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The synergies between Baldwin Wallace and the Browns include the annual "Rooks to Cooks" class at BW, student internships, alumni in the front office and more.
Baldwin Wallace University's annual "Rooks to Cooks" culinary skills class for Cleveland Browns rookies (drafted and undrafted) got an extra boost of visibility this year as rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders live-streamed much of the event on his Twitch channel.
While the event, hosted by BW Dining Services in the Strosacker Hall union this year, also attracted media attention from Cleveland.com, WEWS-TV and others, it is a small part of the BW and Browns story.
In fact, while BW helps the rookies make a smooth and healthy transition to life after college off the field, the Browns are fostering the development of BW students while they are still in school.
The NFL team's CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, with its headquarters and practice facility (now undergoing an exciting expansion), is just a hop and a skip away from BW's historic campus, but the ties go much deeper than proximity.
In this year's NFL draft, where Sanders, Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins, Harold Fannin Jr., Dillon Gabriel and Dylan Sampson were selected, two BW sport management majors, Colin Keleman '28 and Ryan Clinger '27, were elated to earn coveted spots helping the Browns communications staff with NFL Draft responsibilities.
Keleman, who worked the Super Bowl earlier in the first year at BW, posted a video chronicling the experience.
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The inside look at the draft is not unusual. Opportunities for BW students to intern and interact with the organization are plentiful, including paid internships and seasonal jobs, plus 30-40 students working each gameday during the season.
In addition, BW's Yellow Jacket football team, which is housed in The Packard Center, a former Brown's training facility, also enjoys the perk of conducting some spring workouts in the nearby Browns indoor facility.
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There are also many BW alumni who have gone on to work in the Haslam Sports Group/Browns organization, starting in the C-suite.
Dave Jenkins '97, a BW business administration graduate and BW Trustee, is in his 19th season with the Browns, the last seven as the team's chief operating officer. Another longtime executive, Michael Nikolaus '95, who studied accounting at BW, serves as chief human resources officer.
Two alumni who earned their graduate business degrees at BW are employed at the organization: Dominique Page, MBA '24, as communications manager and Sue Majewski, MBA '15, as payroll manager.
A number of sport management majors have roles with the team including:
Long and Moore both say working with the Browns as undergrads laid the foundation for their careers.
"The close proximity BW has to CrossCountry Mortgage Campus helped me secure my first role with the organization," Long remembers. "Once senior year came around, I was blessed to receive the opportunity to interview for my current full-time role. The BW sport management program helped me a ton through classes and experiences, and the fact that we have so many other BW alumni working for this organization and many other sports teams around the country also speaks to the quality of the program."
"My first opportunities — working gamedays in Ticket Operations and spending the summer with Fan Experience — came through BW's strong relationship with the team and the BW professors who connected me to those opportunities," Moore recalls. "I'm incredibly grateful for the mentorship, growth and community I've found through both the Browns and Baldwin Wallace. Both played a huge role in shaping my career path."
Sport management professor Tony Dick, who worked in various capacities with the Cleveland Browns over the course of 23 seasons with the team, serves as the internship coordinator for BW's sport management and hospitality management programs.
He and Dr. Charles Campisi, who worked in the front office of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to becoming a professor of sport management, maintain their strong NFL connections and even work gameday stats for Zebra Technologies, which holds the NFL contract for Next Gen player tracking.
"The Browns connection is a win-win for both organizations," Campisi says. "They get a look at the young talent interested in working in the sport business industry, and our students earn the opportunity to work in an elite professional sport organization."
Campisi says the teaching and learning is a two-way street. "Browns staffers are frequent guest speakers in a variety of our classes, and our various MBA offerings [business analytics, human resources, management, sport management and strategic marketing] provide an opportunity for their employees to enhance their business skill sets, as well."
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At this year's "Rooks to Cooks" event, BW President-designate Lee Fisher welcomed the team and even fired up a sauté pan alongside the players.
"As neighbors, BW's strong ties to the Browns come naturally and offer distinctive opportunities for us to collaborate," Fisher said.
"We're happy to offer this healthy life skills class for the players and to play a role in educating members of the organization's leadership team. We're also grateful for the invaluable hands-on student experiences the team provides to our students."
Fisher says he is committed to building up vital relationships BW has forged with dozens of major Northeast Ohio employers, including BW's NFL neighbors.
-Photos courtesy The Cleveland Browns/Kennedy Rodriguez
