SBJ College: Schools Adapting To Mental Health Needs

I’m all in on Michigan’s baseball coach, Erik Bakich. He makes the game fun, embraces a diverse roster and puts pressure on the opponents’ defense. Great way to play -- especially in Omaha.

Here’s what is cooking on campus:

ATHLETIC DEPARTMENTS STEPPING UP MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

• Athletic departments are acknowledging the mental health needs of their athletes and putting significant resources toward it. Just today, I read three stories that focused on issues of depression and how schools have responded by hiring sports psychologists and other staffers focused on athlete well-being. Mental health and wellness needs were barely on the radar for administrators 5-10 years ago. Now it's a major priority for schools to raise awareness and to be sufficiently staffed to help athletes who are battling depression.
  
  
• The story that caught my attention was Jake Lawler’s courageous essay detailing his depression, thoughts of suicide and, ultimately, how he got the help he needed. The North Carolina football player shared his story to let others know that they aren’t alone in suffering from this illness. Lawler co-hosts a podcast, writes on his website and this fall will host a platform for athletes to tell their stories -- www.uncutchapelhill.com. No one knew that the rising junior, who appears so vibrant and motivated, had bouts with depression going back to middle school. 
  
  
• Lawler credited UNC for adding a sports psychologist last year and hiring former player Dwight Hollier as Senior Associate AD/Health, Well-Being & Outreach. Hollier formerly worked at the NFL. To have a chief wellness officer like Hollier on an AD's senior staff is uncommon, but I bet it won’t be in a few years. “It’s not so much about putting up posters,” Hollier said. “It’s about the environment, having conversations, making sure they have wallet cards with clinical and crisis information in their pocket. Twenty years ago when I finished playing, there was hardly any conversation about mental health. We’ve come a long way since then.”
  
  
• Utah likewise has added athlete wellness staffers, according to a story today in the Salt Lake Tribune. Utah AD Mark Harlan’s hope is that mental health will be like any physical injury that requires rehab. “We’re treating that like a broken bone now, plain and simple,” Harlan told the paper. “That’s our approach ... There is no need to be fearful, to hold back on what you’re thinking.”
  
  
• Through outspoken proponents of athlete welfare like Rick Burton, professor of sport management at Syracuse, it’s become a mainstream topic. I’ve found Sarah Stokowski-Macon, a sport management professor at Arkansas, also to be an interesting follow on Twitter. In a research project, she discovered that athletic departments with a sports psychologist perform better and score higher in the Learfield Directors' Cup than schools without one. Stokowski-Macon points to Athletes Connected at Michigan as the best program in the nation for student-athlete mental health.

LOUISVILLE, KANSAS REACT TO NCAA COMMENTS

• I wrote in this newsletter last week that Stan Wilcox’s comments were going to cause a lot of angst and there has been more reaction in recent days. Wilcox, the NCAA Exec VP/Regulatory Affairs, said during a panel discussion at the NACDA conference that six college basketball programs will soon receive a Notice of Allegation for major violations. That’s led to speculation about which six schools the NCAA is targeting.
  
  
• Louisville AD Vince Tyra, speaking on ESPN Radio 680 Louisville, said he’s perplexed about why Wilcox would comment before the schools have been notified. Tyra: “Maybe they are confident in their plan going forward. Maybe it’s because they have had pent-up issues the last couple years.”
  
  
• Kansas hoops coach Bill Self was similarly irked when he met with reporters in Lawrence. "How can I say this? I was shocked,” he said. Self added that Wilcox got his attention by referencing “two high-profile programs” that will be served. KU and Louisville were two programs mentioned often during the FBI investigation, so they have reason to be nervous.

CATCHING UP WITH THE PAC-12

• The San Jose Mercury News' Jon Wilner was kind enough to invite me for Q&A on his hugely popular Pac-12 Hotline newsletter to talk about the conference’s pursuit of an equity investor. A couple of things to emphasize:
  
  
  • The Pac-12 is not engaging with private equity firms. The three types of bidders that make the most sense are sports marketing agencies, tech companies and media companies. Remember, the conference already turned down a proposal to partner with ESPN on a long-term arrangement.
    
    
  • If the Pac-12 turns over 15% of its future media rights to a partner, the key is what the conference gets back. Cash, for one, and some other added value. What that added value is remains TBD. But just as an example, it could be a company that can help with Pac-12 Networks distribution.

THIS WEEK IN SBJ

• Only 1% of NBA Draft prospects post to their social media accounts at least three times day. Most of them -- 80% -- say they post a few times per week, part of a trend that shows NBA prospects are less likely to engage in risky social media behavior than their NFL counterparts. That’s just some of the data collected by Turnkey Intelligence for a story written by SBJ’s David Broughton.
  
  
  

SPEED READS

• There was a John Wildhack sighting on Twitter today. The Syracuse AD emerged from a four-year slumber on the social media platform to quote tweet some news regarding a football uniform announcement scheduled for Friday. But the soft-spoken Wildhack might need to remove some of the rust from his Twitter page. There are still no headshots or images of any kind. And while Wildhack has only 174 followers, there are some big names on the list, such as ESPN's Adam Schefter, Kevin Negandhi and Cassidy Hubbarth.
  
  
• ESPN HQ will host a conference's football media day for the first time this year. The Ivy League will head to Bristol on Aug. 15 for a special session that coincides with the CFB150 celebrations this year. The one-off event makes sense for both parties after the conference inked a 10-year deal with ESPN back in April. It's also the first "in-person" media day the Ivy League has had in several years.
  
  
• Jimmy Kimmel has always been public about his love for Jerry Tarkanian. The late-night TV host, Las Vegas native and UNLV alum was even featured in the HBO doc "Runnin' Rebels of UNLV" back in 2011. On Friday, Kimmel's Comedy Club opened in Vegas, and Kimmel paid tribute to the late coach in the form of a signature "mocktail" at the venue, properly dubbed Tark's Towel (lime juice, kiwi puree and Sierra Mist).
  
  
• Bellarmine today made the jump from D-II to D-I, joining the Atlantic Sun Conference to become the only private university in the state of Kentucky at the D-I level. We've all heard Atlantic Sun schools make noise come March Madness -- think Florida Gulf Coast or Lipscomb -- so for a school like Louisville-based Bellarmine looking to increase awareness, it’s an opportunity to create one of those magical moments in March.

Bellarmine today announced it will jump to D-I and the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2020

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