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Alumni spotlight: Chaz Coleman, C’12

Alumni spotlight: Chaz Coleman, C’12

by Public Relations | October 04, 2024

LATROBE, PA – Chaz Coleman, C’12, hoped his first game as director of football operations at the University of Richmond would be a breeze. It turned out to be a hurricane.

Richmond was slated to open its 2017 season against Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas, about 50 miles from the coast. When Hurricane Harvey roared into the Gulf of Mexico, widespread flooding forced the game to be postponed and relocated 130 miles inland at Baylor University’s stadium.

On short notice, Coleman had to devise entirely new travel plans—setting up the chartered plane, ground transportation and hotel rooms for a group of 110 players, coaches, athletic trainers and staff. He had to reroute the trucks ferrying Richmond’s helmets, uniforms and other gear to Baylor’s campus in Waco, Texas. There were game broadcast logistics to hammer out with ESPN.

“When we ran out onto the field for the game, I finally could breathe again,” Coleman said. “I was like, ‘Hey, I did it. With it being my first game, everything’s going to be easy after this.’ It was by far my toughest, most challenging moment.”

It was not the type of career challenge Coleman envisioned while was a student at Saint Vincent College. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management, was a defensive back on the football team and spent one summer as a marketing intern for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Being at Saint Vincent was the first time I’d been away from home,” said Coleman, a native of Richmond, Virginia. “I had a lot of growing up to do. I didn’t know how Saint Vincent would turn out for me, but now I’m glad I took a chance and did something different. It paid off. Dr. Nancy Rottler [former assistant vice president for student success and retention] and her staff helped me develop good habits academically and hone my skills.”

After graduation, Coleman moved home to Virginia and struggled to find his niche in the business world. Wondering if sports could provide a pathway to a career, he returned to Saint Vincent and took a job on the football staff coaching defensive backs.

“It was an interesting year and a learning year,” Coleman said. “I learned that I did not want to be a coach because it was such a lifestyle change. So, I switched from coaching to being on the administrative side of things.”

Coleman was a graduate assistant for Richmond’s football program for one year while he earned a master’s degree from the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Sports Leadership. In 2017, he was hired as Richmond’s director of football operations.

In 2022, Coleman went to the University of Missouri where he worked as the athletics facilities coordinator. He oversaw Mizzou’s football practice facility, Memorial Football Stadium and the gymnastics practice facility.

“That was my introduction to big-time college sports, and I just ran with it,” Coleman said. “I was wearing a lot of hats and running a 60,000-seat stadium, so I had to learn quickly. For home games, I was the visiting teams’ liaison and the game officials’ liaison. It’s all about relationships, even with the people in concessions, custodial and maintenance. Having all those solid relationships made my job easier."

In March 2023, Coleman became the director of athletic operations for the University of Cincinnati. His move happened four months before Cincinnati joined the Big 12 Conference, one of the Power Four leagues in college football.

“It’s a step up in my career,” Coleman said. “Someday, I can look back and say, ‘Hey, I helped UC get started in the Power Four.’ In just a year and a half, I’ve already worked on some unique events.”

In April, Coleman handled logistics when NFL stars and UC alumni Jason and Travis Kelce brought their weekly “New Heights” podcast to the University of Cincinnati. The event was supposed to be held outdoors in Nippert Stadium, but rainy weather forced a move to an off-campus arena across town—a faint echo of Coleman’s hurricane experience with Richmond in 2017. The Kelce brothers were greeted by a sold-out crowd of 12,500 fans and UC president Neville Pinto and athletics director John Cunningham.

“There were a lot of girls in the crowd who were hoping Taylor Swift would show up,” Coleman said, referring to Travis Kelce’s pop star girlfriend. “It was a cool experience.”

Although he hasn’t been back to campus in a while, Coleman maintains his ties to Saint Vincent. He will give a one-hour livestream presentation on sports management careers to students in the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government at 4 p.m. Oct. 17. Saint Vincent community members can register by emailing michael.urick@stvincent.edu.

 

Portrait Chaz Coleman

Chaz Coleman at the Saint Vincent-Carnegie Mellon football game in 2023.

 

 

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