1 of 26

Beyond the Locker Room�Engaging Student-Athlete Alumni

https://www.case.org/conferences-training/district-viii-annual-conference-2025/sessions/beyond-locker-room-engaging

This session will explore effective strategies for engaging student-athlete alumni. Attendees will learn about the unique challenges of maintaining strong alumni relations with former student-athletes, including time constraints, career transitions, and differing experiences from non-athletes. Participants will discuss successful approaches, such as career networking programs, tailored alumni events, and mentoring opportunities that foster long-term engagement. The session will also address the emotional and psychological challenges student-athletes face when transitioning from sports to professional careers. Attendees will leave with practical tools to create impactful engagement initiatives and strengthen alumni relations with former athletes, ensuring they remain valuable members of the institutional community. Ideal for professionals in alumni relations, athletics, and development, this session will provide strategies to enhance student-athlete alumni involvement and build lasting connections.

2 of 26

Today’s Plan

3 of 26

WHO & WHY

Setting the stage for today’s session

4 of 26

Who I am.

Matthew Brinton, Ph.D.

Director for Advancement, Student Life

Interim Senior Director of Engagement Strategy, UWAA

University of Washington

5 of 26

Who you are.

What do you do professionally?

Work in development
Work in alumni relations
Work in marketing & communications
Work in another area or combination of the above

Potentially ask people to share here

Are you a student-athlete alum?
Do you currently work with student athletes?
Location in relationship to alma mater

If you live 500 miles/800 KM or less from your alma mater
250 miles/400 KM or less
100 miles/160 KM or less
1 hour or less
In the same city/town

Your experience as an alum

If you follow/engage your alma mater on social media
If you attend events
If you volunteer in some capacity/provide service
If you are a donor
If you serve on a institution board (alumni board, foundation board, board of trustees, board of governors, etc)

Talking point: Do you think you’d be as likely to be involved if you didn’t work in advancement? And if you’re not involved, and we know the importance of being involved, do you see how challenging/confusing it could be for people outside of our industry.

6 of 26

Why we’re here.

7 of 26

THE RESEARCH

Academic Support for Practical Applications

8 of 26

Dissertation

Role Identity and Engagement Behaviors of Student-Athlete Alumnae, 2021

Q1 What meaning do SAA assign to their former student-athlete identity?
Q2 What meaning do SAA assign to their alumnae identity?
Q3 What behaviors do they engage in as alumnae?
Q4 How do perceived social expectations influence the meaning SAA associate with engagement behaviors?

Research Focus: This qualitative phenomenological study examined how volleyball student-athlete alumnae (SAA) from a doctoral-granting research institution interpret their lived experiences and how these shape their alumnae engagement behaviors.
Key Framework: Created the concept of "tightly closed positions" (TCPs), characterized by structured, high-interaction roles (e.g., student-athletes), and "loosely closed positions" (LCPs), which are less structured and interaction-driven (e.g., alumnae).
Transition Challenges: Participants experienced a "whiplash effect" transitioning from structured TCPs to less-defined LCPs, highlighting a need for more preparation and structure during this shift.
Engagement Patterns: Contrary to expectations, high engagement as student-athletes did not translate to high engagement as alumnae, with some participants reporting burnout and a need to focus on other life aspects.
Implications for Practice: Recommendations include fostering intentional interactions between SAA and current student-athletes, creating programming to support student-athlete transitions, and diversifying alumni engagement strategies beyond philanthropy.

9 of 26

Participant profile.

Volleyball student-athlete alumnae – PRE NIL
Grad years/scholarship status
Undergrad experience

Volleyball - I chose to select volleyball for two reasons. First, there are few opportunities for SAA in this sport to advance into professional volleyball careers (NCAA, 2020a). With extremely limited options of pursuing a professional career in the sport, volleyball SAA transition into their positions as alumnae without that potential distraction (Stokowski et al., 2019). Second, individuals who identify as females generally participate in alumni engagement activities at higher rates than those who identify as males (Weerts & Ronca, 2007). Because of this, factors that influence the engagement behaviors of female-identified alumnae could have a larger impact on overall alumni engagement levels (Sullivan, 2017). If this study were to be replicated using a different sport, especially a male-dominated sport like football, the role expectations and interactions between identity and environment might result in much different findings.
1980-2019; about half on full scholarship, the others were either partial or no scholarship
All but one of the participants of the study shared they had a positive overall student athlete experience

Positive things: built in friend groups, access to do things other students didn’t get to do,

10 of 26

When I think back to that time, I really think of the bonding that happened between the members of our team. There’s really nothing quite like it.

“

11 of 26

What I learned.

Scripted – I knew where to be and when to be there
Whiplash – now what, so what
Engagement – I’m not a donor

12 of 26

We learned the ins and outs of being a student-athlete and expectations about our

performance and our behavior mostly from older teammates and our coaches.

“

13 of 26

What does it mean.

Positionality – TCP’s & LCP’s
Preparation – what can we do now, to setup the future?
Who can help?

14 of 26

RESEARCH TO PRACTICE

Creating Something from Nothing – in Many Cases

15 of 26

Work Time

In groups, create a program plan connecting current student-athletes and

student-athlete alumni.

16 of 26

What I’m looking for.

Select your sport, or not
A mixture of events and communications
Consider your audience(s)
Any current programming that can be utilized

17 of 26

CASE Time

18 of 26

EXAMPLES

Things I’ve Tried in my Work

19 of 26

Pratical Examples

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO

Championship Anniversary Celebrations

Alumni Nights/Weekends (by sport)

MSU DENVER

Student-Athlete Alumni Nights – The Nest

Off Season Student-Athlete Programming

UT TYLER

Student-Athlete Alumni/Donor Event – College World Series

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

Alumni Council Student-Athlete Alumni Partnerships with DU Athletics

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Big W Club / UWAA Partnership

20 of 26

RESOURCES

Student & Alumni Programming

21 of 26

The Toolkit

Alumni Engagement Timeline
Engagement Resource Library
Campus Partner Matrix
LinkedIn Group

22 of 26

Alumni Engagement Timeline

This is a visual representation of the different phases an individual goes through in connection with a college or university from beginning to end and the ways in which alumni relations offices can get involved and be a part of the student experience before and after a student graduates (Brinton, 2013). The timeline has into six phases: potential new student, first & second year student, junior & senior student, young alumni (those who have graduated within the last 10 years), professional career, and post-retirement (Brinton, 2013). The timeline also consists of three milestones: convocation, commencement, and retirement (Brinton, 2013); the fourth milestone is death, but is not included in the graphic

In this visualization of student and alumni engagement the goal is to keep individuals as close to the timeline as possible, indicating a high level of engagement. Figure 2 shows three general categories of student and alumni engagement: highly engaged (full line), moderately engaged (dashed line), and disengaged (dotted line).

Full presentation and information about the timeline can be found in the resource library

23 of 26

Campus Partner Matrix

24 of 26

Resource Library

25 of 26

LinkedIn Group

Maximizing Alumni Engagement

About

A group of higher education researchers and practitioners dedicated to enhancing how university advancement offices think critically about engaging with their alumni constituencies.