VCU news

By Jeff Kelley

A new program at Virginia Commonwealth University is addressing a hard truth that confronts many student-athletes – and that intersects with the perceptions of many sports fans, too.

Consider Martin Carrere, an elite guard-forward from France who is a redshirt freshman this year on the VCU men’s basketball team. He has a clear – and familiar – Plan A.

“I pretty much know what I want to do,” Carrere said. “I want to be a basketball player.”

But with so few college athletes rising to the pro ranks of their sports, he has a Plan B as well – one he started building through a unique partnership that kicked off this past fall and engaged about 70 freshman student-athletes. One partner might seem obvious: Within VCU Athletics, Student-Athlete Support Services offers academic advising and coaching, along with career, professional and personal development.

The other partner might seem surprising: the VCU Department of Rehabilitation Counseling.

The partnership is the brainchild of Jared Schultz, Ph.D., professor and chair of that department in the College of Health Professions. His background is vocational and mental health counseling for people with disabilities. But prior to joining VCU in 2021, while at the University of Arizona, he realized that many of the skills and needs of that target audience are valuable for student-athletes, too.

“There are societal, attitudinal things that have excluded people with disabilities from the workforce — people don’t expect them to be able to work, and so families and health care providers focus on the disability but don’t spend time on dialogues around career development,” Schultz said. “The exact same phenomenon is happening with student-athletes, but it’s a different social expectation. You think of student-athletes as being the picture of health, and they are, but the reality is that their identity and focus is on sport — not their future career.”

Garrett Knudson, Ed.D., assistant athletic director for student-athlete development at VCU, emphasizes that student-athletes often struggle to take advantage of traditional college career development programs due to their demanding schedules.

“Between practice, travel, weight training and games, student-athletes are balancing what is essentially a full-time job on top of being college students,” Knudson said. “We bring career development to them in a way that fits into their experience.”

Across VCU’s 17 sports, Carrere is among the freshman beneficiaries of the new Student-Athlete Assessment Program, which brings clinical expertise, structured assessments and career coaching to help student-athletes explore post-graduate paths beyond their athletic identities. The program is addressing a critical gap in their development: Many have spent years focused solely on their sport, leaving little time for career exploration. Some have clear post-athletic goals, but many face uncertainty about their futures.

“As an international student, I found the assessment helpful in exploring other career opportunities and understanding what I like and don’t like,” said Carrere, who is 18.

After Schultz arrived in Richmond, he approached VCU Athletics with the idea for a data-backed vocational coaching program. Knudson, who leads curriculum and career development programs for student-athletes, saw an opportunity to integrate Schultz’s work into the existing support structure for them.

“We want student-athletes to be successful in life, whether they go on and have a successful pro career or become a successful teacher or businessperson,” Knudson said. “There are similar resources on campus, but due to the time demands of student-athletes, they may not have the ability to take advantage of those resources. So we create programming more tailored to the student-athlete experience and what they’re going through, because it is a different experience than what other students get on campus.”

The program begins with student-athletes completing a series of assessments — evaluations of their interests, values, abilities and career maturity. Results are reviewed in one-on-one meetings, where the student-athletes discuss their career goals and develop actionable plans. The final step involves collaboration with athletics advisors to align career exploration with university resources.

Beyond career planning, the program integrates a quality-of-life assessment, emphasizing that success extends beyond job placement.

“You can’t look at vocation narrowly,” Schultz said. “If your quality of life is poor, it’s hard to maintain a job.”

He points to both anecdotal stories and studies that reinforce the need for universities and athletic departments to provide structured career planning. Those data points underscore the role of education in an athlete’s post-sports life — rather than an overreliance on professional athletic aspirations.

“There is a major cliff for student-athletes when they complete their athletic endeavors, as most won’t go pro,” Schultz said. “They don’t know what they want to do, or they’ve been invested in their athletics as a source of their identity since a very young age, and it’s suddenly pulled away from them and they’re left adrift.”

Notes Knudson: “This program gives us a way to take a more in-depth approach, putting research and formal assessment behind what we were already doing.”

Initially a business major, Carrere pivoted to international studies after completing the program. “I realized I enjoy building relationships with people, traveling and making connections across different countries,” he said.

The assessment didn’t change his drive to play professionally — nor should it, Schultz noted. But the program does help foster greater self-awareness.

“The No. 1 thing we hear from students is, ‘I’ve never thought about this before,’” Schultz said. “Just having them sit down and talk about their future in a structured way is incredibly valuable.”

Knudson hopes to expand the initiative beyond the student-athlete’s first semester. “I’d love to give them more time to acclimate and then integrate career development into each stage of their college experience,” he said.

As a researcher, Schultz is also interested to see long-term data that shows how student-athletes fare after graduation — and sport retirement.

“On a personal level, I love the intersection of athletics and the vocational training I’ve done throughout my career,” he said. “It helps expand the field of counseling and shows therapists that there are groups and populations beyond our typical patients who can benefit from our knowledge.”

Carrere hopes the next batch of incoming freshman student-athletes benefit from his own knowledge. He offers simple advice: “Pay attention to this program. It can be really helpful, and it’s cool to get this kind of support.”