In the heartland of America, what did the seeds of an education major from Kansas State, a sportswriter for the Purple Pride school newspaper and member of a family of sports fans yield?
Kevin Weiberg, the current commissioner of the Big 12 Conference.
Weiberg, who did not compete in intercollegiate athletics, rose to his position through two key factors: Getting good advice and being given the opportunities to perform. Those, of course, are valuable assets to any aspiring individual in his career development. In his case, because of his sports interests, Weiberg was encouraged by a professor at Kansas State University to pursue a master's degree in sports administration.
Once Weiberg received that degree from Western Illinois University, he was not afraid to start at a relatively anonymous school: Wayne State in Wayne, Neb. After one year, he was recruited to Wichita State, where he entered as sports information director.
Three years later, Lou Perkins, the Wichita State athletic director, gave him an opportunity to move out of sports information and into administration. During that period at Wichita State, and after his move to Maryland with Perkins, Weiberg was entrusted with a variety of responsibilities. He was basically the chief operating officer at the University of Maryland, which meant he was responsible for all sports other than football and basketball.
Because of his visibility at Maryland, Weiberg was brought in as the top assistant to Jim Delany, commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. Weiberg focused on internal issues within the conference.
"The working experience with both Lou Perkins and Jim Delany was invaluable to me," Weiberg said. "They gave me a great deal of responsibility. They gave me the opportunity to do new and different things. And while they were different individuals with different personalities, they had similar management styles. Both had good leadership abilities, but they also could delegate, and they believed in allowing people to do their jobs."
As for his development despite the lack of playing experience, Weiberg said, "I was always around sports. I had a brother who was a college athlete, my dad did a lot of youth coaching and I've never really felt awkward about not having played college sports. In some ways, I think maybe it's been an advantage because, working with coaches, I never felt like I knew more than they did."
Weiberg has a quiet self-confidence. He's always been comfortable in receiving additional responsibilities, and because he's highly organized he has never felt that he's been placed in a position where he has been overwhelmed.
"I attribute that to the increasing levels of responsibility that I've had through my development," he said.
As Weiberg moved into his new role as commissioner of the Big 12, he spent time with the presidents of each of the conference's member schools. The style he developed from his experience observing Delany and Perkins helped him build rapport and credibility quickly in the conference.
When asked to offer suggestions to people coming into the sports business, Weiberg said, "It's very important that you demonstrate a willingness to jump in and make a full and very aggressive commitment to whatever role you are assigned within an athletic department or conference office. I try to look for people that I think are willing to make a commitment, not in time but in the amount of work they are able to do."
Weiberg said that he looks for people who are enthusiastic. He also believes that it's important to find someone who has a diversified educational background, rather than simply a traditional sports résumé.
He is not sure that his path would work today. He tends to keep an eye out for people with more of a business background. He thinks that the nature of business and the size of the dollars have increased so much that it's important to identify some of the new business leaders in the Internet, sponsorship and marketing and try to work with them.
FINAL ADVICE
Weiberg stressed that it is not critical to be a successful athlete in order to move into athletic administration. What’s more important is to gain experience, even if it is with a smaller college. In today’s changing business environment, he said, cross-functional responsibilities in sponsorship, marketing and new media provide invaluable training.
Jed Hughes (jhughes@spencerstuart.com) is managing director of Spencer Stuart Sports Leadership Practice.
