Overcoming the Odds
Two Georgia Southern Women Break into the Senior Ranks of Division I College Athletics
Maybe it was sparked by the excitement and fulfillment of playing in college sports. Maybe it was their love of hanging around with their teammates. But just maybe it was their academic background at Georgia Southern that did the trick.These alumnae became interested in NCAA Division I Athletics and ultimately became successful at the highest levels.
Brandy Petty Clouse (‘00) and Jocelyn Fisher Gates (‘08) have broken the proverbial glass ceiling to both become senior associate athletic directors. They are two of the few Georgia Southern women graduates who have reached senior levels in the hierarchy of NCAA Division I Athletics.
Both women are married with three children, juggling it all with demanding careers. Clouse has been climbing the career ladder with Georgia Southern since 2003 and Gates is in her first year with the Ohio State Buckeyes after stints with Boston College, University of South Florida and Duke.
Brandy Clouse
Many people in athletics administration tend to move around fairly often but Clouse has been True Blue with Georgia Southern for close to 19 years.
“I got accepted for athletic training by both UGA and Georgia Southern after graduating from Gordon College with my associate degree and playing tennis,” said Clouse. “So I thought I would visit first and then decide. When I first came down to Georgia Southern I met with Dr. Charles Hardy [chair of the Department of Health and Kinesiology at the time] who immediately sold me on the University, no ifs, ands or buts. I went downstairs and spoke with the tennis coach to sign up and didn’t even look back.”
Coming into athletic training as an older, nontraditional student with an associate degree, Clouse had to take the program classes out of order, taking her beginners’ classes at the same time as advanced classes. She also had tennis practice, worked at the Recreation Activity Center (RAC) at 5 a.m., attended athletic training clinicals and had to study late.
“It was a long day,” said Clouse. “But I had a lot of support, it was a team effort. But when I look back on it, that’s what made me who I am today. It was all hard, but I didn’t think at the time of it being hard. I just did it because that’s what I needed to do to get to my goal.”
The next step toward achieving her goal was a master’s in cardiac rehabilitation and exercise physiology at Marshall University, where she met her husband, Rob, who also works for Georgia Southern as director and senior lecturer for Physical Activity Lifestyle.
Onward and Upward
After obtaining her master’s degree, Clouse began searching for a job and an opportunity at Georgia Southern came up. She worked her way up from an assistant athletic trainer to the head athletic trainer position.
When asked to be Senior Woman Administrator (SWA), Clouse thought perhaps she could do it if she were allowed to keep her athletic trainer responsibilities, but leadership kept saying no, she couldn’t do it all.
“Finally, about six months later, after asking me to do it repeatedly, he said, ‘I don’t care how you do it, if you get the job done, I’m fine with you doing all of it.’ And so I did. I was the head football athletic trainer. I was the head athletic trainer, director of sports medicine, and I became the SWA. And at the time, I think I was one of four women in the country doing that.”
A Seat at the Table
Clouse discovered that when she got a seat at that athletic leadership table she had an increased impact on the decisions made that affect student-athletes.
“We want to ensure that student-athlete wellness is at the forefront of everybody’s mind and every decision that goes on,’ said Clouse. ‘And I really caught fire with it.”
Clouse became Senior Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine in 2015 and continues to be Senior Woman Administrator.
Clouse is self-deprecating when it comes to all she has acomplished. Helping with COVID protocols, being involved with supporting coaches through the illness and focusing on the physical and mental well-being of Georgia Southern’s student-athletes. But what she has done from an administrative perspective for sports medicine and athletics as a whole has been pretty big.
“Several years ago I was focused on making sure the athletic trainers were reclassified as allied health care professionals, increasing their pay,” said Clouse. “And now we have sports psychologists and clinical psychologists and nutritionists on campus.”
Clouse thinks she has made progress but still wants to do better.
“It’s taken me 19 years but we finally have the resources we need. Can we get better? Yes, we can. But hopefully we’re running like a well-oiled machine providing for our student-athletes.”
Jocelyn Gates
After being a soccer player for Howard University and about to graduate with a biology degree in 2003, Jocelyn Gates was still undecided as to what she really wanted to do next.
“I thought I wanted to go into medicine,” said Gates. “But after signing up for the MCAT [Medical College Admission Test] twice and not showing up, I realized I didn’t want to.”
Gates then participated in a post-baccalaureate program at the University of Florida working in the dental school for two years, but still it wasn’t for her. Then she began working for a clinical psychologist.
“So I remember looking things up, looking at different majors, and I found sports psychology,” said Gates. “So then I spoke with Dr. Daniel Czech, the program director of the Georgia Southern grad program in kinesiology and sport psychology. When I spoke to him it just felt right.”
Gates was a graduate assistant, taught fitness classes and worked with different teams in terms of sports psychology.
A highlight of her time was the opportunity to go to Derby, England, and work with the physical education department of a secondary school.
“It was just an amazing experience,” said Gates. “Georgia Southern just offered me so many real-life experiences.”
Choosing the NCAA
Gates began searching for a job. She mailed out packets with her résumé to virtually every NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball team. Surprisingly, many teams emailed her back, some with links to internships.
Arthur Hightower of the Los Angeles Rams reached out with information about the NCAA postgraduate internship program.
“I applied and found out that I had gotten in before graduation,” said Gates. “At that point it was a no-brainer that I wanted to be in college athletics.”
Gates left the NCAA to become special assistant to the athletic director at Duke, Kevin White, who became her mentor and staunch supporter.
“When I first heard about this job, I said, ‘I have a master’s, I am not going to be somebody’s assistant,’” said Gates. “And people were like, ‘It’s Kevin White. He is a godfather in this business.’ And they were right. He changed my career for me and we are still close.”
After staying at Duke in various positions for nearly five years, Gates started at the University of South Florida, where she got her first opportunity to oversee football operations. She was there for four years and while in Florida, met her husband, Dennis Gates, who was coaching at Florida State.
Relationships are Key
During that period Gates developed a business relationship with Martin Jarmin who was at Ohio State before he got his first athletic director position at Boston College.
“I always told Martin that I was going to work for him someday and when he got the BC job, he gave me a call,” said Gates. “My husband said it was fine. He’s a coach and busy all the time and I’m in athletics and busy all the time, so it works.”
Gates stayed at Boston College for four years as senior associate athletic director and SWA.
Then she got a call from Ohio State about the position of senior associate athletic director for sport administration, where she is now.
“You know, I wouldn’t have gone as far as I have without Georgia Southern,” said Gates. “I owe so much to Dr. Czech. He just really taught us how to work with student-athletes and how to build relationships.”
The 2020 Nike administrator of the year is still True Blue.
“I love the network of Georgia Southern and love meeting other alumni, like here at Ohio State. But I would not be here without Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern taught me how to keep what’s important first, and that’s giving back to the student-athletes.”
— Liz Walker