Mason Vision Series

Mason athletic experts: All schools will need to adapt to a fast-changing college sports landscape

Colleen Rich — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 16:22:07 +0000

Mason athletic experts: All schools will need to adapt to a fast-changing college sports landscape Colleen Rich Thu, 10/12/2023 - 12:22

Mason Provost Mark Ginsberg sits down with former college basketball coach Craig Esherick and Mason AD Marvin Lewis for Mason Vision Series. Photo by GMU TV

The advent of name, image and likeness (NIL) deals has been a game-changer, but ��AV officials like their chances of successfully navigating a fast-changing collegiate sports landscape.

“At a place like George Mason that might not have the same resources as a Power 5 school, there are other variables like coaching, culture, etc.,” said Marvin Lewis, Mason’s assistant vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “We have to focus on that because there’s always another school with a little bit more money in the NIL space, a little bit more resources. But, if you can develop that personal relationship, get a kid to really buy into our value proposition, hopefully, they won’t make that change.”

Lewis appeared with former college basketball coach Craig Esherick on the Mason Vision Series to discuss “The New Business of College Sports: Changes Shaking the Foundation of Intercollegiate Athletics.” Go here to watch the discussion.

Outgoing Mason Provost Mark Ginsberg hosted the hour-long discussion on GMU-TV that also delved into the transfer portal, soaring coaching salaries, the growing importance of television revenues in conference realignment, and the ongoing facilities arms race in major college sports.

NIL deals weren’t intended as a recruiting tool, but that’s been the unintended consequence, Lewis said. Wealthier schools have begun forming powerful collectives—groups of wealthy donors and boosters who come together to provide more NIL opportunities—to make their preferred school more attractive to potential student-athletes, Lewis said.

As a result, the chasm between the haves and the have-nots is increasing daily.

“That’s the challenge,” said Lewis, a former four-year basketball starter and team captain at Georgia Tech who helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the 2004 national championship game.

Esherick, now an associate professor of sport management within the College of Education and Human Development, spent more than 17 years as an assistant basketball coach at Georgetown before leading the Hoyas for five years. He also served as an assistant coach on the USA Olympic Team that competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

He and Lewis agreed that a coach’s relationship with their players, a positive culture within the locker room, and a positive educational and social experience are draws for student-athletes.

“If you have a personal relationship with all your players and if the experience you can control is a healthy one with your players,” Esherick said, “most of them are not going to want to leave.”

Marvin Lewis can be reached at admason@gmu.edu.

Craig Esherick can be reached at cesheric@gmu.edu.

For more information, contact John Hollis at jhollis2@gmu.edu.

About ��AV

��AV is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls more than 40,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and commitment to accessibility. In 2023, the university launched Mason Now: Power the Possible, a one-billion-dollar comprehensive campaign to support student success, research, innovation, community, and sustainability. www.gmu.edu.

Topics

Office of the Provost

Mason Vision Series on the Middle East: Peter Mandaville

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 17:02:04 +0000

Mason Vision Series on the Middle East: Peter Mandaville Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/19/2021 - 13:02

In This Story

Peter Mandaville

Professor Peter Mandaville of the Schar School of Policy and Government will hold a discussion called A Decade Beyond the Arab Spring: New Challenges for U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East tonight at 7 p.m. as part of ��AV’s Mason Vision Series of events.

Mandaville’s former roles in the Middle East were serving as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of State and as a member of the State Department's policy planning staff under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But we wanted to know what makes this region fascinating for him.

When and how did you become interested in the Middle East?

I was born and raised in the Middle East, the third generation of my family to live and work in the region as American expatriates. Most of that time was spent in Saudi Arabia, but at various points members of my family also lived in Lebanon, Yemen, and Egypt. So, I’ve had a lifelong connection to the Middle East.

What keeps it interesting for you?

What I find most interesting about the Middle East today—especially from the perspective of foreign policy analysis—is the fact that the rulebook governing regional politics and diplomacy seems to have been thrown out the window in the last few years.

Leaders in the region are starting to entertain a much broader portfolio of strategic relationships—including with China and Russia—and that brings with it a whole new set of variables and a more complicated calculus for U.S. policy makers.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in your role(s) with the State Department?

As academics, we are trained and incentivized to explore and explain the complexity of the world in our research and teaching. We relish the many shades of gray and rarely are we forced to repackage our expertise in terms of black and white, yes or no.

At the State Department, however, I found myself in situations where I had to advise senior national decision makers about what course of action the United States should take in response to some event or development, knowing that their decision would have significant and very tangible effects in the world. Making that shift was deeply challenging and, at times, highly stressful.

The Mason Vision Series will be live-streamed through GMU-TV at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 19. Individuals will have the opportunity to participate and engage in the discussion by submitting questions via email to GMUProv@gmu.edu or Twitter by using #VisionSeriesMason. To RSVP, click here.

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

Schar School News April 2021

Vision Series addresses new challenges for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East

Melanie Balog — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 20:08:34 +0000

Vision Series addresses new challenges for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East Melanie Balog Mon, 04/12/2021 - 16:08

Mandaville

Peter Mandaville has had a ringside seat for changes to the power structures of the Middle East in his former roles as senior advisor at the U.S. Department of State and as a member of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In the next installment of the Office of the Provost’s Mason Vision Series, Mandaville, professor of international affairs at the Schar School of Policy and Government and director of the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, will address “A Decade Beyond the Arab Spring: New Challenges for U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East.”

Drawing on his regional expertise as well as his experience as a U.S. government official, Mandaville will highlight the 10^th anniversary of what some call a political earthquake in the Middle East. The Arab Spring included the popular uprisings that toppled authoritarian regimes in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia and also set in motion a chain of events that produced devastating civil wars in Syria, Libya, and Yemen—and the rise of ISIS.

In acknowledging that a clear vision and roadmap for American diplomacy in the region seems increasingly difficult to discern, Mandaville will explore some of the key questions and issues facing the new U.S. administration as it determines how best to navigate emerging challenges in the Middle East.

“President Biden has brought in a team of veteran foreign policy hands,” Mandaville said, “but the political landscape that confronts them in the Middle East has never been more challenging.”

Topics

Office of the Provost

Mason Vision Series

Campus News

Vision Series tackles COVID-19, lessons learned and moving forward

Colleen Rich — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 14:24:33 +0000

Vision Series tackles COVID-19, lessons learned and moving forward Colleen Rich Tue, 03/16/2021 - 10:24

Amira Roess. Photo provided

��AV epidemiologist Amira Roess, the designer of the university’s COVID Health Check tool, has played a vital role during pandemic helping advise public and private organizations on how to safely resume operations.

In the next installment of the Office of the Provost’s Mason Vision Series, Roess, professor of global and community health in the College of Health and Human Services, will address “COVID-19: A Vision for Future Response.”

Her presentation will cover three areas: Messaging and lessons learned, the political divide, and moving forward. She will highlight common mistakes around communications such as messaging within and between states and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as with other countries.

Roess will identify the United States’ lack of response and research infrastructure to COVID-19, as well as cite specific concerns surrounding the virus for a variety of populations.

She will also address health disparities and contact tracing, as well as explain how politicizing the virus and vaccine have caused distrust of the medical community and increased the number of deaths.

Finally, she will address how the nation could have done things differently and outline what we as a nation can do better moving forward.

“COVID-19 has impacted every facet of our lives over the last year and while we had learned a great deal, we are severely lacking in our national response and are a deeply divided nation,” Roess said. “Against this backdrop it is extremely difficult to change behaviors. How we make adjustments in our approaches and move forward is crucial for saving lives and rebuilding trust in medical community.”

The Mason Vision Series will be live-streamed through GMU-TV at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 22. Individuals will have the opportunity to participate and engage in the discussion by submitting questions via email to GMUProv@gmu.edu or Twitter by using #VisionSeriesMason. To RSVP, click here.

Topics

Campus News

coronavirus; COVID-19; Editorial

Mason Vision Series