The Business Of Athletics: Una Offers New Sport Management Concentration

Aug. 17, 2009

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

FLORENCE, Ala. - The business side of athletics is the focus of a new concentration offered in the University of North Alabama's Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER). The concentration, sport management, is designed to prepare students for careers in athletics management, communications or marketing. The new program is offered through the non-teaching track of the HPER major in physical education.

HPER department chair Dr. Tom Coates said there is any number of careers for students seeking non-coaching roles in athletic programs: "AD, assistant AD, compliance officer, facility manager, ticket sales manager. There are all those careers and more that are behind the scenes to make an athletic program work," he said. Coates said sport management graduates would be prepared for careers with school or university athletic departments as well as professional team organizations, gyms, fitness centers or sports media. Sport management, one of five concentrations offered within the non-teaching physical education major, offers three tracks: communication, management and marketing. The communication track prepares students for careers in sports information, public relations, journalism and sports broadcasting, while the marketing track is geared more toward promotions and ticket sales. The management concentration gives insight into the administrative and financial operations of an athletic program or organization. Other concentrations offered by HPER include exercise science, fitness management, health promotion and recreation. HPER is also offering several new minors, including sport management. What was a minor in coaching is now coaching and officiating, and the recreation minor is now split into two choices: community recreation or outdoor recreation. Other minors include exercise science, fitness management, health and health promotion. For more information on HPER and its offerings, call 256-765-4377 or visit www.una.edu/hper.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.