Director of Football Student Services

Core Responsibilities

• Eligibility Tracking: Monitor and track real-time academic progress, cumulative GPA, and progress-towards-degree requirements to ensure strict alignment with NCAA, conference, and institutional rules.
• Staff Reporting: Provide timely, transparent updates, class attendance reports, and grade checks directly to the Head Coach and position coaches.
• Early Intervention: Identify at-risk student-athletes early in the semester and construct rigorous individual academic improvement contracts.
• Scheduling Assistance: Guide football student-athletes through class registration, ensuring course loads balance practice schedules and meet degree compliance.

Player Support & Resource Coordination

• Tutorial Management: Coordinate the assignment of specialized tutors, mentors, and learning specialists to support individual athlete needs.
• Orientation Programming: Design and execute tailored onboarding and orientation programs specifically for incoming freshmen and transfer football players.
• Campus Liaison: Act as the primary point of contact between the football department, university faculty, campus advisors, and student support networks.
• Parent Liaison: Serve a touch point for parents in terms of housing, financial aid, etc. in the orientation process.

Player Development & Life Skills

• Life Skills & Leadership: Coordinate and implement critical programming around financial literacy, media training, mental health awareness, and leadership.
• Career Planning: Coordinate career development initiatives, interview prep workshops, and resume-building opportunities for life after football.

Recruiting Support

• Prospect Pre-Assessment: Evaluate high school transcripts and transfer portals of prospective student-athletes to determine preliminary NCAA eligibility and admissibility.
• On-Campus Visits: Meet with prospective student-athletes and their families during official and unofficial recruiting visits to present the program's academic philosophy and support systems.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Identifies, proposes, and implements new or revised unit operational policies and procedures to comply with regulations, institutional policies, and academic program objectives.
• Evaluates existing academic program strategy and makes recommendations to unit leadership for program enhancement.
• May manage the unit budget and approve unit expenditures.
• Assists stakeholders with preparing and/or maintaining documentation, financial management, and/or reporting requirements related to sponsored grants, contracts, or agreements.
• Provides full service advising resources and services, provides information about educational options and academic requirements, and communicates directly with students regarding all aspects of the advising process.
• Manages degree programs and/or certificates, high impact practice programming and events, and curriculum development and implementation.
• Leads the development and implementation of academic program initiatives.
• May exercise supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 FTE or equivalent employees.
• Serves as the liaison to internal and external stakeholder groups to identify and maintain academic program-related partnerships.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 2–3 years of progressive experience advising or counseling student-athletes within a collegiate athletic department.
• Proven, in-depth understanding of complex NCAA eligibility rules, transfer portals, and academic progress bylaws.
• Willingness and ability to work highly irregular hours, including early mornings, late nights, and mandatory weekends.
• Superior verbal and written communication skills to effectively translate academic challenges to coaching staffs, university professors, and 18-to-22-year-old athletes.
• Extreme level of professionalism and discretion when managing sensitive, confidential academic or personal student-athlete information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of 2–3 years of progressive experience advising or counseling student-athletes within a collegiate athletic department, ideally with football program exposure.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Master’s degree in Sports Administration, Higher Education, Counseling, or a related field is strongly preferred.

Compensation

The minimum starting salary is $62,419, but may be negotiable depending on the selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Benefits

• Generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off;
• Competitive insurances and savings accounts;
• Retirement benefits;
• Badger gear & season tickets for Badger football, men's basketball and men's hockey, and/or the varsity sports pass.

Contact Information

Kayla Weisensel at kw4@athletics.wisc.edu