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July 14, 2016 - Image 11

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The Michigan Daily

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Famed sports agent Leigh Steinberg hosting event
at Michigan, talks Harbaugh: “Jim is an original”

By ORION SANG

Summer Managing Sports Editor

Leigh Steinberg has had quite

the career.

The famed sports agent has

represented eight No. 1 overall NFL
Draft picks, more than 60 NFL first
round picks and countless other
professional athletes across sports
such as basketball, baseball and
hockey, among others.

At his peak, he was the most

visible
sports
agent
in
the

business, credited with helping
to
revolutionize
the
field
of

sports agency and serving as the
inspiration behind the hit 1996
film ‘Jerry Maguire’ — in which
Steinberg was portrayed by Tom
Cruise.

At his lows, Steinberg was

an agent without any clients,
struggling with
alcohol abuse.

Now, in his

seventh
year

of sobriety and
three
years

removed
from

receiving
funding
to
restart

his
agency,

Steinberg
has

rebuilt
his

career at Steinberg Sports and
Entertainment, which currently
represents 10 clients, including
rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch
— a first round draft choice of the
Denver Broncos.

Steinberg has also continued to

work on other ventures outside of
client
representation,
including

projects on anti-bullying initiatives
and concussion awareness, along
with a book and film and television
consultation.

Though Steinberg says he has

spoken at colleges throughout
his more than four decade-long
career — about his profession and
its main tenets — he has opted for
a new, additional approach over the
past couple of years, one that he
admits is more rewarding: “Leigh
Steinberg’s Agent Academy.”

“I’m deluged with requests and

queries and resumes from people
wanting to get into the sports
industry,” Steinberg said in an
interview with The Daily. “They

come in by the thousands. If you
were to go to college campuses —
and I’ve spoken on more than 80
campuses — you
would find that
the
number

one career path
involves sports.
Yet no one gives
a
practical

education
that

helps
someone

with the core
skills that they
need
to
be

effective.

“So we were looking to try and

see if we could be helpful to a new
generation of sports agents and
professionals who have ethics,
values and ideals and truly are
going to bring energy and passion
to sports and to train them the right

way.”

A
one-day

educational
seminar on the
field of sports
agentry,
the

Agent Academy
dives
into

everything
Steinberg
believes an agent
must learn and
master.

For
instance,
he
puts
his

students
through
a
recruiting

exercise where they must practice
recruiting an athlete and the
athlete’s parents. Other exercises
focus on negotiation techniques,
marketing and branding through
social
media.
There’s
even
a

segment that teaches participants
how to deal with a situation in
which their client has gotten in
some sort of trouble.

“It’s fun and I think the

participants get a great one-
day education and everything
you need to know about how to
be successful,” Steinberg said.
“Hopefully we’re bringing value
and jumpstarting a whole new
generation.”

Perhaps the most crucial part of

Steinberg’s approach as an agent
and teacher is his emphasis on
using athletes to create change.

“My dad had two core values,”

Steinberg
said.
“One
was
to

treasure relationships, especially

with family, and the second was to
try to make a meaningful difference
in the world and help people who

couldn’t
help

themselves.
I

found that in this
field,
because

of the power of
celebrity
status

for athletes, that
they can really
trigger imitative
behavior.

“One
of

the
core

philosophies that

I’ve had since 1975 is the athlete as a
role model. Going back and setting
up a high school scholarship, a
foundation at the professional level,
all of which lay a foundation for the
player’s second career.”

The
next
academy
takes

place July 16 at the University
of Michigan — an institution
Steinberg has many ties to.

His
first
first-rounder
from

the school was John Anderson, a

linebacker drafted by the Green
Bay Packers in 1978. Then, he went
on to represent Jim Harbaugh, who
was taken in the first round by the
Chicago Bears in 1987, Desmond
Howard and Amani Toomer.

Steinberg has also spoke before

at both the business and law
schools at Michigan, experiences
that influenced his decision to hold
an academy in Ann Arbor.

He also has the added benefit

of being able
to
visit
his

friend
and

former
client,

Harbaugh,
while in town.

“Jim is an

original,”
Steinberg said.
“You have to
start with the
fact that he’s
really bright and intellectually
curious. He loves to learn, loves
to delve into a whole variety of
issues. Jim could talk politics,

economics, culture, a whole series
of things. He’s got a killer sense of
humor (and) I’ve always found him
to be really warm. He was a great
team player with competitive fire
and resilience. One day he called
the Jim Rome Show and got in
the Smack-Off, which very few
professional athletes do.

“There was no question he

was going to transform Michigan
because you take every part of what

being a head coach
is
comprised

of

he’s
a

devastatingly good
recruiter, he can
listen and adjust
and never gives
up. He can speak
well to the public,
alums like him,
(and) he’s got so
much toughness in

him that it will elevate every player’s
performance. So it’s no big surprise
that he’s been a success everywhere
he has gone.”

FOOTBALL

“I think the

participants get
a great one-day

education.”

The seminar

emphasizes the
off-field impact
of the athlete.

Steinberg was

Harbaugh’s

agent when he
was drafted.

11

Thursday, July 14, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS

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