he’s talking about.

“Our relationship and proximity to the Browns training facility certainly opens the door for some rather unique opportunities for our students. We can only make the connections and provide the information regarding these opportunities. It is up to our students to decide just how involved they wish to be. And for the most part, our students have done just that,” said Dick.

When asked if it was possible for students in the program to have intentions for the NFL job industry over other sports organizations due to the connection with the Browns, Dick thought so.

“You cannot go to another sport management program in the country and have the access that we offer here at BW. We are walking distance from an NFL team’s headquarters. A twenty-minute car ride from an NBA arena, MLB ballpark, and NFL stadium. Our proximity to these facilities  alone provides us with opportunities that many other programs can only dream of,” said Dick.
Chair of marketing and sports management, Professor Charles Campisi had a lot to say about the success and contributions the program has to benefit those interested in moving their career in the right direction.

“The program has been successful because we have students who are engaged in their major and alumni who care about the success of the program. The trips to various sporting events (CFP Championship Game, Super Bowl, NCAA Championships, etc.) help, but we wouldn’t be invited to return to work those events if the students didn’t hold up their end of the bargain and work hard to show what BW students can do,” said Campisi.

How does all of this learning in the program really translate to the real world of the NFL industry? 2011 Baldwin Wallace Graduate Brian Hill is a success story many seem to talk about. Hill currently is a West Coast scout for the Los Angeles Rams. Trying to dig and find the next great players for the future of the league when evaluating players at combines is the main action Hill contributes to.

Outside of this success story, Dick went on to showcase the number of alumni in the workforce.

“Currently there are over a dozen BW graduates working in the NFL in a full-time capacity with teams and at least a dozen more working in a part-time capacity. Those jobs range from front office management positions to facility and team operations to coaching and everything in between. The beauty of our program is that it is flexible enough to provide training in a wide variety of areas within a professional, collegiate or community recreation setting,” said Dick.

With current students, professors and alumni success stories, it seems as though Baldwin Wallace’s sports management program has their eyes set high for possible NFL industry jobs for their students.