From the field to the trading floor, alumni links help athletes find jobs

If you are looking to join the ranks of Wall Street stockbrokers, playing a varsity sport may be just as powerful as a finance certificate.

For some men's sports, a combination of on-the-field experience and strong alumni support draws a disproportionate number of athletes to the business world.

"I'd say 60 to 70 percent of our guys are there," men's lacrosse head coach Bill Tierney said.

In comparison, about 10 percent of 2002 graduates began working in the financial services sector after leaving school, according to Career Services' annual exit survey.

A comprehensive study of college athletics by the Andrew Mellon Foundation — the basis for "The Game of Life," by former University President William Bowen GS '58 and James Shulman — found that for 1989 male graduates of Princeton, Columbia and Yale universities and the University of Pennsylvania, nearly twice as many athletes earned MBAs as students at large at the same group of universities.

But those students went on to earn more than twice as many Ph.D.s as athletes.

Meanwhile, there is almost no difference between the two groups for attaining law and medical school degrees, the study showed.

A higher number of athletes in business careers makes sense because of the teamwork, competitiveness and work ethic inherent in high-level sports, several athletic department officials said.

"[Some of the guys say] big sales are akin to the big game," Tierney said. "They're looking for the excitement and the ups and downs of the crazy business world out there."

He added that some high-ranking managers have said they liked the competitive nature of athletes in the business world.

However, football head coach Roger Hughes said the trend is nationwide and not unique to athletes.

"It is a function of society in general," he said. "More and more people want to start their own business. More and more people are craving materialism."

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However, Hughes acknowledged that companies seek athletes because of skills they bring out of college.

"Athletics teaches things that the classroom can't: teamwork, a positive reaction to adversity and the ability to think on their feet," Hughes said.

Former Princeton athletes now working on Wall Street echoed this sentiment.

Former lacrosse captain Scott Bacigalupo '94 moved from his national championship team to Merrill Lynch, where he is a director of equity trading.

"If there's any place in business similar to athletics it's Wall Street," he said. "Sales trading is a big component of why athletes tend to go [there]."

Bacigalupo also noted another major influence in drawing athletes to Wall Street — alumni connections, often through groups of former players and donors associated with specific sports.

Most varsity sports at the University have an affiliated alumni group organized to provide financial support and a network among current and former players.

The football team boasts the largest sports support network, the Princeton Football Association, which sponsors a separate career night for football players.

"Probably the best thing about . . . Princeton was how powerful the alumni and the friends [of sports were], how influential they could be in helping you get a start on Wall Street," Bacigalupo said.

But rather than actually handing out jobs, they get you a foot in the door to get interviews," he said.

Bacigalupo's former coach Tierney agreed.

"I don't sense that there's anybody out there who is saying, 'OK, you've just graduated, you're a lacrosse player, you've got the job,' " he said.

Athletic alumni also help recent graduates get adjusted to the business world.

"They will offer career advice, welcome kids to a new city and help them meet new people," said Bob Callahan '77, head coach of men's squash.

In addition to being valuable resources after graduation, many sports alumni like to hire athletes for internships so they can build their connections for the future.

"Players come to me looking for opportunities for internships and they ask me who they can contact in certain professions," Hughes said.

He said Princeton has more active alumni than other Ivy League schools.

Athletics director Gary Walters '67 also acknowledged the networking and exposure endemic to varsity sports.

However, there is no statistical "clumping" of athletes in a certain major, he said, based on an internal study completed last year.

Walters emphasized the number of famous alumni now in the nation's service who were varsity athletes.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld '54 wrestled and played sprint football as an undergraduate; FBI Director Robert Mueller '66 played lacrosse, and Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich '79, was captain of the football team.