Springfield College Athletic Leadership Series Highlights Embracing Data and Technology

By: Damon Markiewicz

The Springfield College Athletic Leadership Series for the 2024 spring semester took place on Thursday, April 11, 2024, and was titled, "Athletic Leadership in the New Age: Embracing Data and Technology." Program panelists provided diverse backgrounds in coaching and athletic administration at various competitive levels and sport contexts to offer meaningful, contextually relevant advice to attendees.

Featured panelists included Springfield College faculty, coaches, and alumni including: Mary Kate Feit, G'09, PhD'20, assistant professor of Strength and Conditioning/Graduate Program Director for Strength and Conditioning at Springfield College, and Charlie Sullivan '91, G'97, head coach of the men's volleyball team and professor of physical education. Feit and Sullivan were joined by GoEun Lee, executive senior associate athletic director/chief financial steward at Yale University.

Panelists Bio Information:

Feit highlighted her extensive career in sports performance, which included time spent as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Iowa and the University of Louisville, as well as the adult program coordinator at Reach Your Potential Training. She enjoys making connections between the material she presents in the classroom to her practical work experience teaching courses on technology trends in strength and conditioning.

Sullivan has utilized innovative technology at Springfield College, as well as with Team USA Volleyball. As head coach, Sullivan has led the Springfield College Men's Volleyball team to 11 National Championships, making it the winningest program in Division III volleyball. As assistant coach for the U.S. men's volleyball team, Sullivan helped guide the team to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Brazil. He is also director of the Springfield Boys' Volleyball School overnight and traveling camps. He also served as head coach of USA Volleyball at the Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015, was men's volleyball consultant-coach at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and led the USA Youth National Team as head coach in 2021.

Lee is a member of the Yale department's executive senior team and also has oversight of the financial activities of all teams and programs. She is responsible for the department's financial standing and long-range forecasting. Lee came to Yale after serving for five years as the associate athletic director for Accounting & Finance at Palm Beach Atlantic where she managed strategic financial planning for 18 varsity teams and the overall athletic department. In addition, she served as the sport administrator for the men's lacrosse and men's and women's golf teams. Lee began her tenure at Palm Beach Atlantic as the director of compliance and oversaw all NCAA compliance matters for the university, supervised student-athletes' progress toward degrees, and monitored student-athlete eligibility issues.

Overall, the event took place in two parts; part one featured a moderated panel discussion with all guest speakers providing their knowledge and practical insights on how they effectively utilize data and technology in their sport leadership role. The panel discussion was moderated by Jill Kochanek, director of the Athletic Leadership master’s program. Part two consisted of interactive breakout sessions where attendees had the opportunity to rotate to each panelist to engage in meaningful dialogue in a more close-knit group to further build their knowledge, skills, and professional connections.

Launched in spring 2011, the Athletic Leadership Series is presented by the Athletic Leadership Master's Program.