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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Fellows program delivering on promise
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By Leilana McKindra
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
As the Association announces a new class of NCAA Fellows for 2007-08, it’s appropriate to have the program validated by one of its most successful graduates.
Sean Frazier, a 1998-99 Fellow, is in his second year as director of athletics at Merrimack College and in his third iteration as the leader in a school’s athletics department. He had help accumulating those credentials, and he isn’t shy about saying so.
“For me to have not one but three opportunities to be a sitting athletics director — and to have the first African-American athletics director in the Southeastern Conference (Damon Evans at the University of Georgia) to also have gone through this program — we’re talking about history. That’s what this program has done and that’s why I’m so excited about it,” Frazier said.
Indeed, Frazier proudly credits the NCAA Fellows Leadership Development Program for preparing him for the success that followed — first as the AD at Manhattanville College, then at Clarkson University and now Merrimack. Now a dozen more men and women prepare to follow their fellows’ footsteps (see accompanying list).
Developed in 1997 by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, the Fellows program enhances employment and leadership opportunities for women and minorities at the senior management levels of intercollegiate athletics administration.
Fellows gain academic and practical work experience during an 18-month program that enables them to develop talents and abilities and mesh skills with career aspirations. Each NCAA Fellow is assigned an executive mentor and is responsible for completing an in-depth project outside of their normal job responsibilities.
NCAA Fellows remain at their current institutions for the duration of the program and attend the NCAA Convention and relevant governance meetings, advances and workshops. The program emphasizes marketing, public and media relations, budgeting, booster relations, leadership training, compliance, fund-raising, and diversity and management training.
Frazier said he applied for the program with encouragement from mentors such as former NCAA staff member Stan Johnson. He and was paired with current University of Arizona Director of Athletics Jim Livengood. The experience, he said, changed his life.
“Jim Livengood is the one I credit for my success as an athletics director because he really helped me to become a strong leader and good person by some of the quality controls that he bestowed upon me.”
In fact, Frazier said, it was Livengood’s encouragement and mentoring that prompted Frazier to accept the athletics director position at Manhattanville while he was still completing the program. “It was an amazing time for me. When I needed some guidance, Jim and the Fellows program provided that stability I was looking for,” he said.
Megan Boone, assistant athletics director/compliance, University of Northern Colorado (Division I)
Executive mentor: Todd Turner, director of athletics, University of Washington
Wheeler Brown, associate athletics director/internal operations, North Carolina A&T State University (Division I)
Executive mentor: Bob Stull, director of athletics, University of Texas at El Paso
Ann Carr, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, Mississippi State University (Division I)
Executive mentor: Brad Bates, director of athletics, Miami University (Ohio)
Julio Freire, associate athletics director/development, Tennessee Technological University (Division I)
Executive mentor: Jim Livengood, athletics director, University of Arizona
Julie Greenwood, women’s tennis coach, acting senior woman administrator and assistant professor of physical education, Williams College (Division III)
Executive mentor: Carolyn Schlie Femovich, executive director, Patriot League
Carolyn O’Connell, senior associate athletics director, senior woman administrator and compliance coordinator, Loyola University (Illinois) (Division I)
Executive mentor: Mark Murphy, director of athletics, Northwestern University
Milton Overton, associate athletics director, Texas A&M University, College Station (Division I)
Executive mentor: Damon Evans, director of athletics, University of Georgia
Karen Peters, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, University of Portland (Division I)
Executive mentor: Warde Manuel, director of athletics, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
Monica Severson, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, Wartburg College (Division III)
Executive mentor: John Harper, director of athletics, Bridgewater State College
T.J. Shelton, assistant director of athletics and director of facilities, operations, and special events, Washington University in St. Louis (Division III)
Executive mentor: Sean Frazier, director of athletics, Merrimack College
Tricia Turley, associate athletics director/compliance, University of Massachusetts (Division I)
Executive mentor: Bob Driscoll, director of athletics, Providence College
Gerald Young, associate athletics director and professor in physical education and recreation, Carleton College (Division III)
Executive mentor: Bob Nielson, director of athletics, University of Minnesota Duluth
Sean Frazier, a 1998-99 Fellow, is in his second year as director of athletics at Merrimack College and in his third iteration as the leader in a school’s athletics department. He had help accumulating those credentials, and he isn’t shy about saying so.
“For me to have not one but three opportunities to be a sitting athletics director — and to have the first African-American athletics director in the Southeastern Conference (Damon Evans at the University of Georgia) to also have gone through this program — we’re talking about history. That’s what this program has done and that’s why I’m so excited about it,” Frazier said.
Indeed, Frazier proudly credits the NCAA Fellows Leadership Development Program for preparing him for the success that followed — first as the AD at Manhattanville College, then at Clarkson University and now Merrimack. Now a dozen more men and women prepare to follow their fellows’ footsteps (see accompanying list).
Developed in 1997 by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, the Fellows program enhances employment and leadership opportunities for women and minorities at the senior management levels of intercollegiate athletics administration.
Fellows gain academic and practical work experience during an 18-month program that enables them to develop talents and abilities and mesh skills with career aspirations. Each NCAA Fellow is assigned an executive mentor and is responsible for completing an in-depth project outside of their normal job responsibilities.
NCAA Fellows remain at their current institutions for the duration of the program and attend the NCAA Convention and relevant governance meetings, advances and workshops. The program emphasizes marketing, public and media relations, budgeting, booster relations, leadership training, compliance, fund-raising, and diversity and management training.
Frazier said he applied for the program with encouragement from mentors such as former NCAA staff member Stan Johnson. He and was paired with current University of Arizona Director of Athletics Jim Livengood. The experience, he said, changed his life.
“Jim Livengood is the one I credit for my success as an athletics director because he really helped me to become a strong leader and good person by some of the quality controls that he bestowed upon me.”
In fact, Frazier said, it was Livengood’s encouragement and mentoring that prompted Frazier to accept the athletics director position at Manhattanville while he was still completing the program. “It was an amazing time for me. When I needed some guidance, Jim and the Fellows program provided that stability I was looking for,” he said.
NCAA Fellows
The 2007-08 class and executive mentors:Megan Boone, assistant athletics director/compliance, University of Northern Colorado (Division I)
Executive mentor: Todd Turner, director of athletics, University of Washington
Wheeler Brown, associate athletics director/internal operations, North Carolina A&T State University (Division I)
Executive mentor: Bob Stull, director of athletics, University of Texas at El Paso
Ann Carr, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, Mississippi State University (Division I)
Executive mentor: Brad Bates, director of athletics, Miami University (Ohio)
Julio Freire, associate athletics director/development, Tennessee Technological University (Division I)
Executive mentor: Jim Livengood, athletics director, University of Arizona
Julie Greenwood, women’s tennis coach, acting senior woman administrator and assistant professor of physical education, Williams College (Division III)
Executive mentor: Carolyn Schlie Femovich, executive director, Patriot League
Carolyn O’Connell, senior associate athletics director, senior woman administrator and compliance coordinator, Loyola University (Illinois) (Division I)
Executive mentor: Mark Murphy, director of athletics, Northwestern University
Milton Overton, associate athletics director, Texas A&M University, College Station (Division I)
Executive mentor: Damon Evans, director of athletics, University of Georgia
Karen Peters, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, University of Portland (Division I)
Executive mentor: Warde Manuel, director of athletics, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York
Monica Severson, associate athletics director and senior woman administrator, Wartburg College (Division III)
Executive mentor: John Harper, director of athletics, Bridgewater State College
T.J. Shelton, assistant director of athletics and director of facilities, operations, and special events, Washington University in St. Louis (Division III)
Executive mentor: Sean Frazier, director of athletics, Merrimack College
Tricia Turley, associate athletics director/compliance, University of Massachusetts (Division I)
Executive mentor: Bob Driscoll, director of athletics, Providence College
Gerald Young, associate athletics director and professor in physical education and recreation, Carleton College (Division III)
Executive mentor: Bob Nielson, director of athletics, University of Minnesota Duluth
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