African American Student Athletes

Cameron Moore
Aaron Jones
Nate Bailey
Dom Muoghalu
Blake Williams
 User Needs
- a platform which players can speak on issues surrounding their sport.
- A structure in which players can be expressive
- Coaching staffs who can relate to their players to bring on a better experience in
their sport.
- A strong bond and connection with the coaching staff
- Athletes don’t want to feel like they are put into a “box” due to the coaching
staff or culture within their athletic program
 User Objectives
- Players want to be able to reach their full potential as athletes and accomplish
their dreams in an environment that lets them express themselves through their
talents and also by giving them the opportunity to have a voice
 Insights
Tom Coughlin Player panel

- Coughlin wanted to give players a voice for certain issues since many were
unhappy with his coaching style
- Developed a player panel where these issues were able to be discussed and
changes came because of these discussions
- Won two Super Bowls since the installation of this player panel
 Insights Cont.
National College Players Association

- Establishes mandatory health and safety standards to minimize injury risk

- Helps increase graduation rates with a trust fund
- Guarantees athletes can be granted an athletic release
- Made up of 20,000 former and current and former college athletes
 Insights Cont.
Interview Feedback

- Athletes have felt like they haven’t had a big enough voice within their
respective programs
- Everyone gets to this level playing their game a certain way and when coaches
try to change too much in their game, success rates can significantly drop
- Athletes felt like alumni presence in coaching staff led to not enough diversity of
opinions between coaches. This led to a lot of issues not being resolved
- Inability to communicate with coaches about issues without being scolded or
yelled at.
 Solutions
Athletic Program Leadership Council

- Will be made up of a select number of athletes from each sport

- Volunteer coaches will be brought in to observe the practices so there is an
outside eye and an outside opinion there to give feedback on certain issues that
haven’t been resolved
- This will be an opportunity for athletes to speak their mind on certain issues
and have outside individuals help them come to a conclusion on these issues
 Solutions Cont.
Surveys

- These will be sent out throughout the year by the leadership council to every
athlete in the school
- The content of the surveys will not be about the sport itself, but how happy
they are with the current culture within their program
- Coaches will have access to the results of these surveys so they can see how
happy their athletes are which will help them figure out how to make any
changes