Career Trajectory

Sherman 1

Career Trajectory Paper

Derrick Sherman
Georgia Southern University
EDLD 7430: American Higher Education

Career Trajectory

Sherman 2
Career Trajectory Paper

Introduction
My career aspirations have been influenced by the people that have helped me along the
way. While playing football all through my life, I have come across many good men who each
had a huge impact in my life; all of them were coaches of some sort. Therefore, my mind was
made up at an early age that coaching was going to be a career choice of mine. It was not until I
became the first in my family to graduate from college that I realized that a career in higher
education would also be on the horizon. Walking across that stage at graduation gave me an
enormous sense of pride and belonging in the world. Afterward, I not only wanted to accomplish
the feat once again with another degree, but I wanted to be able to offer that same opportunity to
everyone that aspired.
Goals
My short-term goals consist of completing my requirements for graduating from Georgia
Southern University with a M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration. While completing these
courses I am gaining more knowledge of different aspects of higher education and becoming
more intrigued by the profession as well.
As I work with the football program at Georgia Southern University, continuing my
college football-coaching career has become one of my career goals. Coaching in college will
give me a unique perspective when I become an administrator because I will have a first-hand
experience with working with students on a daily basis, along with knowing the hardships that
come with being an employee of the university. Upon becoming an administrator, I would love to
become a director of a program of some sort. At the beginning of this year I was more attracted

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to becoming an athletic director, but as I become more knowledgeable about higher education, I
am more interested in going more into the student affairs side rather than athletics.
Ultimately, my goal is to finish my career in higher education as a vice president of
admissions, being heavily involved with recruiting students into the university. After all,
recruiting is one of the reasons why I am involved in college coaching.
Professional Development Plan
My professional plan consists of a unique route, although I have witnessed the road
traveled. Through coaching college football, I will be able to become more familiar with the
higher education process as well as the trends and cycles that come along with it. With my
current job, I am able to be an ambassador for the university and work diligently with new
students during their recruitment and matriculation. While coaching and recruiting student
athletes to a university, I am able to work as closely as possible with the university while still
having the outside-in view of the institution. This gives me a more critical look at the
university.
The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), an organization designed to protect
the best interest of the college football coaching profession, is an important resource. This
association allows year round membership with regional and national conventions that promote
education seminars as well as promote healthy networking. Attending these conventions can
potentially put you in a one-on-one conversation or meeting with some of the most successful
college coaches, both past and present. Having the opportunity to meet Jim Tressel, a long time
football coach who has now worked his way into higher education and become the president of
Youngstown State University, has been the greatest experience of my career to date. Meeting

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Coach Tressel showed me that there are others who have the same ambition and drive to help
others. Coach Tressel is an accomplished coach and could very easily be on television like many
other retired coaches but his drive to help individuals achieve their goals keeps him involved in
higher education. Being a part of this organization allows me to connect with professionals in the
same industry as myself and who have traveled the same path to get there.
Resources
From textbooks to inspirational novels, literature is an integral part of my professional
maturation. I am always looking for the perspectives of the people that have done things before
me for a chance to learn from their mistakes and their experiences. With me being relatively new
to the higher education profession, my textbooks are used religiously for references for anything
from law and policies to budgeting and business practices. The knowledge I can gain from these
resources is never-ending.
I am also inspired by Dr. Don Hill, a college football coach and current mentor. While
being the head coach for Morgan State University, Dr. Hill completed his Doctorate degree in
order to further his career in higher education. Dr. Hill is finishing his career in coaching and will
soon be transitioning into a Director of Athletics position. I am privileged enough to not only
have a working relationship with Dr. Hill but also a personal relationship because he is the coach
that awarded me a scholarship that, ultimately, allowed me to graduate from college. He was also
the person who gave me my start in a professional career. More than that, the information and
advice that he gives me, quite often, along the way has become instilled in me and continues to
push me to be the best professional and coach I can be. Every successful professional must have
mentors in which they are able to call on for help, advice and references. I am fortunate enough

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to have a mentor that I can work closely with and who happens to be headed down the same path
as me.

Collaboration
Nowadays, coaches are beginning to work more intimately with the administration of
their respective universities. At smaller universities football programs are used to grow
enrollment by recruiting as many athletes as possible to the campus. This requires coaching staffs
to work in collaboration with administration, assuring that each side is on the same page. At West
Virginia State University, a Division II school with an enrollment of 2,000 students, while
coaching football, I worked in partnership with our admissions department. We were able to
come up with a formula that would allow the university to earn money through tuition as well as
fund more scholarships for the football program. The more Full Pay students we had in our
program, the more scholarships we were able to use for other football players and other
programs athletes. This was a regular occurrence of professional collaboration that I will be able
to use as a guide or example, throughout my career as a professional in higher education.
I believe that I have a strong foundation for my career, although there is still a substantial
amount of work that is needed in order for me to have all the tools to be successful. In order for
me to become a Director of Admissions I must display that I have the communication,
organizational, and interpersonal skills that it will take in order to lead a group of individuals to
accept and demonstrate the same mission and purpose. Also, I must be competent in technology
while using and analyzing recruiting-related data. These are all skills in which I have great
understanding, from working as a leader in a team setting, along with my experience in working

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in the admissions office. Where I struggle, at the moment, is the financial aspect of higher
education and budgeting. However, I will devote the proper time and resources into becoming
proficient in these facets as I continue to progress my career.

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References

Director of Admissions. (2014). Retrieved from

http://www.higheredjobs.com/search/details.cfm?JobCode=175988541&Title=Director
of Admissions
Professional Development Series. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=33