The Passion and Impact of College Athletics

This is posted as part of our Summer Intern Blog Series. Be sure to come back each week as interns from around the country share their summer experiences with us!

By: Todd Rogers, @Todd_TTU

Another week of my internship has come and gone and it seems like just yesterday that I was packing up everything from Lubbock and moving back to Abilene to start my internship. Thankfully all this rain we have been getting here in Texas has yet to come sweep me away.

During the first several weeks of my internship, I have gotten the opportunity to get my initial taste of fundraising here at ACU with the Wildcat Club. While making solicitation calls to a list of over 600 people may not seem like a glamorous task, I enjoy getting the opportunity to talk with people who love ACU and are willing to support the Athletics Department. While not everyone is friendly or willing to give me the time of day, the ones that do take the time to listen to me and talk about ACU make it all worth it. While I am still unsure about the path that my career will take, I love the fact that working in fundraising gives me the opportunity to build relationships with donors and alumni of the university. Fundraising also presents me with a great platform to express my passion for the industry I work in and the universities I work for!

One of the coolest moments of this week was being able to attend a media “Meet and Greet” with the new ACU Track and Field Coach, Lance Bingham. Having never attended any sort of introductory event or press conference for a head coach, it was awesome to be able to see how he interacted with the media during his first time officially meeting them. One of the biggest takeaways I was able to get from seeing Lance talk to the media was that he was more than just a fit for the University at the competitive level, he was also a fit at the cultural level. Almost every AD in the country will have to hire a coach at one time or another and, in the past, I would have just assumed one would find the coach who has the best opportunity to bring championships and victories to the program.

However, it’s become clear that there are so many more factors besides that, which go into decisions like these. At a Christian University such as ACU, it is important that the coaches aren’t just leaders competitively and academically, but that they are also able to lead the student-athletes at a spiritual level. It was incredible to be able to hear him speak and be able to see that he is not only capable of bringing more success to an already highly successful Track and Field program, but that he can also lead his student-athletes at a spiritual level and that his values directly align with the values of the ACU Athletics Department. Being able to talk to some of the other coaches over last summer and this current one, it gives me chills listening to the stories they’ve shared of student-athletes and the impact that they have made on the student-athletes’ lives.

It is remarkable to see the impact that college athletics have had on everyone here at ACU and at other universities all over the country. College athletics, at all levels, is an amazing platform that has the ability to change lives. Throughout my career working in college athletics, any time it begins to feel like a drag, I know I will be able to look back at the some of the stories I have heard and experiences I have had while at ACU and regain that drive and passion for working in this industry.

I also want to take a quick moment to thank everyone who read my post last week. I loved seeing all the support on social media!