Paint it blue

Mark Molina, the guy with the boy-next-door looks, is a certified blueblood. He studied 16 years at the Ateneo—graduating with a Management Economics degree in 1994. Mark played for the Blue Eagles from 1991 to 1993, first under coach Chot Reyes then Baby Dalupan. He coached the Eagles in 1995, left, returned as Perry Ronquillo’s assistant in 1997, and took over as Ateneo head coach again in 1998. The last two years, Mark was a TV analyst for the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) games on the ABS-CBN network.

Basketball is in Mark’s blood. It’s what he eats and breathes. So it wasn’t a surprise when Chot, the Coca-Cola coach in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), told me the other day that Mark, 29, is now enrolled in the two-year Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program at the James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center of the University of Oregon’s School of Business.

Mark’s intelligent. He’s got management skills. He’s articulate. And he loves sports, basketball in particular. Enrolling in a graduate program that focuses on developing management skills in sports had to be a step in the right direction for Mark. When he’s done at Oregon, Mark’s degree will be an MBA with a concentration in sports marketing.

The budget for the two-year program is at least $40,000 to $45,000, inclusive of tuition, books, insurance, and living expenses. Mark took the required Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) to qualify as an MBA applicant in the US. The Warsaw program is relatively new–its first graduates finished only in 1997.

Prior sports experience is not a requirement but it’s preferred and according to Mark, a great advantage. Oregon, incidentally, is a Pacific-10 contender and has produced such National Basketball Association (NBA) players as Terrell Brandon, Ron Lee, Greg Ballard, and Steve (Snapper) Jones (now a TV basketball analyst).

Mark is one of only 16 students in his batch so the teaching is highly personalized. In the first year, the program reviews the basics of accounting, finance, economics, and marketing to lay the foundations for the course. It also provides an initial exposure to the sports industry and links the students to a network of big names in the business. In the second year, the program focuses on the realities of doing business in sports and tackles such issues as player management and franchise operations in depth.

I e-mailed Mark to find out more about his experiences in Oregon. I asked if I could share his experiences with readers as I know there are sports buffs out there who might consider a similar career path.

"The program boasts an impressive faculty led by the Executive Director, Rick Burton, whom Chot and I will bring to Manila sometime this year," said Mark. "Warsaw alumni are all over the sports industry–the NBA in New York and Hong Kong, the National Football League, Nike, Adidas, the Staples Center, the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and agencies like Octagon and the International Management Group."

So far, Mark has met several high-profile sports personalities like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, United States Basketball Academy (USBA) president Bruce O’Neil, James Warsaw himself (the Center is named in his honor), and officials from Nike, Adidas, Octagon and General Motors Sports in the course of his studies. He described the outspoken Cuban as "awesome" and said it would take a whole new letter just to talk about him.

What’s keeping Mark busy lately is his assignment to formulate a retail distribution strategy for USOC’s licensed apparel. The strategy will be presented to the USOC in Colorado Springs in May.

Next month, Mark and his classmates will travel to San Francisco to meet executives of the Giants, the Golden State Warriors, Pac-Bell Park, the Pac-10 Conference, among others. In January next year, they will go to New York City on the NBA’s invitation to talk to Commissioner David Stern.

This summer, Mark is hoping to intern in the NBA. Another option is to help out O’Neil in organizing USBA camps in Eugene, Oregon. He could also do marketing research on possible USBA opportunities in the Philippines and other Asian countries.

When his schedule allows, Mark takes time off to watch games. He’s seen all the University of Oregon basketball games. And he saw the Portland Trail Blazers play the Dallas Mavericks last month. He has a ticket for the Blazers game against the Washington Wizards tomorrow. Mark’s hoping Michael Jordan will suit up.

"I will graduate in June 2003," said Mark. "I will definitely come back to the Philippines although I am not quite sure when. I think a couple of years of experience in the US will help me out a lot. I do not consider working here in the long term as an option at this stage. I am not yet married and have no illegitimate children. I am definitely learning a lot of things that can be used by the leagues and the teams (in the Philippines). Sports marketing is basically defined here as marketing of sports leagues, events and properties and the use of sports as the tool for marketing other products. This knowledge will definitely be valuable to a league like the PBA or any of the teams or corporations that use basketball for their marketing and advertising."

Mark added: "Philippine basketball is my love and my passion and I know as much as I can with what’s going on in our country. I read philstar.com, including your column, inq7.net, and pba.com.ph every day. I just wish that the MBA, PBL, and UAAP had websites that are as good and updated as the PBA."

Mark said he’ll be back home for a brief trip in September with Burton.