Inside the leadership work of college athletics.
One Question Leadership Podcast is a steady, interview-led look at how college athletics departments are actually run. Its conversations stay close to budgets, campus politics, fundraising, NIL, conference stability, student-athlete experience, and the leadership habits behind winning programs.
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One Question Leadership Podcast is a college athletics leadership show with a practical, insider feel. It is less interested in hot takes than in how institutions function. The conversations usually start with a simple leadership question, then widen into the pressures sitting behind the answer. Athletic directors talk about budgets, hiring, fundraising, facilities, campus relationships, and student-athlete experience. University leaders explain conference stability, strategic planning, and the shared responsibility of keeping an athletic league aligned. Sports business guests bring in sponsorship sales, ticketing, NIL, and the challenge of trusting people as an organization grows. The show has a measured rhythm. It gives guests room to explain the context before pushing toward the operational point. That patience matters, because many of the topics are not clean or quick. Revenue sharing, the house settlement, conference movement, bowl evolution, brand partnerships, and NIL all sit inside larger questions about mission and resources. Episodes with UCLA, VMI, Montana State, St. John's, the Ohio Valley Conference, the Peach Bowl, and Peak Sports Management show the range. One week might focus on a department riding competitive momentum. Another might examine how a smaller or mid-major program adapts when the national landscape shifts around it. The recurring thread is leadership under constraint. Money matters, but so do culture, trust, institutional identity, and the daily work of being present with staff and student-athletes. The show also has a strong feel for careers inside athletics, from compliance and governance to marketing, external relations, broadcasting, and entrepreneurship. Its tone is collegial rather than confrontational. The result is a useful listen for people who want to understand college sports from the administrative side, where success depends on planning, relationships, and the ability to keep moving while the rules keep changing.
Made for: For college athletics professionals, sports business students, campus leaders, and fans who want to understand how programs are managed beyond game day.
What sets it apart: The show gets unusually close to the administrative layer of college sports, letting leaders explain the budgets, relationships, and institutional tradeoffs behind public results.
The One Question Leadership Podcast is designed to highlight executive and organizational leadership with a heavy emphasis on college athletics. 1Q is primarily hosted by @TaiMBrown, but features occasional guest hosts. Subscribe here: 1quest.co/itun
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
College athletics leaders explain how budgets, institutional culture and responsibility shape the decisions behind their programs.
One Question Leadership Podcast treats college athletics as an operating system, with Ty Brown and Steph Garcia-Sykos interviewing the people responsible for its institutions.
When conference presidents ask 'Are you committed?', you get a seat at the less glamorous table.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
UCLA's surge frames a grounded look at NIL, leadership, and campus connection.
UCLA's current momentum sets the stage for a practical conversation with Erin Adkins, Executive Senior Associate AD for NIL Strategy and Initiatives at UCLA, about the working side of college athletics.
A homecoming leadership conversation that ties college athletics culture to everyday institutional work.
Steph Garcia-Sykos and VMI Director of Athletics Jamal Welton make the case for a homecoming story that is as much about continuity as change.
A practical look at how presidential support, athletic success, and self-generated revenue shape Montana State athletics.
Montana State University's athletics department comes across as both a leadership test and a working system. Its academic charge is tied to graduating student-athletes, while its competitive goals depend heavily on revenue the department helps generate itself through tickets,…
A steady look at Ohio Valley Conference leaders testing shared commitment under institutional pressure.
The episode treats conference stability as a test of leadership, governance, and institutional nerve. College presidents and chancellors are shown weighing how the Ohio Valley Conference should respond after Tennessee Tech's decision to leave, with Dr.
A practical sports-leadership episode on coaching habits, corporate backing, and college football's changing pressures.
Gary Stokin frames his Peach Bowl tenure as a sports-business lesson in how coaching habits can carry into marketing, fundraising, and running a major event.
A grounded leadership discussion about earning trust and aligning people across a college athletics department.
College athletics leadership is framed as a coordination challenge, with Courtney Gaucher emphasizing that a department's vision depends on people who offset one another's weaknesses and communicate with a consistent tone from the university president and board chair to the…
Notre Dame beat talk, close to the source.
K-State talk from close to the room.
Ohio State talk at roster-chart speed.
College hockey, with memory and notes.
Wesley Abercrombie interviews Courtney Gosha, then Deputy Athletic Director at Tulane, about leadership in college athletics.
Host Ty Brown interviews Ashton Henderson and Rinaldo Hill about Michigan State's Alumni State of Mind program, which provides mental health resources for former student-athletes.
This episode features an interview with Caitlin Broadwell, the Athletics Case Manager at Long Beach State, discussing her role as the sole mental health expert in the athletics department and her background in counseling.
This episode features an interview with Tangela Cheatham, Deputy Athletic Director at Central Michigan University, discussing leadership philosophies in college athletics.
This episode discusses leadership, mental health support for current and former student athletes, and initiatives at LSU and the Hope Desk.
Marvin Lewis describes how George Mason’s athletics department used a 90% employee-survey response to guide its leadership priorities.
UCLA has real momentum right now.
Steph Garcia-Sykos opens the conversation on post in Lexington.
Ty Brown welcomes Leon Costello, director of athletics at Montana State University, as Costello wraps up his 10th year in the role.
This episode features an interview with broadcaster Yogi Roth discussing his career, the Elite 11 quarterback competition, and the psychology of performance in sports and life.
Ed Kull, VP/Director of Athletics at St.
Ty Brown interviews Dr.
Gary Stokan argues college athletes are being set up for a "rude awakening" without degrees or long-term support.
This episode features an interview with Wes Abercrombie and Brian Holloway of Peak Sports Management discussing entrepreneurship, business growth, and the importance of trust in leadership as the company expands its sponsorship, ticket sales, and NIL operations across multiple states.
This episode features a conversation with retired athletics director Bill McGillis and Texas executive Sarah Baumgartner, discussing leadership insights, mentorship, and the origin story of the D1 Ticker service.