Faculty

Dick Baddour –  Adjunct Professor of the Practice

Dick Baddour served the University for 44 years, 14 of those years as Director of Athletics. Under Baddour’s leadership, the Tarheels won 13 national championships, and 62 ACC championships. Additionally, UNC’s athletics teams’ academics consistently exceeded the national average. He led the athletics program through construction and/or renovation of virtually all athletics facilities and raised record levels of funding to assure the athletics department stayed financially stable while many athletics programs ran deficits. Baddour also founded the Carolina Leadership Academy, the first program in the country to provide innovative leadership training for student-athletes and coaches. He currently teaches the capstone seminar in the Sport Administration graduate program as an Adjunct Professor of the Practice.

Link to bio

Brad Bates, Ed.D.  –  Lecturer

Brad Bates has been in athletics administration for over 25 years and his college experience includes working at the University of Michigan, University of Colorado, Vanderbilt University, Miami University and Boston College. His professional interests are in student-athlete development, college sports finance, and leadership. Bates’ research focus is the long-term implications of curricular experiences on student-athletes of color. He is currently the Vice President for Collegiate Sports Associates.

Jonathan Jensen, Ph.D., M.S.  –  Associate Professor

Jonathan Jensen’s particular focus is on the intersection of data science and sport marketing. He is a leading voice in the application of predictive analytics to the study of sport marketing, specializing in the use of advanced statistical models such as multilevel and survival models to solve marketing-related problems. His research has been featured in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, AdWeek, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Portland Business Journal, Columbus Dispatch, The Baltimore Sun, and the WGN Morning News. Dr. Jensen serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Consumer Marketing, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, and Journal of Global Sport Management. Prior to entering academia, Jensen served as an executive for leading sport marketing agencies in global advertising networks Omnicom Group (GMR) and Publicis Groupe (Relay Worldwide), as well as working for teams in the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB).

(919) 962-0959 | jajensen@email.unc.edu | Link to Bio

Wayne McDonnell, Jr., MBA

Wayne McDonnell has been involved in education, media, coaching, and finance for over two decades. At UNC, he teaches courses in Sport Finance and Economics, Field Experiences in Sport Administration, and Introduction to Sport Administration while serving as an academic advisor to undergraduate students. McDonnell is a highly sought-after commentator on issues regarding the business of baseball and has consistently appeared on television programs on the MLB Network; Bloomberg; ABC; NBC; FOX; CNN; SportsNet New York, and the YES Network and is a frequent guest on podcasts and ESPN radio programs across the country. He is also a college baseball and softball analyst for the ACC Network Extra.

(919) 962-0396 | wmcdonnell@unc.edu | Link to Bio

Barbara Osborne, J.D.

Barbara Osborne, in addition to teaching, has experience in intercollegiate athletics as an athletics administrator. Her vast experience includes coaching, public relations coordinator, television sports commentator, publisher, and sports information director. She teaches Legal Issues in College Sport and NCAA Governance and Compliance in the graduate program, as well as Legal Aspects of Sport, Discrimination and Sport, and Women and Sport in the undergraduate program. Osborne holds a secondary appointment teaching Sport Law at the UNC Law School. She advises the Sport and Entertainment Law Association student organization and is the Law/Sport Administration Dual Degree Coordinator.

(919) 962-5173 | (919) 962-6325 (FAX) | sportlaw@unc.edu | Link to Bio

Tony Patterson, Ph.D.

Tony Patterson’s research interests include the role that sport and recreation play in academic performance, noncognitive skills, and social capital across the lifespan with an emphasis on Black males. Dr. Patterson also explores cultural preferences in sport and recreation involvement with members of minoritized communities. Tony has numerous research articles, conference presentations, and continues to build his research agenda. He gives back to the community by  serving on the board of nonprofits in the Durham and Chapel Hill area and is a youth coach with multiple teams in soccer, basketball, and flag football.

tonyp@unc.edu | Link to Bio

Nels Popp, Ph.D., M.S., B.A.

Nels Popp’s research interests include revenue generation for college athletic departments with a particular emphasis on sport ticket sales at both the collegiate and professional sport levels. His work and expertise has been referenced in ESPN.com, Street and Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, and his research has been published in a variety of academic journals. Prior to academia, Popp served as a sports information director, an assistant men’s basketball coach, and in media relations and administration. He also has done contract work and volunteered with a variety of sport organizations, including the Super Bowl XLVI Host Committee, the AVP Beach Volleyball Tour, the National Senior Games, the McDonald’s High School All-American Basketball games, and the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods League, a college summer baseball league.

(919) 445-9364 | nelspopp@email.unc.edu | Link to Bio

Danielle Smith, MBA

Danielle Smith’s primary research interest centers around three main topics; corporate social responsibility in sport, women in sport, and innovation in Sport Management Higher Education and experiential learning. She is the Director of the UNC Sport Administration Undergraduate Program, and teaches Introduction to Sport Administration, Sport Marketing, Events and Facilities, and Field Experience in Sport Administration. Prior to academia, Danielle served as Vice President of Brands for Wasserman, a global sports marketing agency, and has also worked as Director of Corporate Development and Events for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Smith actively consults for a variety of sport organizations such as the Atlantic Coast Conference and Wasserman and is an active member of the Triangle WISE Chapter (Women in Sports and Events) and The Collective Think Tank, an academic-industry partnership whose mission is to further women in sport.

(919) 843-7573 | daniellesmith@unc.edu | Link to Bio

Erianne Weight, Ph.D., B.S., MBA

Erianne’s Weight’s research is directed by a vision to increase opportunities for athletic participation and education.  This effort has thus far been focused on examining the financial, educational, and administrative impacts and opportunities for growth within intercollegiate athletics. She is currently the director of the Center for Research in Intercollegiate Athletics and a research consultant for Collegiate Sports Associates. Weight serves as the Managing Editor of the Journal of Applied Sport Management and recently completed service on the UNC faculty executive board. At UNC, she teaches intercollegiate athletic administration, strategic management, sport finance, and research method courses.

(919) 448-4870 | eweight@unc.edu | Link to Bio