Two National Wins in One Year for Sport Management
Teams representing the Loras College sport management program have brought home two national championships in 2010.

Each year the Loras College sport management program sends teams to two national competitions: the College Sports Research Institute (CSRI) case study competition in the spring and the Sports Marketing Association (SMA) case study competition in the fall. In 2010, the teams competed in North Carolina and New Orleans, taking the national championship title at both competitions.

“Sport management is a huge industry encompassing many different areas,” explained senior Scott Johann (Des Plaines, Ill.). “The coursework offered at Loras prepares us well and gives us a background in all areas of sport including marketing, facilities, finance and fundraising, legal aspects and many more.”

The program holds try-outs for each competition in order to assemble a strong team. Each team is made up of four students and Loras sent two teams to each competition.

“The teams’ successes continue to demonstrate that our sport management students are on par with any program in the country,” said Matthew Garrett, Ph.D., chair of the Division of Physical Education and Sport Studies and coordinator of the sport management program at Loras.

The team that won the CSRI competition included Andrew McGinnis (’10) (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Dolly Duffy (’11) (Bartlett, Ill.), Tim Kelly (’12) (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and Jacob Hanselman (’11) (Solon, Iowa).

The team to win the most recent SMA competition in New Orleans consisted of Hanselman, McGinnis, Johann and Chad Monahan (’11) (Rockwell City, Iowa).

“Our team worked together for about a month,” explained Johann. “We spent many long hours together in the library, working to perfect our marketing plan. It is becoming an expectation that we not just attend these conferences, but that we will perform well at them.”