University of Minnesota Athletics
Past Meets Present with an Eye to the Future
4/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Student-Athlete Development
This feature was published in the most recent Gopher Athletics' Ski-U-Mah magazine. To see this story as it appears in print (complete with fantastic photos) and to read the entire May issue of Ski-U-Mah  click here.
Often followed by a contemplative silence, it's common to hear someone say "If I had known then what I know now..." as they look at decisions they've made in their professional career. Those behind Gopher Athletics' Relationships Empowering Professionalism and Success (R.E.P.S.) program want to ensure no student-athletes who play football at the University of Minnesota leave college muttering that old cliché as they blaze their career paths.
Started in 2014, the R.E.P.S. program hosts several events each year which bring together Gopher Football alumni and current student-athletes to discuss career options and skills needed for life after college football.
"The R.E.P.S. program got started when Coach [Kill] got here. It was important for him to connect with the alumni," recalled Adam Clark, assistant athletics director for football. "Through those conversations, we knew [our alumni] wanted to get back and get more involved. We came up with the R.E.P.S. program and built on that."
"In the world of college sports, [student-athletes] come in and they're so in-tune with what they're doing now," added Jeff Jones, director of player personnel for football. "So to give them a picture of what life is going to look like once they step across that graduation stage and what they need to be prepared for that day is really our main objective."
Coordinating events to achieve that objective takes a great deal of work. With support from the football staff, Linda Roberts, director of campus and community partnerships for Minnesota's student-athlete development department, set about organizing the program's first event, which was held last July. Roberts conducted one-on-one outreach to a network of football alumni and invested countless hours ensuring that kickoff event would set the tone for a successful, ongoing program. As a former student-athlete herself, Roberts knows firsthand how beneficial these events can be for shaping the future of student-athletes.
"There is not a lot of mentoring [alumni] can do from the aspect of compliance and there are rules and regulations we have to follow, but if we can get them back to campus, then they can spend a couple hours working with our current student-athletes," Roberts said. "It's a great feeling, to help student-athletes see individuals who came here to the University of Minnesota and, after graduating, went on to do bigger and better things in life after sports."
At that first event, Gopher alums separated into groups based on their professional backgrounds and current student-athletes had the chance to talk to each group about the details of working in that field. Through the efforts of Roberts and the football staff, more than 60 former football players participated in that kickoff event, providing diverse experiences and perspectives for current players. The effort of those who coordinate these events and the alumni who participate is not lost on the young men who now wear the Maroon and Gold.
"Our current student-athletes have been very appreciative of the program," said Jones. "As a student-athlete, when you know that not only your coaches, but the athletic department, has that type of investment in you, they're going to want to work that much harder academically and athletically because they know we're invested in their future and not just their current time here as a football player."
Subsequent events, such as the one held just a few weeks ago, focus more on professional and personal development. The most recent seminar discussed how to use social media as a tool for developing professional relationships and building a personal brand. Future topics may include life skills such as personal finances, but the focus of upcoming sessions will be a collaborative effort.
"[We'll] have a voice from the former student-athletes and see what they want to talk about, [then] we'll ask the current student-athletes and see what they want to know about," said Clark. "We don't want to bring up a topic they have no interest in. We want to do it for them. That's what it's all about."
Impacting the lives of student-athletes is at the core of the R.E.P.S. program, but the opportunity to keep alums of the football program engaged is another key element.
"We wouldn't be here without the alumni, so we want to make sure they have their imprint on current student-athletes," said Jones. "What better way to [make that impression] than by sharing your professional experience and what you did to get where you're at?"
While R.E.P.S. is a program for football student-athletes and alumni today, Roberts see the possibility of similar programs for other sports in the future.
"It would be great if all our student-athletes would have that same opportunity, with former student-athletes coming in -- people who played basketball, who ran track, who played hockey -- so they could get a feel of what the former student-athletes did after graduating," said Roberts.
As Clark observed, that seamless connection between the past and the present of Gopher Athletics is what it's all about.
