Vinnie LeDonne came to the University knowing he wanted a sports-related degree, but the lack of an undergraduate program in that area led him to general studies. Now he’s a senior aiming to graduate in December 2009 and is hopeful a new sports administration major will be implemented in time for him to transfer and receive his degree in the new program.”I kind of created my own major in general studies that was a combination of sports, business and communication, so I already have a lot of the required classes,” LeDonne said.Kathy Hill, kinesiology undergraduate programs coordinator, will be the assistant department chair and undergraduate chair when the program is established, but she stressed the program isn’t in place yet.”We are hoping to get everything through, and all paperwork complete so we could start in the summertime [2009],” she said. “Realistically, it won’t be ready by January.”This may come as a disappointment to students hoping to change majors to sports administration in the spring.”I am a junior now, and I’m hoping to switch majors in the spring so I can take all the required classes and graduate on time,” said Noble-Bates Young, kinesiology junior. “I’m paying out-of-state tuition, but I would rather stay an extra semester and get my sports administration degree than graduate on time with a general studies degree.”LeDonne agreed.”A sports or business major sounds better than general studies,” he said. “It looks better to people that are going to be hiring you.”T. Gilmour Reeve, the future head of the department, said the University will transfer three professors from other departments and hire another.The new professor’s salary is budgeted to be $50,000 a year, and graduate students are budgeted to cost $48,000 a year. No new facilities or equipment are needed for the program, and with the additional costs of support personnel, travel and supplies, the overall cost is budgeted to be $134,000 a year, he said.”We anticipate costs, but we also anticipate attracting more students and higher enrollment,” Reeve said.Hill said two committees have to approve the curriculum, and the last step is going to the LSU Board of Supervisors for a formal stamp of approval.The program’s implementation has been in the works for a while and it was recently approved by the Board of Regents, said Jenni Peters.Peters spent time in the E.J. Ourso College of Business and was the director of marketing for the LSU Athletic Department. She is now overseeing the program’s path and will be instructing some of the classes, along with Dee Jacobsen, assistant professor of kinesiology.”We saw a need [for the program] at the undergraduate level,” Jacobsen said. “The sports industry has grown in the last 10 years … and we were seeing a huge demand from students.”Jacobsen said the University has a tradition of strong athletics and strong academics, but they are two different aspects of the school so merging the two was not as easy as it seems.Hill said this is a logical step for the University.”It doesn’t happen overnight,” Hill said. “You need cooperation and money from the University, and you have to hire new faculty.”Hill said students were surveyed to establish interest level, and there was a resounding enthusiasm for the project. She studied several schools’ sports management programs similar to what they wanted to create, including curricula at the University of Florida, the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University. The program will have two tracks — sports business and sports leadership. New classes will include sports events strategies, sports promotions, facility management and legal and ethical issues in sports.”The proposed curriculum focuses on issues in sports related to finances, ethics, promotions and facility management,” Hill said. The degree will be offered in the College of Education through kinesiology, but it will be a non-medical degree. Peters said it was “a natural extension” from the kinesiology program because it offers a minor in sports studies.The business school looked at the possibility of implementing a sports administration program through their college within the last seven years, Peters said, but the idea didn’t pan out.”I’ve been on the hiring side of the sports industry,” she said. “I’ve had to choose from 2,000 resumes, and I know what people are looking for in these types of jobs.”She said this degree is specifically tailored to the sports industry and would be a huge benefit for someone applying in any field in sports.Reeve said many people are under the impression that the program is being put in place to attract student athletes when in fact it’s geared more toward people who work behind the scenes at sporting events. —-Contact Ellen Zielinski at [email protected]