By Beau Bauer ('11)

Much like everyone else, shortly after finishing up the MBA in June, I started getting ready for my summer internship.  In March, I accepted a position with IMG College – Jaguar Sports Marketing at the University of South Alabama.  With an interest in college athletics, I had already been volunteering in the development office at OU, so I wanted to use this summer as an opportunity to explore the property side of athletics.  On June 11, I packed my car and made the 13-hour drive to Mobile, Alabama.

With only two employees working at Jaguar Sports Marketing, I knew that I was going to have the opportunity to be involved in many facets of the operations of the property as it entered its second year.  From day one, I was quickly learning the sales process, the assets at South Alabama, and helping with some of the organizational aspects around the office.  During my first week, I began making sales calls to set up meetings with local businesses and national brands.   Additionally, we had recently received a new proposal deck, which needed to be customized for the University of South Alabama.  My first project for the summer was to build out this deck with all the details of the sponsors, sports, and assets for South Alabama.  This helped me learn about all the different types of inventory that the property can offer, which I knew would be invaluable during my sales calls and future meetings.

As I began to make more sales calls each week, I became more comfortable during the initial conversations.  I was responsible for making the initial contact with a business, and so I scheduled and led several meetings alone.  However, I often asked my boss, Gary Saunders, to accompany me to some meetings.  One of those meetings was with a national auto parts store.  After the meeting, Gary and I discussed the potential new partner, and from the meeting and this discussion, I developed a proposal that would give them exclusivity for the respective category.  As many sponsors are these days, the prospect was highly concerned with return on investment.  As such, we developed a few different and unique pieces of inventory into the proposal, which would allow them to track the results of the investment.  A decision is expected to be made this week. 

Aside from making sales calls and developing proposals, the last two weeks have quickly become organized chaos.  With the opening game less than four weeks away, I’ve spent the last few weeks servicing our sponsors, collecting ad copy, artwork, and radio spots.  It’s been my responsibility to make sure that the sponsors’ entire inventory is being fulfilled over the coming weeks.  While I won’t be around for the second football season at South Alabama, I’m sure it’s going to be a huge success.  Coming up this week is the first taping of the Joey Jones Coach’s radio show and a stadium walk-through at Ladd-Peebles in Mobile, which will be another unique experience for me.

All in all, this internship has been everything I had hoped for.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with two respected people, who have taken a particular interest in helping me develop as much as possible.  As I enter my final few days, I know it will be a bittersweet feeling at the end.  I’ll be excited to get back to my wife, friends, and the rest of the OU family, but I will be disappointed that this experience is over because I’ve learned a tremendous amount and been a part of a program that will soon make an impact on the national stage.