02/09/2022
When Super Bowl LVI kicks off at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will compete for the Lombardi Trophy on the discipline — and a number of Cortland Pink Dragons will play essential roles too.
They include:
- Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11, a adorned former pupil-athlete, coaching Cincinnati star Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ quarterbacks group as an assistant on the sidelines
- Katie Keenan ’05, M ’10, an alum who has ascended to be the NFL’s senior director of function functions, coordinating crucial logistics for the league on gameday and
- A team of four existing sport management pupils, performing guiding the scenes as part of a weeklong vacation to get marketplace knowledge in Los Angeles.
Red Dragon connections to marquee sporting occasions have develop into common, specified SUNY Cortland’s reputations in coaching, activity administration, athletic coaching, work out science and several other disciplines.
Numerous of those people strengths will be on display screen this Super Bowl Sunday.
Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11
The ultimate scholar-athlete during his Cortland days, the previous quarterback was a finalist for the 2011 Gagliardi Trophy, Division III’s nationwide player of the yr award, as properly as a first workforce Tutorial All-American with a quality issue normal surpassing 4..
Pitcher has served as Cincinnati’s quarterbacks coach for the past two seasons and an assistant on personnel for 6 yrs all round. His 10-12 months NFL career started out with the Indianapolis Colts in their scouting area.
He is thought of a person of the Bengals’ brilliant youthful offensive minds supplied his function with next-yr sign-caller Burrow. During Tremendous Bowl media availability on Feb. 7, Burrow offered higher praise for Pitcher.
“I could not have asked for a improved quarterbacks coach,” Burrow said, according to the Bengals’ official web site. “When I require to vent a minimal bit, he sits there and listens to me. It’s good to have a mentor that is not likely to place you down or lecture you all the time. At times coaches have to pay attention to players vent a minimal bit. He not only does that, but if I have a issue, he arrives with an reply suitable on the location. I could not inquire for a better scenario.”
Pitcher was born and lifted in Cortland and even now maintains potent ties to the community through his household. Read through much more about his route to the Super Bowl.
Katie Keenan ’05, M ’10
The NFL’s greatest celebration of the 12 months is in superior palms with a former SUNY Cortland activity management significant serving as the league’s senior director of party functions. She was promoted to the position in July and a short while ago featured in a Los Angeles Enterprise Journal profile.
Keenan will enable lead the coordination of many logistical specifics at the initially Super Bowl in Los Angeles in nearly 30 a long time — from broadcast elements to entry credentials to partnerships with corporations supplying signage, catering, restrooms and transportation.
Creating the six-hour celebration at manufacturer-new SoFi Stadium involves quite a few months of arranging and a huge “group exertion.” This 12 months will mark Keenan’s 10th Super Bowl following doing work her way up by means of many positions in the most well-known sports league in the U.S.
The Tremendous Bowl marks just just one of the gatherings that she operates on in the course of the calendar year. They incorporate the NFL Draft, the league’s Kickoff function, the Global Sequence and numerous other individuals.
Keenan’s additional than 16-calendar year career in specialist athletics can be attributed to her get the job done ethic and her generate to seize possibilities from a young age. In addition to earning two degrees from SUNY Cortland, she pursued a slight in Spanish as an undergraduate, which aided land an internship with the Worldwide Paralympic Committee.
Keenan continues to be connected to Cortland by the university’s Sport Management Advisory Board. Read a lot more about her in this 2016 alumni function.
Sport administration majors
Four undergraduate activity management majors took a cross-nation flight for a weeklong immersive practical experience in Los Angeles. The vacation commenced with seminars at many professional sports activities stadiums and it will conclude with a four-day function experience at Tremendous Bowl-linked gatherings.
The student group included Andrew Celio, Kyle Celio, Theo Riley and Joe Valerino.
All through the early portion of their trip, students read from market industry experts at Dodgers Stadium, dwelling of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers Angel Stadium of Anaheim, home of MLB’s Los Angeles Angels and Crypto.com Arena, home of different teams like the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
They’ll work at several events tied to the Tremendous Bowl from Thursday by Sunday.
Their journey was coordinated by Dwelling Activity, an corporation that options domestic and international sporting activities marketplace excursions for recent higher education pupils and younger professionals. Lawrence Brady, an teacher and internship coordinator in the Sport Administration Division, linked the college students with Daniel Koch ’21, who worked at Tremendous Bowl LV in Tampa Bay via Dwelling Sport. Koch is now visitor practical experience coordinator for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I appreciate it when learners are ready to choose people prospects, wager on on their own and interact with possibilities like this,” reported Ryan Vooris ’08, affiliate professor and chair of the Activity Management Division. “It’s not every single working day you get to operate at the Super Bowl.
“Talk about a résumé-builder.”