Masters in Coaching Podcast- Episode XV

Tim Cates talks with University of Cincinnati Associate Athletic Director Jolinda Miller about college athletics during a pandemic.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
She was a four year starter playingbasketball at Cincinnati. A member of the
University of Cincinnati Hall of Fame.She went on to becoming a high school
athletic director. Now she's back atCincinnati as an associate athletic director. And
oh yeah, she used to workin radio. She's joe Lynda Miller.
Let's talk to her next on episodefifteen of the Masters in Coaching podcast.

(00:22):
Let's go Welcome to episode fifteen ofthe Masters in Coaching podcasts here on iHeart
Radio, and thanks for being withthis this week. A true honor to
speak with Jolynda Miller, associate athleticdirector at the University of Cincinnati, longtime
athletic director as well at the highschool level there in Ohio. We'll talk

(00:44):
about that, we'll talk about herradio career way back when she's also a
member of the Hall of Fame atthe University of Cincinnati's former basketball player from
the women's basketball team, and shejoins us now here on the Masters in
Coaching podcast. Jolinda, thanks forjoining us. How are you great?
Thanks for having me on. Excitedto be here today. Absolutely. First
off, how are you coping throughthis whole mess that is a pandemic.

(01:07):
How are you guys doing out there? Uh, we're doing well. It's
uh. They gave us a curfewlast week, so we have a curfew
now from ten to ten to five. We have about eight thousand new cases
a day and we're just you know, coronavirus right now is king. So
we're trying to adapt and wear ourmasks and socially distant and just stay compliant

(01:29):
right now and hoping for a vaccineat this point. What are the current
conditions right now at the University ofCincinnati Right now, we're good. I
mean things are really good. Youknow, we have the majority of our
classes right now. We're online,so there's not a lot of students on
campus. It looks like a ghosttown. But you know, thankfully we
haven't had a major outbreak. Ourleadership has really taken a strong role in

(01:53):
protecting our students and student athlete healthand just really protect the health of the
campus as a whole. We don'twant to have any community spread coming from
campus, and so I think PresidentPinto has just done a great job in
the entire campus community in keeping everybodyhealthy and safe. At this point.

(02:13):
Now you're an associate athletic director universitysCincinnati. You're alumni there as well in
the Hall of Fame as a formerbasketball player. What you do is work
on major gifts in the athletic department. Right now, how much of a
struggle is that or is it astruggle month nine of this pandemic? Yeah,
I think I think the whole yearcan be categorized as a struggle right

(02:34):
for everybody. So I would sayright now it's challenging, but I think
everything is challenging because our way oflife has just completely disappeared and we've had
to adapt. And I refuse tocall it the new normal because I feel
like we'll go back to normal,but we'll have a better sense of family
and of community. So while Isay that things right now is fundraising and

(02:57):
on campus and you know, athleticas a whole are challenging, I feel
like out of those challenges are goingto come some great opportunities because I've learned
that everybody, at their core,they want to help out. They want
to know how our student athletes aredoing. They want to know how they're
coping, how they're rehabbing. Howmany, you know, times a week
are we testing they're just really reallyconcerned, and so at people's core they

(03:23):
want to help. And so it'sbeen challenging for us to find new ways
four donors and fans and season ticketholders to help when we can't have them
on campus. But I think we'vedone, you know, a great job
kind of pivoting and finding ways toget to get them involved. So it's
challenging as a whole, but it'sI think, you know, we all

(03:46):
need to find opportunities out of thesechallenges. Right now, Well, we
didn't have sports for four months.The sports world has sort of rebooted late
in the summer early fall. Footballis back, Baseball made it through at
the professional level, basketball as well. The NFL is off and running.
Now we're getting college basketball men andwomen's basketball tipping off this week. What

(04:06):
does that look like for the Universityof Cincinnati, Because I know there's a
lot of questions people have as faras going into November, December, January,
February, as far as how thisis going to work for college basketball.
What do you think? Yeah,well, I think we're all this
is a learning curve, right andwe're on the learning curve right now.
So our women's basketball team tips offtomorrow against Northern Kentucky, which is,

(04:30):
you know, a school right acrossthe river from us, so they could
travel easily get up here for thegame where you know, six o'clock estm
plus. And you know, we'rewe're very, very limited to fans right
now. We didn't sell any seasontickets for men's or women's basketball. We
are letting parents in a few,you know, and a few you know

(04:51):
fans, and you know, thecoach's wives and you know, families and
things like that. But you know, our our main focus right now,
it's just like I said, keepingcommunity spread off our campus, keeping the
students safe, the student athletes safe, and you know, our facilities team
has done a tremendous job. Wehad to slip the entire arena so the

(05:13):
benches and the media were on oneside. Now they're on another side because
of TV cameras. Ticketing has hadto socially, you know, distance the
tickets. So I just feel likeeverybody's really come together to try to pull
this off for the student athletes becauseagain, at the end of the day,
you know, they want to playand the coaches want to coach,
and we just have to find thebest way to do it as safe as

(05:35):
possible. Joe Linda Miller is ourguest are on the Masters in Coaching podcast,
Associate athletic director at University of Cincinnati, also and alum of the Masters
in Coaching Athletics Administration program at ConcordiaUniversity, Irvine. More on that coming
up in just a couple of minutes. Before you came back to University of
Cincinnati. Jo Linda, you're anathletic director and involved at the high school

(05:56):
level for sixteen plus years. Andbefore that am I And here you said
you worked in radio. Nice Idid work in radio when I was in
school at you see, I didboth of my internships at the local,
uh you know the station here,the Red sports station. There was also
a country station involved, so Igot to know all of the you know,

(06:17):
just celebrities around town. Nick myname was Robin Banks. Believe it
or not, R B y N. Bank. You know that our station's
manager thought that was just the mostthe funniest thing was that I was Robbin
Banks. And so people would youknow, I'd drive the van around or
begin a vets they call me Robin. I'm like, you know, you
have to get used to the differentname. But my partner on the radio,

(06:40):
his name was Van Man because hedrove the Y ninety six Van,
So we were van Man in Robin, and uh, it was fun.
It was a fun fun two years. For sure. What happened in the
radio career, you did not pursuethat. I did not. I wanted
to play professional basketball and that waskind of you know, what I was
pursuing at the time, and sonever really got back into radio or use

(07:04):
my communications degree. But what funI had, Oh, what fun I
had. It was a great Itwas the best internship, you know,
any college kid could have ever askedfor. That's for sure. What road
did you end up going down there? Because you were then sixteen plus years
as we mentioned, at Hughes HighSchool as the athletic director, right,
yeah, absolutely well I ended upI ended up being the director of operations

(07:27):
for the University of Cincinnati women's basketballteam for three years. And we've got
to go to the NC Double Astwice, so we got to cut down
the nets once as Conference USA champions, and you know, we coached some
two or three All Americans during thatgroup and it was great. But my
husband and I wanted to start afamily, and you know, I didn't
feel like college athletics. I couldgive it my all, you know,

(07:49):
and have a family. So Imoved across the street. I mean,
Hughes High School is right across thestreet from the University of Cincinnati. It's
our partner in STEM education. It'sa Cincinnati public school, so it's it's
pretty urban, and it was mydream job. It was the time of
my life, it really was.So I yeah, So I haven't really

(08:09):
left the Clifton area. I mean, my commute has been the same since,
you know, nineteen ninety four.I just keep driving to a different
area of Clifton. That's amazing.Is that something that you thought you would
get into working at the high schoollevel, being an athletic director for as
long as you were as an educator. Is that something you envisioned yourself doing.

(08:30):
You mentioned you kind of went backafter you started your family and got
involved in doing that. Did youdid you see yourself doing it as for
as long as you were there?No? I didn't. I just I
thought I was going to be acollege coach, you know, like I
grew up in the era of PatSummit and Vivian Stringer and and that's who
was on TV that that was women'ssports for me. And so I always

(08:52):
thought I was going to be acollege coach. I thought I was,
you know, but then after beingthe director of operations and learning the administrative
side of it, I thought,this is this is kind of the way
to go. I don't know thatI want to watch eight hours of basketball
film and night. I want toplay basketball. I loved playing. I
still love playing, but it's hardto be around the game when all you

(09:13):
want to do is play. Andso as an administrator, I kind of
get the best both worlds. Iget to you know, help mentor some
of the women's basketball players and youknow, some of our other athletes that
you see, and I get towork on you know, fundraising and budget
and helping and that seems to bemore of my area of interest. And
you know, sitting in front ofa computer or in a gym watching everybody

(09:33):
play the sport, I love.That's awesome. Jolena Miller is our guest
here on the Masters and Coaching podcasthere on iHeart Radio. And I know
over the years as the athletic directorand working with the high school, you
were very proud of the student athletesthat you sent on to the next level
to play in college. And Isaw a great quote from you that,
you know, you come from asmall town in Ohio, and if it

(09:54):
wasn't for basketball, you wouldn't havegotten to where you're at now. You'd
still be in that small town inOhio. How important is it for you
to help these kids? And howwas it to help these kids get through
their education at high school and realize, hey, there is life after high
school and you can use sports toget there. Yeah, that's everything to

(10:15):
me. I mean, that's reallywhat it was all about at Hughes.
You know, we had kids therewho were first generation college students and they
didn't even think it was possible,you know, for them to go.
And so sending a kid like youknow b J. Lowry who grew up
with eight or nine brothers and sistersand he went to the University of Iowa
to play football. He was firstteam All Big Ten his senior year.

(10:37):
And we had a track athlete,Tianna Lattimore, again first generation college student.
She comes over to my alma mater. You see, you can imagine
I cried on signing day it wasa big day for me. She becomes
an All American her freshman year,she's going to graduate, she's going to
graduate with her masters, and justthe opportunity for her to have a better

(10:58):
life, and to teach these kidsthat through education and through sports, you
know, you can have a betterlife, That that dreams are out there,
you just work hard and achieve them. And I lived it. I
lived it, So I'm just proofto them that it works and you can
do it. So helping give thema map and a roadmap for the rest
of their life, that's, youknow, I feel like that's my life's

(11:20):
work, is to take kids andshow them what opportunities are out there for
them. And hopefully, you know, I have two or three student athletes
who graduated from Hughes that now wantto be athletic directors as well. And
so being told that someone wants todo what you do, it means you've
had an impact on their life.And I just I can't think of any

(11:41):
better way, you know, togive back and to be thankful and grateful
for my scholarship to help other kidsget scholarships. And now I'm back in
my alma mater, you know,helping donors, help our student athletes,
and so, you know, growingour athletic endowment and starting dollarships for people.
It's just it's a dream come true. Really. Joe Linda Miller is

(12:03):
our guest. You're on the Mastersin Coaching podcast, and it's good time
to tell our listeners about Concordia University, Irvine's Masters in Coaching Athletics Administration program,
the nation's number one athletics graduated program. It could be completed one hundred
percent online if you want. Theyhave four seasonal start dates five one that
works for your schedule. You couldtake one course at a time, or

(12:24):
you can customize your curriculum. Choosebetween a Masters of Arts and Coaching Athletics
Administration or a Masters of Science inCoaching and Exercise Science. You can finish
this program just over a year,about fifteen months, whether you're going for
the gold or you're looking to secureyour place on the podium with the country's
number one Masters in Coaching Athletics Administrationprogram. For more information, go to

(12:45):
Cui dot eedu slash coaching. That'sCui dot etu slash coaching. Speaking of
back you and back to school andgot your masters from Concordia University, Irvine.
Tell our listeners, why, atwhat point did you say to yourself
you wanted to take that next stepand get that master's degree. What was
it about Concordia University, your Vineand the program. Well, the cool

(13:07):
thing is I was sitting in churchand every January first, my pastor says
the same thing. He says,your future spiritual life will be different only
when you make your presence spiritual lifedifferent. And I was sitting there one
day and I said, I've alwayswanted to get my masters, and if
I want a different life later,I got to start now. And I

(13:28):
still remember that hitting home for me. And I went home and I researched,
you know, all across the country, and this program at Concordia,
it just had the right mix ofclasses. It had the it had a
lot of leadership classes in it.And I wanted to grow, like I
wanted to grow as a leader,and I knew that I needed a master's

(13:50):
you know, if I ever wantedto work in college. Because I was
at Hughes at the time when Idecided this, and I wanted to be
a better person and a better leaderand to learn about things that you know,
had had come up in the pasttwenty years. I hadn't been to
school and you know, almost twentyyears when I went back to get my
masters. So it it was justthe program for me. And I am

(14:11):
so glad that that I, youknow, just listened to my pastor and
decided that day I was going tochange my life. And and it did.
It absolutely did. It paved theway for me to go across the
street to UC and be an associateathletic director, and I just I can't
thank them enough. It was agreat experience I had. I had a
wonderful two internships there. I hadleadership classes that made me look at myself,

(14:35):
you know, inside and out asto what was wrong with me,
what I could fix, what Icould do better, and just just completely
appreciative of the experience. And you'vebeen able to take what you learned through
the program into your leadership role atUniversity of Cincinnati. Oh absolutely, I
mean the value that that brought tome and the classes we went through,

(14:58):
you know, presenting difference in thereoreos of what would you do here as
opposed to hear and then having aprofessor go over with me you know,
why did you choose that? Wasit was that your ethics or is that
your you know, personal beliefs oryou know, it was a great reflection
time for me to go through allthe classes. And so now I can
sit back and use those same reflectionexercises, you know, sitting talking to

(15:22):
a student athlete or you know,when I'm asked my opinion on you know,
X, Y or Z, Ifeel like I have the knowledge base
to weigh in. So just justyou know, sometimes you take classes and
you're like, why'd I even takethat class? That that that never even
occurred to me. The whole timeI was, I was eating it up.
The leadership books that they recommended thatI read. I've I've now bought

(15:46):
as Christmas presents and you know,passed them on to family and friends.
And there's just little nuggets through,you know, throughout the whole thing that
that I use now in my everydayexperience that you see. So just just
thankful, thanks that I was ableto get that master's degree. There.
It's a it's an incredible program.What's next for you? Then? I
mean, you've taken these steps fromfrom Hughes to back across the street,

(16:08):
to Cincinnati, You got your master'sdegree. What's next? Where do you
see yourself in five years, tenyears, Do you see yourself Stuilt University
of Cincinnati doing what you're doing inloving it? I do. I see
myself at you see for a longtime, and it's like you said,
you know, we what have welearned from COVID. I've learned I want
to be a really great mom,and I want to be a really good

(16:29):
wife, and I want to bea really great friend, and I want
to have a really great job.And I feel like right now I have
all those things and I have balancein my life. And I think the
most important thing anyone can have intheir life at all is balanced. And
it's just there's a lot of workto be done it. You see,
it's a great community. There's stillpeople that work there from when I played.

(16:51):
I feel like I grew up thereand I feel like I'm going to
grow old there and it's it's justit's pretty amazing right now, even in
the midst of all this, nodoubt, Joe, Linda, I appreciate
your time. Thank you so muchfor sharing your story. Talking about Concordia
University Irvine's Masters in Coaching Athletics AdministrationProgram, your alum, you win through
it. For more information, youcan go to CEUI dot edu slash coaching.

(17:15):
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Happy holidays, and stay safe.
Thank you so much, Thank you, have a great day. Happy
Thanksgiving to you all right. That'sJoe Linda Miller, Associate Athletic Director the
University of Cincinnati, alum of courseof Concordia University, Irvine's Masters in Coaching
Athletics Administration Program. Great story,great lady doing great things at the University

(17:37):
of Cincinnati, and we wish yourcontinued success and best of luck moving forward
again. For more information, youcan go to CEUI dot edu slash Coaching.
That's episode fifteen and the Masters inCoaching podcast. Tim Kate saying thank
you so much for listening, Havea happy Thanksgiving, stage safe so long everybody,