One day before the Los Angeles Lakers opened their 2009-2010 season, general manager of the Lakers and UCLA alumnus Mitch Kupchak spoke at the UCLA Anderson Sports Business Association and the USC Marshall Sports Business Organization’s biannual meeting at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
In front of a select number of Anderson and Marshall students, Kupchak spoke about experiences from his playing career in the NBA, to getting his master’s from Anderson to advice on how to get a career in the sports business industry.
Daniel Haight, president of Anderson’s Sports Business Association, said the main objective of the event was to give students an opportunity to hear from and meet executives in the sports business industry.
Kupchak opened with an account of how he enrolled at Anderson. In 1981, his first season as a player with the Lakers, he suffered a significant knee injury that required him to miss almost two full seasons while rehabbing. Kupchak took classes through UCLA Extension while he was recovering, and in 1987 he graduated with his master’s degree.
After his playing career ended in 1986, Kupchak began working with then-Lakers general manager Jerry West, which led him to his current position in 2000.
Of all the lessons he learned from graduate school, Kupchak said the biggest one was self-confidence.
“I always sat around and looked at these young, bright, ambitious students, and at times I didn’t feel as if I measured up,” he said. “But when I finished, I looked around, and I was in graduation, and I said to myself, “˜I did it.’ That gave me a lot of confidence to know that whoever was on the other side of the phone or whoever I was sitting across from in a meeting, I could at least hold my own.”
One opportunity for current UCLA students interested in getting into the sports business is through the UCLA Anderson’s Entertainment and Media Management Institute. The institute hosts a six-week course in the summer at Anderson in sports marketing and management.
“Getting into the industry is incredibly difficult,” said Nelson Gayton, executive director of the institute. “So to the extent that we could create an experience program that was comprised of more than just courses but experiences, whether that included an internship project with the Dodgers or with ESPN, we had to put together a program that we felt met the demand.”
As for advice on getting into the sports business industry, Kupchak stressed how important education was.
“What you go through here is going to help you down the road,” Kupchak said. “It’s not going to be any different, whether you’re with a sports franchise or a Fortune 500 company or start your own company.”