Other Duties Assigned?!

Here's how these duties can provide value to your career and player development role.

That’s not on my job description!

We have all heard it. We have also all seen the person who says this not last long in the sports industry.

“Other duties assigned” is something you will always see if you work in sports. 

Most people see it as a negative, but I see it as a possible opportunity to provide value to your role and career.

With that said, I do understand that all duties are not created equal, and some are truly a pain. 

BUT, in this newsletter I will be sharing 7 “other duties” that helped my career grow. 

I will call these opportunities assignments, and list them in no particular order. I will give you the story behind them and the benefits I received from doing this other duty assigned.

Assignment #1

University of Houston Back to School Video

Story

I was in my office when the creative team came in and asked if I could help them with a project that was just placed on their desk. At first, I didn’t know what type of project they were talking about because if it was moving furniture or anything around the office, I retired the “Ed Jones Moving Services” after college. They let me know they had to make a back-to-school event and wondered if I didn’t mind interviewing students. If you know me well, you know what my immediate answer was YES.

They told me what to do and we went from there. I can strike up a conversation with anyone, so getting students for these interviews was easy. I really enjoyed this opportunity to use my skills and interact with others.

Benefits

My communication skillset(s) was show at a mass level.

This video was played on the program’s Twitter account with hundreds of thousands of people following.

The diversity of the campus was displayed.

This was huge for us in recruiting, our prospective student athletes were able to see what our campus truly looks like and see how the diversity of the city is on our campus as well.

Opportunity to support our creative team.

The creative team I worked with at University of Houston, DID SO MUCH! A lot of things were thrown on their plate with short notice like this video, so I was glad I could help them and remove at least one area of stress from what was expected from them. They were great to me and great people as well. All of the creative teams I have worked with are incredible.

Assignment #2

Advanced Travel

Story

You may be wondering how I got here. HA! This is what you think it is a picture of me stuffed in a jet restroom during the 2020 COVID football season. Our DFO, Tory Teykl, needed someone to advance travel in place of her for our coming game against West Virginia. She mentioned it to me, but I was nervous because there were so many operational things to do and that wasn’t my strongest skill at the moment. After meeting with me about what advanced travel looked like and walking me through the itinerary, I felt better and accepted the challenge.

For those who are like yeah I get it but what is advanced travel. This is when someone usually from the operations staff leaves in advance of the team to make sure it is a smooth transition for the team as they come into town. You’re talking to hotels, police escorts, going to the stadium to talk to facilities staff, checking out restaurants, and grabbing rental cars.

This is a pic I sent to let her know I made it to the plane, and I was off to Morgantown on Thursday to ensure everything was in place for our team as they would come into town on Friday.

Benefit

Builds trust with the operations staff.

Tory was able to trust me and send me to advance again later in the year because I had done it before. It was good for our operations team to see I was willing and ABLE to help. In the player development role, I have experienced some rocky relationships with those in operations, so it was always good when I could give those who needed it the confidence in me.

New professional experience.

For me this was something really cool. This was an opportunity that allowed me to see the football program and all the inner workings in a different way. I appreciated every department even more when I advanced and had to set up rooms, resources, and other needed things for them. It also looks good on the resume as well.

Meet professionals at other universities.

Because I was advancing, I was able to reach out and chop it up with other sports professionals around the country. One of the coolest was when I advanced for Texas Tech and was able to meet Jess Gray for the first time. We stood outside the stadium and chopped it up like we knew each other for about 45 minutes. Getting to know Jess and meet her in person was crucial as it led to impacting me in more ways than I thought it would. Read more here:

Assignment #3

Student Functions

Story

One day I was in the office and the athletic marketing department emailed me basically saying they needed someone to represent athletics at student orientations, visits, and such. I was recommended by to them by people who said Jones would love impacting the future students at his alma mater. If you know me, you know my answer was YES! So periodically, I would go to different student functions and talk about Houston athletics, but specifically Cougar Football. This eventually grew to me speaking at international orientations and functions. The coolest part of this was the director of international student orientations went to school with my Mom and was a good friend to my Mom when she was in school at the University of Houston. GO COOGS!

Benefits

Campus relationships.

Because I was there to speak at this student event, I was able to meet and get to know so many leaders of other student organizations. These relationships would come in handy so much during my time at University of Houston.

Student section growth.

I was able to bring free shirts during my presentations and talk to the students about coming to the games for FREE and sitting in the student section. I actually would see students at games who would let me know they made it.

Student workers.

At an international orientation a couple of students came up to me to ask questions. After they found out what I was doing they, we both realized at the same time that an internship would be a great opportunity for them. They came on to the department and crushed it. One student who had an internship wrote about the work she did in her thesis project.

Player Development Workshop

I am leading workshops to help impactful people create player development plans, sign up for more information on the workshops here: Player Development Workshops

Assignment #4

Coaches Weekly Radio Show

Story

At the University of Kansas, I was asked by the sports information department (SID) could I come on Coach Les Miles radio show to talk about player development.

IF YOU KNOW ME BY NOW MY ANSWER WAS YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I jumped on with Brian Hanni and we talked player development. What shocked me before I got on the mic was Coach Miles saying that I was like another head coach for the program. That really meant a lot to me, and it showed me he knew the impact I was making on the team. This was the most empowering message I ever received from a head coach I worked for.

You can watch full interview here: HAWK TALK

Benefits

Head Coach stamped me.

I talked about it a little bit already, but to have my HOF head coach equate my role and impact to being like a head coach of a division 1 college football program was INCREDIBLE. Some of you may know I was a high school coach before fully diving into player development and when I came on the college level my goal was to be a college head coach in 15 years. To see a national championship winning coach already say I was there in the role I was in meant a lot.

Ability to explain the role.

Player development is different wherever you go and so many people don’t understand the role and its impact. (This is why I create so much content in this space to provide clarity.) I was able to clearly define what I did, why it is important, and how it has impacted the players. I will say that again for those in the back I was able to do the following:

• Defined what I did

• Communicate why it is important

• Demonstrate how it has impacted the players

This an opportunity that seldom exist, unless you have a podcast that does it weekly.

Shameless plug, I have a podcast called the Player Development Pod: Subscribe Here

Opportunity to highlight players

During this interview I was able to highlight our players and what they have done because of our programming and initiatives. This opportunity to tell fans and staff alike all that is going on with our players create support for the player development department. Boosters can see the real impact of their dollars.

Assignment #5

Talent Show

Story

This one is pretty simple. I was asked to be a judge for the student-athlete talent show called the “Jayhawk Variety Show”. This was a GREAT experience for me as this allowed me to learn more about the student-athlete traditions at KU.

Benefits

Department teamwork.

The student-athlete development department asked me to be a part of this show and judge. This meant a lot to me because they WANTED me there. I have heard stories where a SADV department and team-based player development departments have some friction this was not the case. As a matter of fact, I attended their staff meetings regularly bringing over what was being done in football as well. We worked really well together, and this was another example to them that I had their back.

Engagement with all athletes.

I talked about this is a previous newsletter, but I also enjoyed creating and building relationships with student-athletes in other sports as well. I saw them at games and went to their games as well. But this event provided a new level of engagement with the athletes. Some of them weren’t too happy with some of the scores I gave them. LOL.

Opportunity for myself and my athletes to see each other in a different space on campus.

I got to see the players hanging with their friends cheering them on and even being the talent in the show. While they got to see me support, be there, and have fun with other staff and students. It always a win when staff and student-athletes see the multi layered personalities we all have.

Looking for help with creating a player development plan, click the link and I will work with you to create your plan for your athletes and program: Let’s Create a Plan

Assignment #6

Operational Tasks

Story

During the 2021 football season when I was at Baylor University our DFO (Director of Football Operations) was out sick. With this I had to pick up many operational tasks, the most mundane one was staff tickets for the coming game.

If you think getting players to submit their tickets is tough, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Staff submission asks were crazy, and I was in that group before I did the tickets. Sorry to all the DFOs I worked with.

When he came back, I was so excited to let him know it was all back to him. Well, one of our assistants got the HC position at Texas Tech University and our DFO was GONE!

So, guess who had to carry that responsibility. Yep, it was me and now the stakes were higher as we were preparing for the Big 12 Championship. We won the championship!

But now I had to prepare for the Sugar Bowl. My tasks:

• Player tickets

• Staff tickets

• Player bowl gifts suite time slots

• Staff hotel rooms

• Staff bowl gifts suite time slots

• And some other needed things I can’t remember.

I got it all done for the Sugar Bowl, it was due on December 16th, and I finished on December 15th.

Vulnerability moment: One of the cruel aspects of doing all this by the 16th was I was fired the day all this was due. I turned it all in for the team and staff on the 15th and was fired the morning of the 16th. All good now, just always want to keep it authentic with y’all and let y’all know it’s a nasty business as well.

Benefits

Displays multifaceted professional.

I wasn’t just Ed Jones who connects with the players and just “hangs out with them”, I was able to show I could do whatever was asked of me.

Informational access to help the student-athletes.

Because I had so much to do and was in different meetings, I was able to hear and see so much more about the working of the program. With this knowledge I was able to help out student-athletes and provided more context to them about certain happenings.

Opportunity to communicate and collaborate with many.

I was able to build new work relationships because of the operational tasks I was now taking on.

Assignment #7

Filmer of Practice

Story

During COVID there was a lot of people who couldn’t make practice due to the virus, quarantining, or contact tracing. One of the hardest hit departments for us was the coaches video department.

I was asked to help by the director and as a team player my answer was yes. I hadn’t filmed a practice since my sophomore year in high school when a dislocated knee made me the team filmer.

Benefits

Help with on field development of players.

YES! You heard that right because I was able to film our coaches were able to coach and help our players get better. This actually opened our coaches up to more conversations about player development off the field because I was helping them do their job on the field.

Opportunity to watch the players on the field in detail.

I kept a practice chart on me at practice where I would occasionally evaluate a player or players practice by scoring their effort, attitude, and energy. I did this because when a player came in saying a coach wouldn’t play them because of this or that I would be able to address it with truth. “Hey, your effort looked bad to me” “Hey you didn’t have the greatest attitude out there today” or “I can see where you could see this because you’ve had great energy lately”. Whatever it maybe it helped me in those situations and let the players know I was here for them to have success on the field. Now by filming them or their position group I could dive into those assessments more deeply.

Mentorship opportunities.

Because I was now in their world the student workers had to teach me what to do. They no longer saw me as this director but as someone who is thir teammate because of this I got to know them well. They would share their career and life goals and I was able to speak wisdom into where they were. They were also able to keep me hip on all things Gen Z. It was a great partnership.

That’s a lot, but hopefully you can see that all other duties assigned aren’t bad and there can be benefits in them.

Make sure you check out this week’s podcast episode.

Assignment #8

Preseason Feature

Story

During fall camp I was reached out to by our video staff, and they asked me to do a segment on the Baylor Standard. The Baylor Standard was our head coach’s core value and belief and, in the player development role I was able to create some impactful programming off of this foundation.

So, I went and got on camera to talk more about our football program.

Benefits

Culture Communicator

This was an opportunity to get on camera and talk about the culture in our program that affected the players in every area of their student-athlete experience. It was an opportunity for our players, fans, parents, recruits, and others to hear the direction of our program from a different voice within our program. This video was able to show the alignment that was there for the 2021 season.

Opportunity to Highlight Our Program

This video was an opportunity to highlight everyone who has a say in our program. In the video you will see me deflect questions and put the spotlight back on the head coach. Later in the video I was able to also talk about the impact the culture was having on our players. I also shared a story of a NFL scout talking about the character of our players. These things don’t just happen because of one person and whenever I got the opportunity, I wanted to highlight others.

Recruiting

I spoke about the culture in detail during the video which helps the prospective student-athletes we were recruiting learn more about us. At the end of the video I spoke about the city, the university, the athletic department, our facilities and so much more. Player development can be very vital to the recruiting efforts in a program. When you get the chance, give your version of a recruiting pitch.

I will record a podcast here in a few weeks about recruiting and the player development role.

Other Duties Assigned - Assignment #10

Recruiting Cameo

Story

In my second year working in college football I was more heavily involved in recruiting. We were in a recruiting brainstorming and we were talking about different ways to let the prospective student-athletes, their coaches, and their families know we were on the road recruiting. Someone suggested a video where we showed a coach packing up for the road. It was a great idea and won the consensus vote.

BUT, we have no coach to use for video as they were on the road. I was chosen to be the “coach” and the rest is history.

BENEFITS

Recruiting Win

I was able to help the recruiting and creative team with goal of letting those players we were recruiting we were on the road.

Cross Departmental Collaboration

I’ve talked about it in this posts and in many posts before teamwork is necessary for success. This video is a collaboration between player development, recruiting, creative media, sports information staff, coaches and equipment. The finished product is a nod to all of us working together and opens the door for more possibilities.

New Gear

I had to get new gear to make the video, so that’s always a benefit. I love gear and any chance at getting new gear had me there. S/o to all the equipment staffs I’ve worked with in the role. (Going to do a post on gear I’ve received since being in this consulting/coaching/ speaking role now. So, if you’re looking to hook someone up with gear. I am your guy.)

Other Duties Assigned - Assignment #11

Hype Man

Energy, enthusiasm, and encouragement are needed in the day to day for a football program. This need is heightened on game day. Players, coaches, and staff are all looking for that extra push after a long week of prep. 

Naturally I am a high energy, enthusiastic, and encouraging person so this came easy to me. But you may be shocked to know we had meetings in which our staff was instructed on how to provide energy on games. 

BENEFITS

Support for Players

This is one of the times when players actually see you giving effort in supporting them when they are performing at the highest levels.

Team Unity 

Great way to intentionally connect players who may be frustrated, distracted, or injured with the moment of the game and the support of their teammates.

Player Memories

You get to celebrate with players after big plays. Encouraging them to continue. I would have many talks with players days after the game with them sharing their appreciation of my efforts. 

Other Duties Assigned Podcast

Check out podcast episode here:

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