Barber Spends Summer Behind-the-Scenes
FOOTBALL | 7/30/2018 6:40:00 PM
Thomas Barber's name announced across the loudspeaker.
Any Gopher fan that stumbled upon a Gopher sports marketing booth this summer likely had a chance to interact with the breakout star without even realizing it.
The Plymouth, Minn. native was all over the field last year with a team leading 115 tackles. This summer, the junior became a Gopher sports marketing student intern and helped run new student orientations and events all over the Minneapolis area.
"It started off as an informational interview with (assistant athletics director of marketing) Mike Wierzbicki," Barber explained. "I just wanted to know what he does and learn how he got started in sports marketing."
A talk with director of student development Anissa Lightner led Barber to the initial conversation with Wierzbicki. The interview inspired him to get involved as an intern this summer.
"I know I want to stay in sports after football is done so I was looking into how to get started," Barber said. "You can't get into scouting while in school and you can't get into the sports agency field while in school so this has been a great start."
Gophersports.com recently shadowed Barber throughout a typical day with the marketing team while balancing out life as a student-athlete. The morning started with Barber promoting season tickets at transfer student orientation. Barber was licking his wounds after not getting a sale the day before.
"You should have shadowed me during freshmen orientation," Barber laughed while noting that it was the first time he had never seen a sale.
The ever competitive son of former Gopher Marion Barber Jr. was working the room hard, passing out fliers and looking for potential sports fans to avoid another skunk. He locked down a few sales and was only recognized as a Gopher football player once.
"I don't try to wear any football gear or polos," Barber explained. "It is funny when they find out I play football. I feel like it helps with the season tickets. I also get to hear how people talk about us. I don't lie to them, I tell them the truth about how the student-athletes are off the field, court and ice."
After orientation Barber had to run back to the office to meet with the voice of Gopher football, Mike Grimm, for an interview to preview Big Ten media days.
"I'm honored I was selected. I'm excited to be there, see what it's like and talk about how the process is going with our football team," Barber told Grimm before getting ready for the next stop on his busy schedule.
Barber and another student intern with the marketing team packed up a golf cart and headed over to the University of Minnesota Farmer's Market. This stop was lighter as there was no selling involved. Just some prize giveaways and overall promotion at the bags/cornhole board before heading home to get ready for a late afternoon football workout.
The whole experience has opened Barber's eyes to the behind-the-scenes aspect of collegiate athletics. He said before he was only worried about his play on the field. Now he has been able to see all the work that goes into getting fans to the events.
"I'll have these skills for the rest of my life, football is done eventually," Barber said.
With camp starting this week Barber will have to take a break from his internship, but plans to be back with the department after the season. After this year he expects to have his undergraduate degree in business and marketing education.
"The University of Minnesota only sets you up for success," Barber said. "Coach Fleck started a new 3.0 GPA rule. There is no excuse to not get the degree. Julian Huff got his in three years. Same with Sam Renner and that's what I'm trying to do. I'm on track for it and I'll start my masters after that. The U support is just amazing."
https://gophersports.com/news/2018/7/30/football-barber-spends-summer-behind-the-scenes.aspx
FOOTBALL | 7/30/2018 6:40:00 PM
Thomas Barber's name announced across the loudspeaker.
Any Gopher fan that stumbled upon a Gopher sports marketing booth this summer likely had a chance to interact with the breakout star without even realizing it.
The Plymouth, Minn. native was all over the field last year with a team leading 115 tackles. This summer, the junior became a Gopher sports marketing student intern and helped run new student orientations and events all over the Minneapolis area.
"It started off as an informational interview with (assistant athletics director of marketing) Mike Wierzbicki," Barber explained. "I just wanted to know what he does and learn how he got started in sports marketing."
A talk with director of student development Anissa Lightner led Barber to the initial conversation with Wierzbicki. The interview inspired him to get involved as an intern this summer.
"I know I want to stay in sports after football is done so I was looking into how to get started," Barber said. "You can't get into scouting while in school and you can't get into the sports agency field while in school so this has been a great start."
Gophersports.com recently shadowed Barber throughout a typical day with the marketing team while balancing out life as a student-athlete. The morning started with Barber promoting season tickets at transfer student orientation. Barber was licking his wounds after not getting a sale the day before.
"You should have shadowed me during freshmen orientation," Barber laughed while noting that it was the first time he had never seen a sale.
The ever competitive son of former Gopher Marion Barber Jr. was working the room hard, passing out fliers and looking for potential sports fans to avoid another skunk. He locked down a few sales and was only recognized as a Gopher football player once.
"I don't try to wear any football gear or polos," Barber explained. "It is funny when they find out I play football. I feel like it helps with the season tickets. I also get to hear how people talk about us. I don't lie to them, I tell them the truth about how the student-athletes are off the field, court and ice."
After orientation Barber had to run back to the office to meet with the voice of Gopher football, Mike Grimm, for an interview to preview Big Ten media days.
"I'm honored I was selected. I'm excited to be there, see what it's like and talk about how the process is going with our football team," Barber told Grimm before getting ready for the next stop on his busy schedule.
Barber and another student intern with the marketing team packed up a golf cart and headed over to the University of Minnesota Farmer's Market. This stop was lighter as there was no selling involved. Just some prize giveaways and overall promotion at the bags/cornhole board before heading home to get ready for a late afternoon football workout.
The whole experience has opened Barber's eyes to the behind-the-scenes aspect of collegiate athletics. He said before he was only worried about his play on the field. Now he has been able to see all the work that goes into getting fans to the events.
"I'll have these skills for the rest of my life, football is done eventually," Barber said.
With camp starting this week Barber will have to take a break from his internship, but plans to be back with the department after the season. After this year he expects to have his undergraduate degree in business and marketing education.
"The University of Minnesota only sets you up for success," Barber said. "Coach Fleck started a new 3.0 GPA rule. There is no excuse to not get the degree. Julian Huff got his in three years. Same with Sam Renner and that's what I'm trying to do. I'm on track for it and I'll start my masters after that. The U support is just amazing."
https://gophersports.com/news/2018/7/30/football-barber-spends-summer-behind-the-scenes.aspx
