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McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative Providing Opportunities For Future Leaders
February 07, 2021 01:47 PM | Football, Men's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – If you recall, earlier this summer Bob Huggins was one of the first coaches to sign up for John Calipari's plan to use their influence and resources to increase opportunities for potential minority athletic administrators.
Calipari's plan was to partner with the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation to launch the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative.
The goal of the initiative was to "provide minorities a jump start to their careers through practical experiences, opportunities to build their network and instilling the values of John McLendon: Integrity, Education, Leadership and Mentorship."
Calipari recruited a number of prominent head coaches in men's basketball and football, calling them MLI Ambassadors, to help support and fund positions within their respective athletic departments for tomorrow's athletic administrators.
The list of coaches is impressive and growing, with approximately 30 new positions created so far in the program's initial year.
At West Virginia University, Huggins and football coach Neal Brown have not only lent their names to this worthwhile cause, but have also supported it financially.
"We didn't start where we are," Huggins said last summer. "We started at a lower level and worked our way up. ADs were once like we were; you work your way up."
Which is exactly what David Simms is doing at WVU.
Simms, a Concord, North Carolina, resident who earned a business management degree and MBA at the University of Kentucky, is the first participant in the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative at WVU.
He began his year-long position in January, working specifically with sports marketing. After three months, he will rotate to the Mountaineer Athletic Club.
In the summer, his next three months will be spent with facilities management and then he will conclude his term with a three-month stint working in the athletics business office.
West Virginia's program, led by Steve Uryasz, executive senior associate athletics director, is one of the few in the country offering this rotational aspect, which was appealing to Simms when he was considering other positions.
"I'm very, very happy with my decision to choose West Virginia University," Simms said recently. "I think the opportunity to expand my range a little bit and break into some different units is going to be very beneficial to me."
Simms began working in the UK athletics department as an intern in event management during his junior year. That led to a graduate assistant position in athletics operations where he oversaw women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics events at Memorial Coliseum.
"I was the on-hand deck manager for all of those sporting events, as well as any external events we hosted in Memorial Coliseum," he said.
He also led Kentucky's service recovery efforts for football by handling customer complaints.
"I would visit them at their seats during the next game to make sure their experiences were more enjoyable," he explained. "We reached out to folks to make sure we tried to turn a negative into a positive."
When Simms' position ended last summer, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for him to break into the industry and when he found out about the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative he jumped at the opportunity.
Simms contacted Kentucky sports information director Eric Lindsey, who put him in touch with Autumn Willhoit of Prolink Staffing.
From there, Simms went through an interview process that also included a second interview with Uryasz and his team at WVU consisting of Ben Murray, April Messerly, Nathaniel Zinn, Jamie Hall, Sam Morrone and Tangela Cheatham, and he was offered the position.
"I struggled with the pandemic, just as everybody has," Simms admitted. "Recent graduates and folks that are just getting established in their careers have all struggled with this. This program gave me an opportunity to have a job in a role that I have been pursuing."
Presently, David is putting the customer service experience he got at Kentucky to good use in his current role with athletics marketing.
Zinn, West Virginia's assistant athletics director for sports marketing, has entrusted Simms with the important responsibility of reaching out to fans who purchased cutouts during home men's and women's basketball games.
Simms is also doing some script writing for the popular Building Mountaineer Basketball features that run on the video board during home games and also on social media.
"I've written five scripts for those videos, one just recently on the 2018 Baylor victory,' Simms said.
"David has already learned so much in his first month here at WVU," Zinn said. "He's had a great attitude and is eager to learn about how collegiate marketing works at this level. He's been working in several areas including planning game scripts, incorporating sponsorship into live events, customer service and next he will be getting into special-event marketing planning."
All of this is real, tangible work experience that will look good on David's resume.
Simms said he is also eager to transition to the Mountaineer Athletic Club in March to get a taste of collegiate fundraising. He will be working directly with MAC executive director Murray and Hall, assistant athletics director for donor relations and administration.
"I'm really interested in fundraising and donor relations," he said. "The fundraising aspect of this really piques my interest."
When his position ends next December, David is going to be a well-prepared job candidate.
He believes the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative has a chance to really grow and prosper in the coming years.
"As much as it is on the universities and the administrators running it, I also think it falls on us and the future leadership positions," Simms explained. "It's what we make of it. My goals for this are to maximize my networking opportunities and maximize my experiences. I really think the success of the program depends upon how much the future leaders are willing to put into it."
"The goal is to try and put at least one person in a position where they are going to get exposed to everything to help them develop into our leaders and decision makers of tomorrow – and they are going to have to work in order to do this," Huggins concluded.
Calipari's plan was to partner with the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation to launch the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative.
The goal of the initiative was to "provide minorities a jump start to their careers through practical experiences, opportunities to build their network and instilling the values of John McLendon: Integrity, Education, Leadership and Mentorship."
Calipari recruited a number of prominent head coaches in men's basketball and football, calling them MLI Ambassadors, to help support and fund positions within their respective athletic departments for tomorrow's athletic administrators.
The list of coaches is impressive and growing, with approximately 30 new positions created so far in the program's initial year.
At West Virginia University, Huggins and football coach Neal Brown have not only lent their names to this worthwhile cause, but have also supported it financially.
"We didn't start where we are," Huggins said last summer. "We started at a lower level and worked our way up. ADs were once like we were; you work your way up."
Which is exactly what David Simms is doing at WVU.
Simms, a Concord, North Carolina, resident who earned a business management degree and MBA at the University of Kentucky, is the first participant in the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative at WVU.
He began his year-long position in January, working specifically with sports marketing. After three months, he will rotate to the Mountaineer Athletic Club.
In the summer, his next three months will be spent with facilities management and then he will conclude his term with a three-month stint working in the athletics business office.
West Virginia's program, led by Steve Uryasz, executive senior associate athletics director, is one of the few in the country offering this rotational aspect, which was appealing to Simms when he was considering other positions.
"I'm very, very happy with my decision to choose West Virginia University," Simms said recently. "I think the opportunity to expand my range a little bit and break into some different units is going to be very beneficial to me."
Simms began working in the UK athletics department as an intern in event management during his junior year. That led to a graduate assistant position in athletics operations where he oversaw women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics events at Memorial Coliseum.
"I was the on-hand deck manager for all of those sporting events, as well as any external events we hosted in Memorial Coliseum," he said.
He also led Kentucky's service recovery efforts for football by handling customer complaints.
"I would visit them at their seats during the next game to make sure their experiences were more enjoyable," he explained. "We reached out to folks to make sure we tried to turn a negative into a positive."
When Simms' position ended last summer, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for him to break into the industry and when he found out about the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative he jumped at the opportunity.
Simms contacted Kentucky sports information director Eric Lindsey, who put him in touch with Autumn Willhoit of Prolink Staffing.
From there, Simms went through an interview process that also included a second interview with Uryasz and his team at WVU consisting of Ben Murray, April Messerly, Nathaniel Zinn, Jamie Hall, Sam Morrone and Tangela Cheatham, and he was offered the position.
"I struggled with the pandemic, just as everybody has," Simms admitted. "Recent graduates and folks that are just getting established in their careers have all struggled with this. This program gave me an opportunity to have a job in a role that I have been pursuing."
Presently, David is putting the customer service experience he got at Kentucky to good use in his current role with athletics marketing.
Zinn, West Virginia's assistant athletics director for sports marketing, has entrusted Simms with the important responsibility of reaching out to fans who purchased cutouts during home men's and women's basketball games.
Simms is also doing some script writing for the popular Building Mountaineer Basketball features that run on the video board during home games and also on social media.
"I've written five scripts for those videos, one just recently on the 2018 Baylor victory,' Simms said.
"David has already learned so much in his first month here at WVU," Zinn said. "He's had a great attitude and is eager to learn about how collegiate marketing works at this level. He's been working in several areas including planning game scripts, incorporating sponsorship into live events, customer service and next he will be getting into special-event marketing planning."
All of this is real, tangible work experience that will look good on David's resume.
Simms said he is also eager to transition to the Mountaineer Athletic Club in March to get a taste of collegiate fundraising. He will be working directly with MAC executive director Murray and Hall, assistant athletics director for donor relations and administration.
"I'm really interested in fundraising and donor relations," he said. "The fundraising aspect of this really piques my interest."
When his position ends next December, David is going to be a well-prepared job candidate.
He believes the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative has a chance to really grow and prosper in the coming years.
"As much as it is on the universities and the administrators running it, I also think it falls on us and the future leadership positions," Simms explained. "It's what we make of it. My goals for this are to maximize my networking opportunities and maximize my experiences. I really think the success of the program depends upon how much the future leaders are willing to put into it."
"The goal is to try and put at least one person in a position where they are going to get exposed to everything to help them develop into our leaders and decision makers of tomorrow – and they are going to have to work in order to do this," Huggins concluded.
"Every step of the way, you're building upon those fundamentals learned in this role."
— NABC (@NABC1927) February 8, 2021
David Simms of @WVUSports is our latest MLI Future Leader spotlight! pic.twitter.com/tWfT8Smyio
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