The past month has been a kind one to Northeastern athletics. J.J. Barea, a 2006 graduate and point guard for the Dallas Mavericks, became the first Northeastern graduate to win an NBA Championship after a Finals that saw Barea outperform basketball legend LeBron James in several games. And Jamie Oleksiak, star defenseman for the Huskies, was selected 14th overall in the 2011 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars, the highest a Northeastern alumnus has ever been drafted.
Their achievements reflect Northeastern’s strides in athletics over the past decade, and are forebears of future notability and recognition on the national stage. Athletics, properly managed, can be a tremendous asset to a university, especially one seeking to establish a strong national and international identity for itself.
Ask an average American who they think of when they hear “Brigham Young University.” Their first response will likely be “Steve Young,” National Football League Hall of Famer and three-time Super Bowl champion. The second will be “Jimmer Fredette,” 2011 Associated Press Player of the Year and first-round draft pick by the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. Further down the list, if on it at all, will be people like Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination candidate. Despite Brigham Young University’s many academically accomplished alumni, the school is best known for sports.
Universities are inextricably associated with their top athletic programs. One cannot think of Duke University without thinking of the legendary “Coach K” Mike Krzyzewski and his unstoppable Blue Devils; Notre Dame and its fabled Fighting Irish; Boston College and their hockey champion Eagles.
Barea and Oleksiak serve as two of the university’s top spokesmen, bringing attention and praise to their alma mater, long overshadowed by local universities with higher name recognition such as Boston University, Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Every success in their professional careers will carry Northeastern as a tag line and ensure that every sports fan in the nation knows the university’s name; their successes and failures will play out on a national stage and reflect on the Northeastern community.
This is a two-way street: Barea spoke recently at a press conference in his native Puerto Rico about how his time at Northeastern impacted him, citing how playing for the Huskies turned him into the man he is today.
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College athletics provide a rallying point and an identity for a university, invaluable when attempting to attract the best and brightest high school graduates from across the country and around the globe. An adequately funded athletics program is the best public relations money can buy.
