SUNY Cortland at the Super Bowl

02/09/2022 

When Super Bowl LVI kicks off at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will contend for the Lombardi Trophy on the subject — and various Cortland Red Dragons will play important roles way too.

They include:

• Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11, a decorated previous student-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 occasion operations, coordinating key logistics for the league on gameday and
• A team of 4 present-day activity management students, functioning guiding the scenes as element of a weeklong journey to get business practical experience in Los Angeles.

Red Dragon connections to marquee sporting occasions have become typical, offered SUNY Cortland’s reputations in coaching, activity management, athletic training, physical exercise science and a lot of other disciplines.

Many of individuals strengths will be on show this Tremendous Bowl Sunday.

Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11

The greatest scholar-athlete in the course of his Cortland days, the former quarterback was a finalist for the 2011 Gagliardi Trophy, Division III’s nationwide player of the calendar year award, as well as a to start with team Educational All-American with a quality stage common surpassing 4..

Pitcher has served as Cincinnati’s quarterbacks coach for the past two seasons and an assistant on workers for 6 yrs over-all. His 10-12 months NFL career commenced with the Indianapolis Colts in their scouting region.

He is regarded 1 of the Bengals’ shiny younger offensive minds offered his do the job with 2nd-12 months sign-caller Burrow. All through Super Bowl media availability on Feb. 7, Burrow supplied substantial praise for Pitcher.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better quarterbacks mentor,” Burrow claimed, according to the Bengals’ official site. “When I need to vent a little bit, he sits there and listens to me. It is superior to have a coach that is not likely to put you down or lecture you all the time. In some cases coaches have to hear to gamers vent a minor little bit. He not only does that, but if I have a dilemma, he will come with an respond to appropriate on the spot. I could not talk to for a improved problem.” 

Pitcher was born and lifted in Cortland and nevertheless maintains robust ties to the community by way of his spouse and children. Read through much more about his path to the Tremendous Bowl.

Katie Keenan ’05, M ’10

The NFL’s most important function of the calendar year is in good palms with a former SUNY Cortland activity management significant serving as the league’s senior director of event functions. She was promoted to the posture in July and not too long ago showcased in a Los Angeles Company Journal profile.

Keenan will assist guide the coordination of numerous logistical particulars at the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles in nearly 30 a long time — from broadcast aspects to accessibility qualifications to partnerships with corporations giving signage, catering, restrooms and transportation.

Developing the 6-hour function at model-new SoFi Stadium involves quite a few months of organizing and a large “group work.” This calendar year will mark Keenan’s 10th Super Bowl just after doing work her way up as a result of various positions within the most popular sports activities league in the U.S.

The Tremendous Bowl marks just 1 of the functions that she performs on through the calendar year. They include things like the NFL Draft, the league’s Kickoff party, the Global Sequence and various many others.

Keenan’s far more than 16-yr profession in qualified sports can be attributed to her operate ethic and her travel to seize prospects from a young age. In addition to earning two degrees from SUNY Cortland, she pursued a minor in Spanish as an undergraduate, which served land an internship with the International Paralympic Committee.

Keenan stays connected to Cortland by means of the university’s Sport Management Advisory Board. Read more about her in this 2016 alumni aspect.

Activity management majors

4 undergraduate sport administration majors took a cross-state flight for a weeklong immersive encounter in Los Angeles. The trip started with seminars at various pro athletics stadiums and it will conclude with a four-working day operate expertise at Tremendous Bowl-associated activities.

The scholar team integrated Andrew Celio, Kyle Celio, Theo Riley and Joe Valerino.

In the course of the early part of their journey, pupils listened to from industry gurus at Dodgers Stadium, residence of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers Angel Stadium of Anaheim, house of MLB’s Los Angeles Angels and Crypto.com Arena, household of many groups together with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

They’ll work at several activities tied to the Super Bowl from Thursday via Sunday.

Their journey was coordinated by Dwelling Activity, an firm that plans domestic and global athletics field trips for latest college or university students and younger gurus. Lawrence Brady, an teacher and internship coordinator in the Sport Management Office, connected the students with Daniel Koch ’21, who labored at Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay as a result of Residing Activity. Koch is now visitor encounter coordinator for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I enjoy it when college students are eager to just take people probabilities, wager on them selves and interact with options like this,” reported Ryan Vooris ’08, associate professor and chair of the Sport Management Office. “It’s not each individual day you get to operate at the Super Bowl.

“Talk about a résumé-builder.”

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