How to Maximize Future Potential of Student-Athletes with Justin Miller

The Experience of You

In this episode, David talks with Senior Associate Athletic Director at Temple University for Academic and Career Services, Justin Miller.

They discuss what Justin does in his role at Temple, how he emphasizes academic success for student-athletes, finding creative ways for student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the role of social media for athletes, and more.

Highlights for Student-Athletes

1. Create an emphasis on your academic success.

1. Buy in and trust- effectively communicating and being transparent.
2. Breaking the athlete mentality of zero failure- giving students the ability to try things and not do well to realize they’re still okay.
3. Give the department a face and a consistent message.
4. Put the students first- let them drive the conversations and have ownership.

2. How time management helps student-athletes appropriately provide themselves with the work and space to succeed in the classroom and their sport.

1. Covid has made this harder.
2. Know each student on an individual level- no cookie-cutter approach to success.
3. Understand students' course load, having empathy, and couple that with the knowledge of the students.
4. Be realistic with time to work and time to disconnect
5. Structure and proactiveness
6. “You don’t just lift weights the day before a game, and it’s about what you’re doing every single day.”

3. Creative ways for student-athletes to profit from their image and likeness.

1. These factors are empowering student-athletes.
2. Finding creative ways to use name, image, and likeness to help an educational goal.
3. Getting students to think about the impact of their image and brand.
4. Hoping to use it as a nugget to facilitate some learning.

Tweetable Quotes

“We’re about having students leave Temple with a breadth of experience, not just athlete.”

“We don’t live in a space with zero failure. We live in a space where students can try things and not do well, and that’s okay.”

“Eligibility to me is a bad word.”

“Athletes have a finite window to maximize their earning potential for the future. If there are circumstances that jeopardize that, they should have the chance to maximize their return.”

“You don’t just lift weights the day before a game, and it’s about what you’re doing every single day.”

“Forget if you're a sports fan, you have to be a fan of students doing well.”