Carolina Football Launches Koman Game Plan For Success and Blueprint 919

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina football program recently launched the Bill Koman Game Plan for Success and its new branding initiative, Blueprint 919, to provide football student-athletes the skill set to thrive on and off the field, while providing resources to understand and effectively navigate potential name, image and likeness opportunities that may arise in the future.

"North Carolina is and has been a national brand for a long time," said Carolina head coach Mack Brown. "As the prominence of the football program continues to rise, it's crucial that we're providing resources and guidance so our student-athletes can grow as well-rounded, conscientious men, who also know how to take advantage of their personal brand. The combination of these two programs will complement and enhance the first-class educational experience Carolina provides and should be a real asset for our program moving forward."

The Koman Game Plan for Success, which was created thanks to a generous gift from Jim and Jennifer Koman in honor of Jim's father Bill, follows the motto of the football program; attending Carolina is not a four-year decision, it's a 40-year decision. It provides training and support for football student-athletes throughout their time at Carolina and into their post-graduate lives. Programming centers on preparing student-athletes for their college career and beyond through academic assessment, study and learning skills preparation, leadership development, community involvement and career opportunities.

The Game Plan is broken down into four quarters to mirror the four-year college experience with a pregame segment to assist newcomers as they transition to college. Those elements include:

Pregame (Be The One): Focus on the individual and learn how to be trusted, counted on, and generally, be the best you can be
First Quarter (Be A Good Tar Heel): Learn how to be first class in how you conduct yourself on and off the field
Second Quarter (Be A Good Teammate): Figure out how to transition the individual into the team concept to be a friend and resource for teammates
Third Quarter (Be A Good Position Leader): Be a positive influence on your position group to ensure its overall contribution through the team by developing leadership qualities within your group
Fourth Quarter (Be A Good Front-Line Leader): Transition into a team leader with the ability to showcase developed leadership qualities outside of athletics

In order to successfully navigate the pregame and four quarters of their college career, football student-athletes will grow and develop through various programming elements. There are currently 15 areas of focus included in the Koman Game Plan for Success, which are essential to fostering the development we expect:

Self Awareness: Participants will complete the DiSC Personal Development Plan and draft individualized leadership action plans
A Call To Men: Focuses on violence prevention and issues of manhood, male socialization and the intersection of preventing violence against women
Speakers: Utilizing Tar Heel football alumni for our "Well-Heeled Wednesday" speaker series to demonstrate how Carolina equips students to secure success after college
Etiquette: Understanding and practicing the proper way to attend and appropriately take part in meals in a professional setting
SCORES: The Summer College Opportunity for Realizing Educational Success program provides the tools for participants to successfully make the transition from high school to the college and athletic life
Leadership: Leadership characteristics are enhanced and developed through summer group programming and individual interaction with Carolina football alumni who serve as leadership coaches in the spring
Career: In this three-part phase, participants use the FOCUS-2 planning tool to make decisions about career goals and education plans; utilize Major/Minors Fair, professors and student-athletes to familiarize themselves with curriculum and job opportunities; and take advantage of The Career Fair to secure internship and employment opportunities
Community Service: Student-athletes are presented with an assortment of local community service opportunities to enhance that area of their personal development
Financial Literacy: Participants benefit from online programming through Wells Fargo and Game Plan to increase their knowledge in areas such as personal finance and building and maintaining credit responsibly
Sexual Assault Prevention: Student-athletes receive annual training on areas such as sexual misconduct, hazing and bullying
Networking: Participants have the chance to regularly interact with former student-athletes to assist in shaping their career goals, while developing relationships to assist in the transition from college to the professional world
Adulting 101: Participants nearing the transition to life after college engage in enhanced training to prepare them for life on their own including etiquette, career, financial and personal wellness tips
Summer Internship: Participants have access to numerous platforms to assist in securing internships, mentorship opportunities and workshops as they move through their personalized action plan
E-Learning/NFL: An e-learning platform from the NFL and Game Plan provides interactive workshops designed to provide personal and professional skill building with curriculum that includes maximizing campus resources, the football experience on and off the field, the professional journey, and the importance of role models and mentorship
Design Your Life: Participants will use the Odyssey Plan to 'Design Your Life' by creating three different post-graduation, five-year timelines to include both personal and professional milestones taking various life transition points into account

To complement the personal development initiatives in the Koman Game Plan for Success, the football program has developed a unique branding initiative, Blueprint 919, which will combine both internal and external experts to develop and foster each individual's personal brand. The branding program contained in Blueprint 919 seeks to help football student-athletes determine who they are, define their key traits, develop their image, recognize their target audiences, and maximize their external presence.

Currently, the program is finalizing partnerships with leaders in brand building and we expect to formally announce those agreements in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, football student-athletes will continue to benefit from the athletics department's relationship with content-sharing app INFLCR. Through the app, members of the program have access to dynamic content for use on their personal accounts.

Internally, members of the creative and branding team will conduct group and individual tutorials on media training, public speaking and social media execution. Experts with decades of industry experience will prepare football student-athletes to utilize both external media and social media to enhance their personal brand.

Media and public speaking training focuses on techniques to maximize interview opportunities, instruction on how to effectively communicate, and methods to transfer gained skills to all aspects of daily life including class presentations, networking opportunities and job interviews.

Social media education centers on assisting student-athletes with effectively using their profiles across multiple platforms, while developing an in-depth social-media plan. The program focuses on recognizing audiences, posting with a purpose, and defining ways to tell an individual's personal story on and off the field. To meet that end, student-athletes have access to one of the finest creative services teams in the country, which is tasked with generating personalized graphic and video content. This content is designed and developed to assist in showcasing and enhancing each individual's personal brand.

In addition to the internal and external expertise at football student-athletes' disposal, the football program will continue to engage in a speaker series designed to give its members access to some of the nation's top experts in the areas of media and branding. In just the last year, Carolina football student-athletes have received guidance from the likes of ESPN's Maria Taylor and Booger McFarland; Charlotte Hornets President and Vice Chairman Fred Whitfield, who also was instrumental in the growth of Jordan Brand; and NFL great Peyton Manning.

The combination of the Koman Game Plan for Success and Blueprint 919 provides Carolina football student-athletes a wealth of knowledge to maximize their college experience. Through its vast inventory of educational opportunities, these programs complement each other perfectly in producing the most well-rounded college experience in the nation.

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Carolina Football Launches Koman Game Plan For Success and Blueprint 919

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