🏆 From the Field to the NFL Front Office: Building a Career Around Service

Values Before Vision

Before Josh had a career plan, he had a value system. Faith, service, gratitude, growth, and family. Those five words are not abstract ideals for him; they shaped every decision. During college, those values led him to co-found Collective Uplift alongside teammates and Dr. Joseph Cooper, a program built to empower, educate, and inspire student athletes at UConn. When he transferred to Old Dominion, the mission followed him.

He also served as SAAC president at Old Dominion, which gave him his first real exposure to the business side of sports. He was still a student athlete holding down part-time work in student-athlete development, while simultaneously working leadership development roles at his father's church. The overlap between ministry, service, and organizational strategy would turn out to be better preparation than any internship.

Birth by Fire, Not a Blueprint

Josh did not network his way into sports. He served his way in. His phrase for the approach is "birth by fire," which means putting yourself into new, difficult situations and learning from the people around you rather than waiting until you feel ready.

While finishing his master's degree in public administration, he was stacking experience across contexts, church leadership, student-athlete services, team governance. None of it looked like a sports business resume. All of it built the skills that mattered once he got inside the industry.

The Bet That Opened the Door

The Miami Dolphins were not on Josh's radar. He had not mapped out an NFL career. But when a Player Engagement assistant opportunity opened in 2019, he pursued it. The deciding factor was not the organization itself but the person leading it: Kaleb Thornhill, a family man with a service-first approach. For Josh, working for the right people has always mattered more than landing the right logo.

He arrived, and the job immediately tested him. In June 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty of whether the NFL would even play a season, Josh was promoted to Player Engagement Coordinator. He coordinated across scouting, video, and athletic training to keep the organization moving. His goal, in his own words, was simply to "help move the ship forward" during a period when most people were focused on keeping their heads above water.

Trust as a Career Accelerant

What made Josh ready for a director role faster than he expected was not technical skill alone. It was the trust he built with Kaleb Thornhill. After the 2020 season, Thornhill pushed Josh to start interviewing for director-level positions. Josh was unsure he was ready. Thornhill told him he was.

That kind of sponsorship, a leader who sees your ceiling before you do, is not something you manufacture. It is something you earn through consistent execution and genuine relationship. When the GM of the Dolphins flagged an opportunity with the Cardinals in 2021, Josh was ready because the people around him had invested in his development.

What the Work Actually Looks Like

As Director of Player Engagement with the Cardinals, Josh is not running generic programming. He builds tailored development opportunities designed to meet players where they are, personally and professionally. The goal is straightforward: help athletes build the skills and mindsets that translate beyond football.

That work is an extension of everything he was doing before the NFL job existed, at SAAC, at Collective Uplift, at his father's church. The setting changed. The orientation never did.

What He Would Tell His Younger Self

Serve where you are. Not where you want to be. Not where it looks impressive. Right where you are. That has been Josh's edge since college, and it remains the clearest advice he would give to anyone trying to build a career in sports. The opportunities that changed his life did not come from aggressive networking. They came from doing the work in front of him well enough that the right people noticed and made a call on his behalf.