Those who attended the 2002 NCAA Conference Intern Seminar January 24-26 in Indianapolis heard that having a passion for what they do is the key to success.

That was the message that keynote speaker Nell Fortner, coach of the WNBA's Indiana Fever, left with a room full of potential athletics administrators.

Fortner was among several attractions for the more than 40 interns from NCAA member conferences. Other key speakers and presenters included NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey; Christine Grant, former women's athletics director at the University of Iowa; Richard Lapchick, director of the sports business management program at the University of Central Florida; and Andy Geiger, athletics director at Ohio State University.

Topics they and others addressed were the NCAA mission, the role of athletics in higher education, and ethnic and gender diversity in athletics. Seminar attendees also had an opportunity to attend interactive workshops on interviewing, resume writing and personality assessment.

The theme for the 13th annual seminar, hosted by the 2001-02 class of NCAA national office interns, was "The Road to Your Professional Development." The seminar's goal is to educate national and conference office interns on issues pertinent to the business of amateur and professional athletics and to provide them with the skills necessary to pursue careers in those areas.

Fortner, who formerly coached at Purdue University, was able to draw from her own personal experiences in delivering her keynote message.

"I love young people," Fortner told the seminar attendees. "That's my passion. I love helping them set high expectations and helping them work to achieve them."

Her passion for athletics became even more evident as she talked about how pursuing her career goals initially required her to take several pay cuts.

"I never worried about money," Fortner said. "Money did not determine what my next position would be. It was the value of the opportunity that was the deciding factor."

She encouraged the interns not to allow finances to dictate their career path, but to find something they love to do.

"When you're in the right situation, you find a way to get through the tough times," Fortner said.

One of the interns who found inspiration in Fortner's speech was the Ohio Valley Conference's Keisha Felton, who said Fortner inspired her to consider a career in coaching.

"She was filled with so much positive energy and passion for her profession that she inadvertently passed it along to everyone in the room," Felton said.

Fortner not only inspired the interns with her enthusiasm and love for her profession, but with her generosity as well. As she was leaving the room after her speech, she mentioned she was returning her honorarium for the seminar and requesting that it be allocated back to intern programming. "I don't recall that being in the draft of her talking points," said one of the interns who helped coordinate the seminar.

Panel discussions

The 2002 seminar also featured a panel discussion on the role of athletics in higher education. Panelists included Grant, Tex Dutile, faculty athletics representative at the University of Notre Dame; Murray Sperber, professor of English and American studies at Indiana University, Bloomington; and Judy Sweet, NCAA vice-president for championships.

The panelists addressed the coach's role in shaping the student-athlete experience and how too much emphasis on winning can affect a student-athlete's academic performance.

"Some coaches do not even know when final exams are," said Grant, who added that for her, the ideal college athletics program would not use winning as the primary criterion for evaluating coaches.

"But if you don't win, you're out the door," Sperber said, noting the quandary coaches face.

Panelists noted that reform in this area is a tough sell, especially in Division I, where dollars are perceived to be attached to victories.

But Grant, who has been instrumental in developing and promoting an amateurism deregulation package for all three divisions, said that in the case of some reform efforts, "You do not take a poll."

Panelists also discussed the time pressures placed on student-athletes.

"We don't give our student-athletes a chance to be students," said Dutile. "There is another part to college life, like sitting in the student union with your friends and talking politics."

Seminar participants also heard a presentation from Ohio State's Geiger, who provided tips on becoming a successful athletics administrator.

"The main job of an athletics director in this day and age is to craft the mission of the athletics department so that the programs you run fit with the mission of the university," he said. "You also have to have the courage to stand up and make the right decisions."