So glad to hear the good new RVM. Hope he gets the second offer as it’s always so nice when one has choices. Good luck to all the other parents who’s kids (ahem…young adult children) are looking.
Congrats! Is the upper level opportunity with the same organization as the one making the offer?
Great news, rvm. Trust that he’ll make the right choice for him should he have multiple offers.
@jym626 - hi - no - the upper level opportunity is a with fairly new, struggling football program - but it is D1. It is a huge jump in both pay and title. I am happy he is a finalist - would be somewhat surprised if he did receive the actual offer. He should know something next week.
@Rockvillemom – haven’t followed this thread in real time but congrats to your son for following his dream and having it work out with an offer (or maybe even two). He’s 24 with a yr’s savings in the bank – if he isn’t going to try to chase a dream now, when would he – at 45 with 2 kids and a mortgage??
College football is a notoriously small world. All the coaches go to the same conferences and camps every year, recruit against each other for high school talent so they see each other at state championship games etc. and then of course play against each other. Bc it’s such a small club, they all know each other – they talk about their programs. If a school is looking for a young guy in an operations or recruiting role, the coaches typically just fire off an email to other coaches or mention it at a conference and usually get candidates that way. There’s rarely a need to post a position and wade through 1000s of resumes of hopefuls when your rival in the same region as you can say “you know we have a great guy doing recruiting for us and we can’t afford to keep him, and he’s happy to move to Louisiana – want to speak to him?”
If he winds up staying in football you – and any partner he ends up with – will have to get used to the idea that while there are many perks to the job, job stability isn’t one of them. I read a stat last yr that the average football coach winds up making 15-20 job changes in a career. If one is lucky, that doesn’t mean a change every 2 yrs for the rest of your life. Rather it hopefully means a lot of short yr long stints in your 20s and 30s and then hopefully by your 40s you’re enough of a known commodity that you get to stick with 2-3 schools for the rest of the career. I know your son isn’t in coaching, but as football becomes more of a business – universities hire and fire coaches left and right – often every yr or 2 – and new coaches want to bring an entire team of assistant coaches etc. and often that includes recruiting and operations folks. So a perfectly good operations guy who had nothing to do with the win-loss % last season gets laid off and finds himself packing up and moving from Pittsburgh to Topeka.
It’s a fun position esp for a young man – live simply, save most of your money, and make whatever moves come your way. You either make a living of it, or at some point you realize it’s been a fun 5-10 yrs but you’re not interested in moving to Toledo Ohio when your girlfriend lives in Boston and you can never see her on football weekends. Or even if you have a supportive partner, you run out of options at rural/small town schools where you can get apartments for $600 and you wonder if you love it enough to make it work financially in Boston or LA.
@aj725 - Where were you a month ago!!! That was 100% in line with the info I have been gradually learning from my son and what he has already experienced. It’s all new to me - I don’t know anyone else working in this field - but thank you so much for such a spot-on summary.
@rockvillemom – one more thought. It’s great that it’s worked out with your son with a job offer. If offer no. 2 works out, it sounds like he’ll be in a higher level position where he may have some visibility in the football world; if a struggling/new program turns around – typically the people in that world are aware of who was involved.
If he ends up taking job no. 1 though – he may consider gently inquiring whether he can be involved in attending any national conferences or take the lead on some small aspect of recruiting like attending a major high school camp or something. The reason is – this time around his coaches were very helpful; they picked up the phone for him and called around and found a program or two that has a need for his skillset and experience level. Typically coaches and assistant coaches in football are supportive of the young guys – they came up through the same system and they know what it’s like to suddenly have your position eliminated and have 2-4 weeks to find a job that may be in some small town 1500 miles away. But they are still human. If he stays in football long enough, he will run across coaches/assistants who aren’t as concerned about helping him out; not bc they’re bad guys but bc when an entire coaching staff gets laid off a 45 yr old coach with 2 kids at home and a wife who doesn’t work bc she’s moved around every 2 yrs in support of his job feels the pressure about finding his own next job quick and he may not be as concerned about shooting off emails to help out a 27 yr old guy on his staff. Frankly lots of people take the mindset of – it sucks but he’s young and single, he’ll be fine; me – I have 2 kids and need health insurance.
In those cases, that’s when your son will need his own network and visibility so if he doesn’t have coaches who can help him out, he can make his own phone calls and help himself. The network will develop the longer he stays in the field – he knows he can turn to the guys at his current school even after he moves on. But if he can get 1-2 other avenues of getting to know some others in the field, he (and you) will feel more in “control” of his career and job prospects.
@aj725 - excellent advice. Thank you again - you really seem very knowledgable about this field. I know he did attend a national conference last spring - in Tennessee if I recall. He was able to make calls as well - but having his former head coach call - priceless.
Hoping we know if he gets the other offer this week.
@aj725 - sending you a private message.
Quick update - now there is a 3rd real possibility in the mix - he is in the final interview process with a NFL team! I’m sharing this because we have all come to the realization that for him - losing his job was a blessing! It’s been such a crazy month for him - lots of drama, travel and stress - but all kinds of new experiences and opportunities as well. Had he not lost his job - he’d be playing it safe - staying in his comfort zone - working where he has been for 6 years. Instead - new location - new connections - new opportunities - all await. All of his opportunities so far are in city locations - and that will be a big change - he had to parallel park yesterday for the first time since passing his driving test!
So - if I could go back in time 6 weeks - my new reaction to the job loss would be “Congratulations!”
So glad to hear things are looking up. I’m sure you’ll let us know the final answer.
How nicely things have turned around for him, and you.
Sometimes things work out for the best. I felt the same last Jun when I lost my job, but after few months of search, better opportunities came about. Like your son, I don’t think I would have actively looked if it didn’t happen (our of loyalty and familiarity).
Will keep my fingers crossed for your son. Keep us posted.
The best thing that ever happened to me was losing my job. Did not feel like it at the time but it sent my career on a tragetory I could never have imagined.
Great news! Hope he had multiple offers!
Fingers crossed!
@ 129,
Losing a job right now is the best time to have it happen. It is pretty clear the economy is finally shaking off the destruction caused by the Oct 2008 credit crisis meltdown. The economy rebounded, barely, but I don’t think it was really much more than government sponsored meager growth until now when the economy is, for the first time in about 6 years, really growing on its own and showing real strength.
I hope he ends up in his dream job and you are right had he stayed in his “comfort zone” it never would have happened especially in the sports management field.
Great news! It’s interesting how losing his job has opened up so many new opportunities. I hope he ends up with his choice of great offers.
He should have the final verdict by Friday. Regardless of whether he has 1, 2 or 3 offers - it’s a good result. It’s been a great learning experience for him - he had never had a job interview as an adult - and suddenly he’s driving and flying into unfamiliar cities for interviews. I think it has also sharpened his focus on the jobs that might be available - how competitive it is - and that he is still not going to be paid very much yet. And I’m so much more comfortable with how this is going to go for him - I get now that he will probably be moving and changing jobs a good bit. A learning curve for all of us.
And he just got the NFL job offer! Unbelievable what a roller coaster this has been. Thanks for riding with me.
Incidentally - while one of his coaches went to bat for him on this position - I saw the posted opening first and sent it to him - taking just a tiny bit of credit, lol.