Great administrators, professors and students make up the
Sport Management Program. A committed and accessible network of alumni adds to
a well-organized and structured program. Another key aspect of the program is
its flexibility and ability to allow students to pursue career opportunities
while still earning their degree.
While many students stay two years in a single location,
either in San Francisco or Orange Country, others move between the two campuses
in order to pursue job opportunities. The seamless transition between one
campus to another has been experienced by Tiana Davis and Mike Krupoff. Davis
has moved from San Francisco to Southern California, while Krupoff has made the
move north after starting the program in Orange County.
After working at the University of California and Stanford
in the fall, Davis moved south in order to pursue an opportunity with the L.A. Galaxy,
in addition to L.A. Fitness.
“I moved down here in the
middle of March. My best moment so far would have to be getting an OMIT
position with LA Fitness. I finally feel I found a job that I can turn into a
career,” says Davis. “L.A. fits my lifestyle and is where I was meant to be so
I couldn't be happier with my decision to transfer.”
With her job in Valencia,
Davis has had to overcome the long commute and daily Los Angeles traffic. Even
with some logistical challenges associated with moving campuses, the overall
transition has been a success.
“The program does a fantastic
job of making the transition as easy for students as possible,” notes Davis. “I
had no problem jumping in with the other cohort. My paperwork was easily
transferred as well.”
With a desire to work in the
NFL with the Oakland Raiders, Krupoff has made the most of his move to the Bay
Area. The move has made life significantly easier for Krupoff after he was
previously commuting up to the Bay Area each weekend to work with the team last
fall.
“The USF program
and everyone involved made the transition as seamless as possible. I made sure
to keep everyone in the loop as soon as I started seriously considering the
move and as time progressed and things got more serious they were able to make
it happen with no questions asked,” says Krupoff. “I was honestly very
surprised at how easy the transfer from one campus to the other was.”
As a classmate of Krupoff in San Francisco, it has been easy
for me to see him quickly adapt to joining the Northern California campus. The
past couple weeks he has been working training camp for the Raiders and is
clearly well on his way to pursuing a career in football operations.
In addition to the flexibility the program provides in terms
of moving campuses, it provides the same flexibility for students working jobs
that may conflict with class times.
Because of the nature of my last internship with the U.S.
Open, a number of students from the program working the event took a class off
and will make it up at a later time. For all of us working in the sport
industry, we quickly learn that a typical 9-to-5 schedule is almost
nonexistent. After finishing up my internship with the U.S. Open this summer in
San Francisco, it was an adjustment to get back into a regular week after
working over 100 hours a week during two weeks in June.
While it was nice to be able to focus solely on the event,
coming back to class for Sport Law felt a little bit like that first class last
June. During that first night back and the ensuing six weeks, I’ve been
reminded of how great it is to be part of the program in a class setting.
Hearing how each person is doing and the opportunities everyone is pursuing
keeps others motivated. It also lowers your stress level when you hear other
classmates that face similar challenges!
Flexibility from the program provides students the chance to
pursue a wide range of opportunities in two major sport markets. The problem
for most students is narrowing down a number of opportunities to just one.
“The most challenging part of
the Sport Management program is that there are so many opportunities to work
and intern. I really wish I had the time and student lifespan to work a day
with every internship or job posting that gets blasted out,” reflects Krupoff.
“I firmly believe that if you
set your sights on something while in this program it is attainable, so long as
you do your due diligence in taking the right approach in making it
happen.”
