HAMILTON – Colgate Athletics prides itself on providing a complete Division I collegiate experience. In the words of Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Nicki Moore, Raider Nation is an "inclusive community of competitive excellence."
 
And that includes preparing student-athletes for the years after graduation.
 
Colgate Football incorporates the career services model firmly into its program, using well-placed alumni and an amazing university staff to professionally develop current student-athletes for future success.
 
The goal of the program Head Coach Dan Hunt has implemented is not just to get Colgate Football student-athletes a job, but to get them a quality post-Colgate outcome and a fulfilling life in a career field they have researched.
 
"It all started with trying to be as organized as possible in how our players network, interact with our alumni and ultimately land jobs," Associate Head Coach Stan Dakosty said. "We've always had alumni who are eager to meet our guys and help them out with job placements and networking.
 
"But we wanted to take a two-fold approach. The first is to work with our resources on campus to help train and develop our players from a professional standpoint, while trying to narrow down industries or professions that may interest them. And then with that preparation, our guys are ready to capitalize on interactions with our alumni or other professionals -- whether it's just a handshake or an interview."


 
Maroon Works
Dakosty calls industry research a big part of the team's professional development. And that's where Teresa Olsen and Career Services come in.
 
Olsen is the University's Vice President and Director of Career Services. Her goal is to make sure all Raider student-athletes are supported and that they have pathways toward career services.
 
"We've been working really hard to develop relationships with all of our coaches and assistant coaches, because they spend the most time with those students," Olsen said. "The more we can understand their philosophy and mentality but also have them understand what we do, that's where students are going to get the most support and most direction."
 
Olsen and her team help Colgate football student-athletes pick two or three industries they might be interested in and require them to research those industries. For instance, commercial real estate. She makes sure to ask them why they want to get into that field and then in the process of doing so, perhaps it's not a field they are all too keen to pursue after all.
 
The accountability for students moving through their Career Services curriculum falls both on the players and on the coaches, who help Olsen track students' progress.
 
"Since we track their career interests throughout their four years, it is interesting to see how some of the guys stay on their initial paths while others change drastically after doing research or even after completing a job shadow or internship opportunity," Dakosty said. "At the end of the day, we want our guys to make an educated decision on the path they choose to pursue."
 
Dakosty credits Olsen and her staff for providing the tools and opportunities so that Colgate football student-athletes are as prepared as possible to make that decision.
 
"This preparation is basically a Career Service curriculum laid out by Teresa and her staff, and once certain stages of that are complete, our guys are granted access to alumni who are eager to help out in any way they can," Dakosty said. "Within our alumni organization, the Maroon Council, we have a program called Maroon Works that filters our players to specific alumni who match career interests or who can provide the best networking opportunities to aid in the pursuit of their first job contract.
 
"The Maroon Works program always has been a great example of the passion our alumni have to help our players. And when we can send them young men who are prepared to handle themselves in a professional setting, the outcomes are exciting and rewarding for everyone involved in the process." 
 
Hollywood Moment
Senior tailback Alex Mathews had his chance encounter after a game two years ago. His parents sat in the stands at a road venue next to former Raider Eugene Young '81. Young was a tight end during his playing days but now is a major player in the world of reality TV.
 
After the game, Mathews' parents made the introduction and the seed was planted.
 
"From there, Career Services helped me build that relationship," Mathews said. "This past May, I was able to join him in California at his production company, Renegade 83, for two weeks. He lives in Manhattan Beach and he let me stay at his house and everything."
 
Mathews was able to go through all of the editing and post-production process, sitting with the people who break down all of the hours of footage and actually create the show.
 
This from a Mentor, Ohio, native who was making his first trip to California.
 
Renegade 83 produces Naked and Afraid on Discovery Channel, but Mathews was able to get involved with a new project. He was on set for the actual filming of one of their new shows, My Feet. All of that took place in West Hollywood.
 
"I was able to work with their concept-development team, and that's what I liked the most," Mathews said. "They focus on coming up with new ideas for shows and focus on pitches for the network companies. I spent a lot of time with them and I was able to come up with some of my own show ideas and pitch them to the people there.
 
"It was a really cool process, and it wouldn't have happened without our work with Career Services. Everything we do with Career Services is for after Colgate. They really try to do everything possible to help you be successful in life."
 
Financial District
Senior offensive lineman Louis Berkowitz used industry research to land an internship in a legal office in Utica. That experience told him legal was the way to go post-graduation and he put his Career Services skills to work.
 
The result was an internship this past summer at Goldman Sachs in New York City.
 
"It was around this time last year when I had the interview lined up with Goldman Sachs," Berkowitz said. "It was in New York City but Coach Hunt was like, 'Go! Go get the job. One practice is worth missing.' I got the job and they really focused on my football experience.
 
"They saw that student-athletes, especially football players, are really good at teamwork, time management, working well with others, staying on schedule, being organized and working independently."
 
Berkowitz said without a doubt his Colgate experience, both on the field and in the classroom, was a huge factor in landing his internship.
 
"It was awesome," he said. "I was in the Financial District and I met a bunch of Colgate alumni, a lot of former student-athletes. They were all so eager to meet me, which was really cool.
 
"And I have a job offer that starts next July, after graduation."
 
Berkowitz said it wouldn't have happened without his Career Services training. He learned to leverage his experiences in athletics thanks to the guidance provided by the Career Services staff and Colgate alumni who helped him emphasize that he wasn't just a football player.
 
"I was able to talk about my experiences in the ways you're supposed to do in an interview," he said. "And I wouldn't have been able to do that without the career services help."


 
In Their Back Pocket
Dakosty, Olsen, Mathews and Berkowitz all praised the assistance and behavioral instruction provided by Fred "Tiger" Dunlap '81. Game-changer might be the best description.
 
"The interviewing aspect, Tiger has been an awesome partner for us," Olsen said. "I can say the same thing he says, but it is received differently when he says it. He's been doing a lot of training, particularly on behavioral interviews and really just diving into their athletic experience and being able to talk about that."
 
Dakosty has seen it happen so many times. Mathews and Berkowitz are just the latest examples.
 
"The coolest thing is when student-athletes come back from interviews and they refer to the preparation they did with the mock interview training or the industry research," Dakosty said. "Career Services starts from the ground up, and when Teresa and her staff get through their program, including the mock interviews – and those will probably be harder than the interview they actually take – when you combine those things and talk to the guys after they've gone through the process, it shows the validity of what we are doing."
 
Olsen appreciates the time football invests in this part of student-athlete development.
 
"They want to make sure their football student-athletes are best prepared to connect with their alumni, because their alumni in particular are very excited to connect with those students," she said. "That's why we have Tiger up here to do the training and why we have their resumes all certified, so that by the time they are meeting with alumni it's a much richer experience.
 
"It's nothing that we wouldn't want any other student to do, but it's just giving them some structure and some deadlines to get it done. Sometimes, students work a little bit better when that's the case."
 
When asked for his favorite part of Colgate Football's commitment to career services, Dakosty's answer was an easy one.
 
"The best part is when they walk across the stage to get that degree wearing a championship ring with a job contract in their back pocket," he said. "When you see guys walking around campus with a job offer and job acceptance, that's pretty cool."