With the regular basketball season schedules often fractured during the COVID-19 pandemic, NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt and Managing Director of Men’s Basketball JoAn Scott eschewed the theory of thinking out of the box and instead thought more about building a box-like, controlled environment, aka BUBBLE.
What better place than Indianapolis, home of the NCAA headquarters and a very central location in America to have 68 teams come together.
One of the many tasks for Scott and her team was the need for team hosts or ambassadors to help provide services for the participating teams.
At every tournament venue, college conferences and the NCAA utilize team hosts, usually local volunteers, to assist the teams which may include everything from making dinner reservations, to transportation issues and various other needs.
The traditional plan of using local volunteers was problematic due to the pandemic so Scott reached out to NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson for some assistance.
“I called Craig I to see if he might help in securing team managers for the positions and he suggested that we use the McLendon Minority Leaders to fill this gap while also providing a great opportunity for these young people”
The McLendon Minority Leadership program was the brainchild of Kentucky head coach and NABC board member John Calipari. The initiative, named in honor of Hall of Fame coach John McLendon, was created to provide young minority candidates with opportunities to have internships in various collegiate athletic administrative positions. With assistance from Harvard coach Tommy Amaker and Frank Martin, head coach at South Carolina, college coaches in many sports across the country funded some 30 positions for these leaders in its first year.
It proved to be a solid fit for this year’s tournament with the plan to have one ambassador for every four teams in the 68-team field. The ambassador would assist with movement throughout the bubble to meeting rooms, practice facilities, meals and everything needed in a very controlled environment.
Scott then reached out to a pair of longtime athletic administrators, former Big 12 Associate Commissioner Tim Allen and Steve Pyne, former Director of Events and Facility Management at University of Utah, who have worked at various NCAA events, to manage the ambassadors.
The McLendon Minority Leadership program was the brainchild of Kentucky head coach and NABC board member John Calipari. The initiative, named in honor of Hall of Fame coach John McLendon, was created to provide young minority candidates with opportunities to have internships in various collegiate athletic administrative positions. With assistance from Harvard coach Tommy Amaker and Frank Martin, head coach at South Carolina, college coaches in many sports across the country funded some 30 positions for these leaders in its first year.
It proved to be a solid fit for this year’s tournament with the plan to have one ambassador for every four teams in the 68-team field. The ambassador would assist with movement throughout the bubble to meeting rooms, practice facilities, meals and everything needed in a very controlled environment.
Scott then reached out to a pair of longtime athletic administrators, former Big 12 Associate Commissioner Tim Allen and Steve Pyne, former Director of Events and Facility Management at University of Utah, who have worked at various NCAA events, to manage the ambassadors.
The McLendon Minority Leadership program was the brainchild of Kentucky head coach and NABC board member John Calipari. The initiative, named in honor of Hall of Fame coach John McLendon, was created to provide young minority candidates with opportunities to have internships in various collegiate athletic administrative positions. With assistance from Harvard coach Tommy Amaker and Frank Martin, head coach at South Carolina, college coaches in many sports across the country funded some 30 positions for these leaders in its first year.
It proved to be a solid fit for this year’s tournament with the plan to have one ambassador for every four teams in the 68-team field.
“I called Craig I to see if he might help in securing team managers for the positions and he suggested that we use the McLendon Minority Leaders to fill this gap while also providing a great opportunity for these young people”
The McLendon Minority Leadership program was the brainchild of Kentucky head coach and NABC board member John Calipari. The initiative, named in honor of Hall of Fame coach John McLendon, was created to provide young minority candidates with opportunities to have internships in various collegiate athletic administrative positions. With assistance from Harvard coach Tommy Amaker and Frank Martin, head coach at South Carolina, college coaches in many sports across the country funded some 30 positions for these leaders in its first year.
With the regular basketball season schedules often fractured during the COVID-19 pandemic, NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt and Managing Director of Men’s Basketball JoAn Scott eschewed the theory of thinking out of the box and instead thought more about building a box-like, controlled environment, aka BUBBLE.
What better place than Indianapolis, home of the NCAA headquarters and a very central location in America to have 68 teams come together.
One of the many tasks for Scott and her team was the need for team hosts or ambassadors to help provide services for the participating teams.
At every tournament venue, college conferences and the NCAA utilize team hosts, usually local volunteers, to assist the teams which may include everything from making dinner reservations, to transportation issues and various other needs.
The traditional plan of using local volunteers was problematic due to the pandemic so Scott reached out to NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson for some assistance.
