By Kyle Roberts
College sports fans will often tell you that it feels harder and harder to see the connection between athlete and student on university campuses in collegiate athletics.
In a world with NIL, transfer portals, and play-for-pay, college fans are becoming increasingly jaded and cynical.
I am here to offer a brief remedy for you.
This past weekend, I had a really neat feeling: watching the Diamond Dogs as the host team this year’s Conference-USA tournament and seeing them battle night in and night out all the way to the title game on Sunday.
It was exciting baseball, even if the good guys didn’t manage to bring the championship hardware home.
And while I often watch Tech sports as a fan, this tournament weekend was a little more unique.
For context, I just finished my fifth quarter as an adjunct professor in the College of Business. I have been blessed with a tremendous career opportunity to do something that I never thought would give me so much life: teaching at the college level.
And in the time I have been at Tech, I have had the privilege to teach athletes of all sports. But in these last few weeks, I have been especially proud to see the success of my Bulldog baseballers, including one who graduated in a private ceremony Monday morning after battling through the weekend.
You would think baseball players in the middle of a season would completely check out on class. I can report first-hand that has not been the case. The players I taught that are on this 2024 roster were all star students in my Marketing 365: Introduction to Digital Marketing — from attendance to engagement to presentations.
Even better: when I recently shared with head coach Lane Burroughs how impressed I’ve been by his players in my class, he absolutely lit up and thanked me.
That’s heartwarming for a part-time college professor: the feeling that we’re all in this together for the success of these young men while they are at Louisiana Tech — and then beyond.
To Adarius Myers, Reed Smith, Slade Netterville and Blake Hooks – thank you for all for being awesome students and for representing the university so well.
And go show ’em how Bulldogs handle their business in Fayetteville.
Just like you did in Digital Marketing.
