Looking Back on 14 Years of BOSCA

BEFORE BOSCA existed, Jim Abbott was simply trying to survive his first years as an athletic director. He had finally landed the job he’d always wanted, only to discover how uncertain he felt. “I realized pretty quickly that I was not as prepared as I thought I was,” Abbott said. “I was overwhelmed. I had been naive about what the job really entailed.”

With only a part-time sports information director on staff, Abbott turned to the resources he could find. “One of the first things people suggested was to go to the NACDA convention,” he said. But as a young NAIA administrator, much of what he found was geared toward larger schools. Still, the experience planted a seed that would later grow into something entirely new — a professional development space designed specifically for small college athletics.

In 2012, Abbott took a leap. After leading a fundraising session at NACDA, he stood in front of the room and announced a new event: the Business of Small College Athletics. “At the end of the session, I basically announced that, hey, I’m hosting an event called the Business of Small College Athletics, and it’s going to happen in three months in Oklahoma City,” he said. “If you’re interested in coming, I’d love to have you.”

Three months later, two of the people from that session — Brock Wissmiller and Carolyn Stone — showed up along with 34 of their peers for the first-ever BOSCA workshop. It was a small start, but it was the beginning of something that would eventually impact hundreds of administrators across the country.

A Place to Grow and Connect

Abbott built BOSCA around the very things he needed most early in his career: relevant ideas and meaningful relationships. “The idea behind starting BOSCA was twofold,” he said. “Number one, it was selfish. I wanted more opportunities to grow and more opportunities to have relevant conversations. And then two, honestly, I just saw an opportunity. I was betting on the idea that there were more people like me who wanted the same thing.”

The first workshop was simple — 36 people, one sponsor, and hospitality that consisted of coolers and pretzels in Abbott’s hotel suite. But intimacy was part of the charm. “Those first few years, the real focus for the event was on external relations,” Abbott said. “We really focused on fundraising, community engagement, corporate sponsorships, those types of topics.”

Over time, the goals became clearer and broader. “The two goals that really stand out for me are number one, I want you to come and I want you to meet other administrators,” he said. “Grow your network. And I want you to leave the event with some ideas, with some new perspectives on things that you can do.”

And there was a third goal — one that has come to define BOSCA’s culture. “I want people to leave there hungry for more and determined to keep growing and getting better,” Abbott said.

Evolving to Meet the Moment

BOSCA’s growth has mirrored the evolution of small college athletics itself. What began as a single annual workshop in Oklahoma City has expanded into a portfolio of in-person and virtual offerings. “These days we might have six in-person events in a given year versus the single event that we used to hold in the fall,” Abbott said.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated BOSCA’s evolution. “We moved the BOSCA convention to the summer in 2021,” he said. “It was the first professional development event back for any of our administrators, and it went really well.” The forced embrace of virtual tools also opened new doors. “One of the cool things that developed during COVID was this group that gave themselves the moniker of the Wisdom Group,” Abbott said.  This was a group of administrators that connected at BOSCA and wanted to create a weekly check-in to see how the pandemic was affecting everyone and ultimately to keep sharing ideas and having some fun. During the heart of the pandemic, fun might have been most important.

That spirit of connection inspired new programs. “I had come up with an idea for the BOSCA Leadership Academy,” he said. “I had pitched the idea to the NAIA as a training program for new AD’s and while they were excited about the possibility it became clear that I needed to just put it out there on my own. “We had 20 people sign up for the first cohort. And that very quickly led me to the idea of also creating a virtual Revenue Generation Academy.”

BOSCA also launched regional workshops to lower barriers to access. “The biggest challenge people have to participating in professional development is the cost,” Abbott said. “The regional events allow athletic departments to very affordably participate... drive up in the morning, participate, drive back in the afternoon.”

Looking Ahead

Fourteen years after that first workshop, BOSCA continues to grow — and Abbott is thinking about what comes next. “I’m really somewhat surprised that 14 years later, BOSCA still exists,” he said. “When I hosted that first event, I never had the idea that this would be something that we can continue.”

Now, he’s focused on preparing the next generation of leaders. “Opportunities to provide growth and networking for them will continue to be the emphasis,” Abbott said. “Part of what BOSCA is going to have to evolve into is the next generation of leadership.”

He is also committed to keeping programming relevant and practical. “We want to serve administrators’ needs as best we can,” Abbott said. “In almost every case, whenever you come to a BOSCA event, you’ll see an agenda that was curated with input from a variety of people, a variety of administrators providing input in terms of topics that they think will most benefit attendees.”  BOSCA isn't about who you run into in the hotel lobby, it's about practical training and relevant topics."

For Abbott, the heart of BOSCA remains the same: create space for small college administrators to learn, connect, and grow. “Professional growth, personal growth is important,” he said. “You never want to really reach the finish line there.”



And as long as there are young administrators walking into their first jobs feeling overwhelmed and unprepared, or veterans that are dealing with the evolving landscape of college athletics, BOSCA will be there to help them find their footing — and their community.