Tag: NFL

Teaching Tip: Why NFL Players Are Studying Project Management

On the topic of project management (Chapter 3), you might find this story of how former NFL football players are tackling that subject interesting.

Will Rackley has gone from competing in the NFL to analyzing business operations at Atrium.

It turns out real NFL retirees who enter the project management business are learning to make an impact in different ways. “You can’t just start knocking people out of their cubicles,” says Will Rackley, a former pro offensive lineman who is five weeks into a job as a business operations analyst at the staffing firm Atrium. “It can be a culture shock when stepping into a corporate setting, as opposed to how things are done in a locker room.”

Rackley hasn’t gone soft—and toughness is a big reason why he and other ex-NFL players are coveted job candidates, reports The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 10, 2025). Managers often struggle to recruit people who can take, and deliver, candid feedback. A gridiron pro accustomed to coaches who yell, cuss and call out mistakes in postgame film sessions isn’t likely to wilt under a little constructive criticism.

The former NFL players looking for regular jobs generally aren’t Hall of Famers with set-for-life money. Often they are men who were pushed out of the game by injuries or younger, cheaper draft picks. They have dealt with disappointment and regrouped.

Rackley was a third-round selection back in the 2011 NFL draft. This year, he was a No. 1 pick when Atrium Corp. scouted for someone to analyze internal operations and suggest improvements. It turns out Rackley had excelled in the project-management program that Atrium and Microsoft run in partnership with the NFL. But he had to compete for the job with about 150 people, mostly nonathletes with traditional résumés.

The project-management program that trained Rackley recently opened applications for its second cohort of 20 NFL veterans who will study full time for 8 weeks with Microsoft instructors. It is designed to build technical skills and fill in blanks on the résumés of former players who missed internship and entry-level job opportunities while training year-round to reach the pros.

“This curriculum gives them mock projects and a credential they can take to an employer and say, ‘I may not have as much job experience, but I have technical training in addition to my playing career.’”  says Atrium’s VP.

Video Tip: Sustainability and the Sports Arena

The Eagles' home stadium has 14 wind turbines and 11,000 solar panels
The Eagles’ home stadium has 14 wind turbines and 11,000 solar panels

When you are teaching Supplement 5, Sustainability in the Supply Chain, you may want to show our latest video on sustainability at the Orlando Magic’s Amway Center. This arena became the 1st gold-certified LEED basketball facility in the U.S.

Now The Wall Street Journal (May 19, 2014) reports that NFL teams are starting to see “green” as well.  The San Francisco 49er’s new $1.2 billion stadium will be the first in the league to feature a “living roof,” a canopy of green and flowering plants nestled across the top of an 8-story tower of luxury suites; this will reduce the building’s energy use and offer other environmental benefits by providing natural insulation. NFL clubs are also developing green programs to reduce energy emissions. They are using solar panels, wind turbines, electric charging stations and other low-carbon alternatives. The NFL is part of a general effort among U.S. sports leagues to embrace cleaner energy, led by a group launched in 2011 calling itself the Green Sports Alliance.

Alliance officials say sports teams that go green help boost public awareness of environmental goals while also benefiting their operations by lowering their energy costs. The $1.2 billion Atlanta Falcons Stadium, set to open in 2017, will include a rainwater-collection system to use for irrigation and cooling. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field has installed features including energy-saving timers and sensors for lighting and cooling equipment. These and other energy-saving features have cut the team’s power consumption by half. The Houston Texans have created an interactive media guide, saving 2.6 million pages used in printing; the Redskins have installed solar panels at FedEx Field; the Rams have printed game tickets on recycled paper; the Vikings have put in reduced-flow plumbing at the players’ clubhouse and training areas; and the 49er’s stadium is net energy neutral, which means it is expected to generate all the energy it needs for the team’s 10 home games.