Session One: The Power of Analytics (June 12, 2025)
The Academy launched with a full-day session centered on one of the most consequential forces reshaping collegiate athletics: data and artificial intelligence. Kellogg’s Eric T. Anderson — Polk Bros. Chair in Retailing, Professor of Marketing, and Director of the Kellogg-McCormick MBAi Program — led coaches and senior staff through a deep exploration of analytics and its practical applications to sport. Anderson, whose research spans AI/ML, pricing strategy, and customer loyalty, was joined by special guest speakers Toby Velte and Quinton Krueger, co-founders of Budscout AI and Probility AI and both Kellogg EMBA alumni. Velte, a former executive at Google, Amazon, and Microsoft and a Sloan Fellow at London Business School, and Krueger, whose background spans aerospace, sports analytics, and government intelligence, brought real-world perspectives on how predictive modeling and AI tools are transforming how athletic programs evaluate talent, manage performance, and reduce injury risk.
The afternoon session shifted to applied learning, with Anderson guiding coaches and staff through how analytics principles translate directly to their own programs and sports. Later, Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of Ryan Sports Development and the visionary behind Northwestern’s $850 million Ryan Field project, joined for a presentation on the stadium development — a fitting reminder that Northwestern’s ambition extends well beyond the playing field.
The day concluded with a cocktail reception and a headline “Falk Talk” featuring David Falk — the legendary sports agent who coined the phrase “Air Jordan,” negotiated the first $100 million contract in team sports history. Falk led a candid conversation on NIL, revenue sharing, and the future of the athlete-agent-university relationship, giving coaches and staff a front-row seat to the business forces reshaping their profession.
Session Two: Uniquely Selling Northwestern (December 8, 2025)
The Academy’s second gathering turned its attention to one of the most critical — and often undertaught — skills in a head coach’s and senior administrator’s arsenal: the ability to articulate and sell Northwestern’s distinctive value to prospective student-athletes, their families, and the broader stakeholder community.
Craig Wortmann, Clinical Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Kellogg Sales Institute, guided coaches and senior staff through an intensive, full-day curriculum on the art and science of the sales conversation. Wortmann’s approach challenged attendees to move beyond generic talking points and develop a compelling, authentic pitch rooted in what makes Northwestern genuinely different — its academic excellence, its Evanston community, its Big Ten membership, and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity it represents.
The session also featured a Coaches Roundtable led by Northwestern Softball Head Coach Kate Drohan, who shared her framework for building and sustaining a program vision and communicating it consistently to every constituency that touches a program — student-athletes, recruits, parents, alumni, donors, fans, and university administrators alike. The roundtable gave head coaches and senior staff an open forum to exchange ideas on recruiting strategy, managing parent and family communications, navigating admissions, and the growing complexity of NIL.
The day’s signature moment came with a Fireside Chat with Luke Donald — the legendary English professional golfer and Northwestern alumnus who captained Europe to back-to-back Ryder Cup victories in 2023 and 2025, widely celebrated for a leadership style built on trust, team identity, and attention to detail. Moderated by Pat Goss, Donald’s conversation offered coaches and staff an intimate look at championship-caliber leadership from one of Northwestern’s most celebrated athletic alumni.
Session Three: Uniquely Selling Northwestern — Part II (June 8, 2026)
The Academy’s third session built directly on the sales and storytelling work from December, with Craig Wortmann returning to deepen the cohort’s ability to uniquely sell Northwestern. This time, the curriculum extended the framework more explicitly to the full recruiting ecosystem — challenging head coaches and senior staff alike to sharpen their pitches not only for prospective student-athletes but also for the staff members, administrators, and stakeholders they recruit and retain throughout their programs. Attendees worked through how to articulate Northwestern’s differentiators with precision and authenticity across every context: from an in-home visit to a donor conversation to a staff interview. The emphasis on selling Northwestern’s value to prospective employees and staff made this session particularly resonant for senior administrators looking to attract and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive market.
The session’s Coaches Roundtable featured a moderated discussion with Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, whose story over the past year offered one of the most powerful leadership narratives in all of college sports. After winning seven NCAA championships between 2005 and 2012, Amonte Hiller led her program through deep reflection and philosophical reinvention — shifting her coaching approach toward gratitude, mental resilience, and finding joy in the process. That recalibration paid extraordinary dividends, producing an eighth national title in 2023 and, in 2026, a record-setting ninth national championship while hosting the Final Four on Northwestern’s own campus.
The final session of the day concluded with Tony Petitti, the 7th Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. Petitti, who spent nearly four decades in sports, business, and media — including roles as deputy commissioner and COO of Major League Baseball and president and CEO of MLB Network — shared his perspective on an era of unprecedented Big Ten dominance, record conference revenues of $1.47 billion, and three consecutive college football national championships. For Northwestern’s coaches and senior staff, it was an inside look at the business decisions and strategic vision shaping the conference their programs compete in every day.
A Community Built Around Coaches and Their Teams
Woven through each session has been something perhaps equally as valuable as the formal curriculum: the opportunity for Northwestern’s head coaches and senior staff to come together, share experiences, and learn from one another in an environment of trust and candor.
Each session carved out dedicated space for attendees to engage in peer-to-peer roundtables — exchanging insights on recruiting strategy, managing parent and family communications, navigating admissions, building and sustaining program culture, and addressing the growing complexity of NIL and roster management. These conversations, facilitated by Kellogg faculty and Northwestern athletics leadership alike, have created a genuine community of practice that extends well beyond each individual session day.
Kip and Sara Kirkpatrick deepened that sense of community by hosting coaches and staff for dinner at their home following the December session — an evening that underscored the personal investment they have made in the people who make Northwestern Athletics extraordinary.
"Sara and I wanted to find a meaningful way to support the coaches who shape the Northwestern student-athlete experience, and Mark's vision gave us the perfect opportunity to do that," said Kirkpatrick. "My personal experience at Kellogg showed me what happens when exceptional leaders are given the time and space to learn and grow. Together with Mark and Francesca Cornelli, we asked a simple question: How can we make those same resources available to the coaches who lead our programs every day? We share Mark's belief that everything starts with great coaches, and we hope this Academy gives them valuable time to reflect on their leadership journeys, tackle their biggest challenges, and continue to create an even better experience for Northwestern student-athletes.”
As the Kellogg Coaches Leadership Academy concludes its inaugural year, it stands as a model for what is possible when a great university directs its full intellectual and institutional resources toward the people on the front lines of building its athletic programs. For Northwestern’s head coaches and senior staff, the classroom at the Kellogg Global Hub has become another place where the work of winning and leading gets done.
