🏆How a Coach’s Daughter Became a Leader in College Sports

Raised on the Game

Angie’s path into sports started at home. Her dad was a college football coach, and she remembers growing up at end-of-season banquets, watching seniors tearfully reflect on how sports changed their lives. “It never failed – the biggest, baddest guy would get up and start crying. They weren’t just leaving a team, they were leaving a family.” Those moments made a lasting impact. “Some of them only had an opportunity at college because of sport. That hit me early.”

In high school, Angie played basketball, volleyball, and competed in track & field before joining the rowing team at the University of Kansas – a surprising move in a landlocked state. “Yes, we row in Kansas. Cornfields and all,” she laughs. At KU, she found her voice in leadership through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), calling it a “launchpad for leadership development.” Her involvement in Big 12 SAAC connected her with leaders across campuses and eventually led to her first job at the Big 12 Conference, working in championship operations. “As athletes, we think events just happen. Seeing the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes changed everything for me.”

After graduation, Angie pursued graduate school, weighing law versus business. Arizona State’s Sports Law and Business program offered the perfect blend. While there, she worked as a graduate assistant for Sun Devil Athletics and gained consulting experience with The PICTOR Group. The onset of COVID disrupted plans but opened new doors – and following graduation, she accepted a role at the Missouri Valley Conference through a connection from her time at the Big 12.

Quiet Strength, Sharp Listening, and Showing Up

When Angie reflects on the people she’s most admired in her career, a common theme emerges: humility paired with presence. “The smartest person in the room isn’t always the one talking the most. The best leaders I’ve seen are incredible listeners. They take in everything, and when they finally speak – the room listens.”

It’s a lesson she’s still practicing herself, but one that shapes how she leads meetings, hires talent, and mentors others. She seeks candidates who are honest about what they don’t know and are willing to ask questions, but only once. “Don’t fake it. Ask how to use the printer if you need to, but then go figure it out so you don’t have to ask me again.” She also values initiative. “If you see a sign falling at an event, pick it up. Don’t wait to be told. If you’re in the interview, I already know you can do the job. What I want to know is: what else are you bringing to the team?”

Learning to Take the Shot – Even When You Miss

When Angie talks about navigating career challenges, she draws a clear comparison to basketball. “If your career is a basketball game and you miss a shot, your coach tells you how to adjust your form so next time you can make that shot – or take a smarter one,” she says. That mindset has helped her frame professional setbacks as coaching moments, not personal failures. “There are times when you just have to be coachable and say, my boss doesn’t hate me, they’re trying to help me so I can be better next time.”

Although the approach requires a level of humility and awareness, it is something that growing up in a coaching household will make one very comfortable with. Angie has learned to assess feedback through the lens of an immediate change or future one: is this change something that I need to do right now, or something that I should keep in my back pocket for later? She emphasizes the importance of having good teammates to make assessing easier. “I trust the people around me. It has been really important in my career journey that I trust and align with the leadership.”

Fueling Growth Beyond the Game

For Angie, the reason she shows up every day traces back to those early team banquets she witnessed as a coach’s daughter – moments where college athletes, often from challenging backgrounds, reflected with raw emotion on how sports had transformed their lives. That memory never left her.

She believes deeply in the power of college athletics as a life training ground. “College sports truly is the best incubator for being able to teach you how to get up after you fall down,” she says. It’s not just about the games – it’s about learning to navigate setbacks, becoming a better teammate, and gaining the skills to show up in every part of your life, whether that’s at home, at work, or in your community.

Angie sees her role as helping create the conditions for that growth. Helping young people develop, not just as athletes, but as people. Her purpose goes well beyond her role. It’s about shaping environments that allow student-athletes to thrive long after the final whistle.

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