He was raised on Michigan football.
“I really enjoy watching every sport, but the sport I follow the most is football. My parents graduated from UM-Ann Arbor, so Michigan football games have been a staple in my life since I was born. Similarly, watching Detroit Lions football games on Sundays is another big part of my weekend and something I look forward to come fall.
Interestingly, within the past four years, I’ve really gotten into watching English Premier League Soccer. I really liked how Tottenham (a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England) plays and their soccer style. So, I’ve just supported them.”
He played baseball in college and wanted a career where he could support student athletes.
“I have always played sports throughout my life, and I was even blessed enough to continue playing baseball while in college at Grand Valley State University. I knew I wanted to work in the sports industry in some form. In my sophomore year, I took a sports marketing class and I fell in love with the process of finding out what draws consumers to your team and the product they are putting out on the field.”
His former position was in West Virginia. He enjoyed it — but he’s glad to be home.
“After graduating, I knew I wanted to go into athletics as this was something that I have always been interested in. I had an old baseball teammate from college reach out to me about an opening he had as a graduate assistant at West Virginia Wesleyan. I had the opportunity to get my master's degree for free while pursuing a career in athletics — that was a no-brainer for me. The opportunity was too good to pass up.
But I’ve had a sense of relief since coming back to Michigan, because I knew I wasn’t going to worry about when I was going to see my family and friends again. I met my fiancée at GVSU. We now live in Detroit and we really enjoy our time there. Taking our dog on walks on the Riverwalk is something that we look forward to every day. And I have a twin brother — we have done literally everything together since we were kids. It’s nice being back together with everyone.”
He’s looking forward to seeing campus life this fall.
“It's been awesome to see the campus atmosphere develop as more and more students have come back onto campus. My main goal with my role here at UM-Dearborn is to really enhance the student-athlete experience and ensure their time here at UM-Dearborn is enjoyable. I had a positive experience as a student-athlete and I want to make sure that our athletes look back on their time when their playing careers are over and have positive memories of playing sports as a Dearborn Wolverine.”
Article by Rudra Mehta.
