On the VCU campus the name SportsCenter not only means the television program on ESPN, but it also applies to VCU’s master’s degree in sports leadership.
“One of the big advantages here is that people who go through this system not only attain a master’s degree in sports leadership, but they also get a hands-on experience,” said Joe Cantafio, director of coaching and associate director of the VCU SportsCenter program.
This program, which Cantafio said is about five years old, started with an idea from Richard Sander, assistant to the president and director of athletics.
“This is the brainchild of Dr. Dick Sander,” Cantafio said. “Dr. Sander had this vision years ago and went through with it.”
Cantafio said the design of SportsCenter prepares a graduate for most jobs in the sports world.
“It’s a master’s degree in sports leadership that affords people in general to be prepared to go out into the athletic world to work in almost any facet of athletics,” he said. “Our people do game management. They know how it is to run a basketball game, to run a baseball game and they know what it is to sell tickets.
“So I think that is basically it. The goal of our program is simply to prepare people for the athletic world.”
The SportsCenter handbook, which outlines the program’s curriculum, stipulates that students must complete seven required courses, eight possible elective courses and an internship to graduate. In all, students must complete 36 credit hours for the degree.
Peyton Owens III, a 2003 SportsCenter graduate who serves as director of life skills and community outreach, called the program’s requirements demanding.
“I would say it is very demanding. It definitely requires a lot of time, but you get out of it what you put in,” he said. “If you’re looking to go that extra mile – and get that understanding, that awareness – and take ownership of your personal development.”
The Richmond native and graduate of The College of William & Mary said he easily recommends this program to people.
“I actually recommended it to several classmates one or two years behind me at William and Mary,” Owens said. “I would definitely recommend it to anyone because I think the hands-on approach to basically understanding athletics is being able to get that experience.”
For 30-year-old Chris Thomasson, a sports-administration major in the SportsCenter program, that hands-on experience ranks high on his list for his major.
“I think they definitely require taking classes that prepare someone for a career,” Thomasson said. “It’s not a program where you just do case studies from a book.”
Jenn Sprouse, a 25-year-old sports-administration major, summed up the program’s hands-on approach into two words: action learning.
“It is over too soon,” Sprouse said. “I feel like I’ve just got here. It’s quick – in and out. I’m going to miss it because we’re like a family.”
Cantafio said the program enrolls about 55 students nearly equal in number of men and women. Nonetheless, he said, the faculty is looking at the program’s future student enrollment.
“We’re probably going to cut that down to 40 or 45 so that we can do a great job with the 45,” Cantafio said, but the decision still needs more discussion.
Whether there’s 50 or 40 students, Owens learned that a strength of the program evolves around the students’ social relationships.
“One thing that stands out in my mind beyond a shadow of a doubt is the relationships we (classmates) created – (my) being able to work with different individuals within my class,” Owens said. “My classmates are still friends today that I still rely on to bounce ideas off.”
Although the program eventually may limit its enrollment, Cantafio still expects to receive many applications and considers this program on the fortunate end of supply and demand.
“We get a lot of applications,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of graduate schools like this. There are some sprinkled all over the country, but I think there is a high demand for this.”