Tampa universities name sports leaders amid national disruption

Mascots representing the two largest universities in Tampa — the Bulls and Spartans — have taken the horns and donned the helmets when it comes to competing in the rapidly changing world of college athletics.

Each school, USF for the Bulls, UTampa for the Spartans, named a new head of athletics last week — a significant C-suite position for each institution. USF, the larger sports program of the pair in terms of budget, went as far to jump ahead of a burgeoning national trend in changing the title of its leader from athletics director to CEO. 

The new leaders come to their roles from different backgrounds. UTampa named E.J. Brophy athletic director and vice president of athletics. A onetime minor league baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies, Brophy was most recently associate athletic director for development at Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, north of Montgomery. Prior to that he was the director of athletics at University of Alabama in Huntsville and University of West Alabama.

Courtesy image

In an interview with the Business Observer, Brophy says the UTampa role, running a department with 20 varsity teams and nearly $18 million in annual revenue, is a “real dream come true. I feel like a rookie again.” He adds that he plans to spend his early months at the “elite program with elite student-athletes” in a listening tour, talking to coaches, athletes and staffers. “I learned this from the Phillies and I will use it here, to ‘make our strengths stronger and work on our weaknesses.’”

USF’s new sports leader is a more familiar name locally: Rob Higgins, who has run the Tampa Bay Sports Commission since 2004. The commission has hosted multiple high-profile events, including two Super Bowls and a College Football Playoff National Championship. A USF alum, Higgins after graduating from USF, worked as a staff member for USF Athletics, helping oversee facilities and event management. 

Button up

While money has long played a role in college sports, new rules and programs such as NIL (Names, Image and Likeness) and the transfer portal have upended college athletics in the past four years. With NIL, which the NCAA launched in 2021, college athletes can control and profit from the commercial use of their name and personal brand. The portal allows players to transfer schools much easier, making the recruitment process trickier than ever. Brophy jokes some college athletes don’t even stay at a school long enough to “learn the fight song.”

Courtesy image

College sports administration newsletter Athletic Directors 411 published a report recently on these changing dynamics. It cites Stanford University hiring former PayPal and Nike CEO John Donahoe in July to run its athletics department as “a far cry from the traditional hirings of ADs. Once seen as the pinnacle of careers built in sports administration, the athletic director role is increasingly attracting leaders from the corporate world.” The report mentions USF, in the CEO-ization of College Athletics, as being one of the first schools nationwide to use that title.

“Industry observers say this reflects the new scale and complexity of modern college sports,” writes Athletic Directors 411 in its Aug. 22 report. “Athletic departments in Power 4 conferences often manage revenues in the hundreds of millions, navigating challenges like NIL, conference realignment, compliance and escalating facility costs. Boards and presidents are looking for leaders who can operate these departments like major businesses — with strategy, financial oversight and stakeholder management at the forefront.” (USF is in the American Athletic Conference, a Group of 5 conference, one rung less than the Power 4.)

USF Board of Trustees Chairman Will Weatherford — who comes from a prominent family of college athletes — led the push to elevate the university’s athletics leadership. “In today’s college sports environment, the role of an athletic director has expanded beyond the traditional responsibilities of managing teams, coaches and budgets,” Weatherford says in an email response to questions. “With the rise of NIL, looming athlete revenue sharing and conference realignment, athletics now operates more like a professional sports enterprise. That means the leader must think and act like a CEO — someone who can drive revenue, build partnerships, elevate the brand and position USF as a national player.” 

Play the game

Higgins, who, like Brophy, says this job is “truly a dream come true,” is a Bulls’ bull: He attended his first men’s basketball game at age eight, and later became a ball kid for the team, according to a USF statement on his hiring. He was inducted into USF’s Zimmerman School of Advertising Hall of Fame in 2015. 

Courtesy image

Weatherford says Higgins is the right fit at the right time. “Rob embodies exactly the qualities we need in this moment: a leader who understands both the boardroom and the locker room,” Weatherford says in the e-mail. “He has the ability to navigate the business complexity of today’s college sports while staying rooted in what makes athletics meaningful — the student-athlete experience.” 

Brophy has a similar vision for UTampa, albeit on a smaller financial scale, as the downtown Tampa university’s athletics team competes in Division 2, while USF is in Division 1. Brophy, like the Athletic Directors 411 newsletter, also recognizes college athletics is in a precarious spot, when, for example, he notes a freshman quarterback can “make $7 million, which is three, four and five times what an assistant coach can make.” (He’s referring to Arch Manning at the University of Texas and his lucrative NIL deals.)

“College sports is becoming more and more like a business,” Brophy says, “which concerns me a little bit because college sports are supposed to be about fun. It’s about playing games.”