Friday Five: Carin Smith
Mama Knows Best
Welcome to the Friday Five, where I ask one leader building the future of sports the same five questions. Every Friday (ish).
In honor of spending the week in Chicago (my hometown) for WNBA All-Star (!!!), I'm doing a different spin on the Friday Five: today's edition is slightly longer, more personal, and featuring someone whose background is rooted in higher education. I'm staying with my parents in the suburbs this week — which is all the inspiration I needed to dedicate this issue to one of the people who has shaped me most. If you've been reading the newsletter for a while, you already know that the women building the future of sports aren't always coming from the industry itself — and today's guest is a perfect example of that.
Before Girl Boss or Hustle Culture entered the lexicon, I would have used words like relentless and present to describe my mom. She has been my loudest hype woman, my most honest mirror, and — whether she knows it or not — the original blueprint for everything I believe about what it means to show up for the people around you.
My mom, Carin Smith, has spent her career in college admissions, with stops at the University of Denver, Lawrence University, DePaul University, Beloit College (her alma mater), and now Illinois Wesleyan University — where she serves as an undergraduate admissions counselor working specifically with athletes being recruited by IWU's coaches. That last part matters more than it might sound: unlike D1 programs, where athletic scholarships and resources are well-established, the D3 and D2 landscape looks very different, and having someone with deep expertise in financial aid and admissions advocating specifically for those student-athletes changes the experience entirely. It's something she's become increasingly passionate about, and it shows.
What I didn’t fully appreciate until I was long out of the house is just how much she was building while raising us. In the late 90’s — after having my sister Mackenzie — she secured a regionally-based admissions position University of Denver so she could be home in the mornings before we left for school, and there for us in the afternoons to take us to + attend our various activities. This kind of position was virtually unheard of at the time. I used to think she was a little crazy for getting up at 5am to work before we were awake (the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree these days) and again after dinner once we’d gone to bed — but as a full-time working adult now, I understand it completely. I think most of us can relate to the difficulty of being truly present during *work hours* while inboxes are filling up and notifications are going off. She figured out her own solution to that problem before the rest of the world knew it was a problem. She subsequently founded a Chicago-based organization for regional admissions officers, which has since expanded nationally, focused on providing community + resources for other ‘Regionals’ like her. I try not to use the word “trailblazer” lightly, but I genuinely can’t think of a more fitting one here.
One more thing I’ve come to deeply admire: my mom’s ability to build teams with complementary skill sets and then actually give them the space to shine. She is the rare kind of leader who coaches without micromanaging — who puts the people around her in positions to succeed and then gets out of the way. I’m still learning from that one.
Let’s get into it.
1. Tell us about a sports moment that stopped you in your tracks — as a fan, in the building, behind the scenes, or on the court.
Game 7 of the 2016 World Series when the Cubs FINALLY won the title. While I didn’t grow up with the Cubs as my favorite team as my husband and generations of his family did, I fell in love with them pretty hard 40 years ago when I moved to Chicago and lived close to Wrigley Field. On the evening of Game 7, I was driving home from a work trip, in the pouring down rain, listening to the game on the radio and was actually thrilled with the rain delay that happened because it meant I would get home in time to potentially watch the end of the game. I did and watched in surprise when I looked over after the last out and saw that my husband was crying tears of joy — for his dad, for his grandfather, and for all of the crazy, diehard Cubs fans he had grown up with. The power of sport never ceases to amaze me!
2. What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received — and who gave it to you?
Two pieces of advice that live with me always:
“Carin, put your big girl boots on and feel free to kick whatever or whoever gets in your way of doing good work that is meaningful to you and others. But don’t kid yourself, it likely with be tough, messy work with the potential for the most rewarding end result.” (the late Molly K. Arnold, Illinois State University Director of Admissions)
“If you don’t want the big title ever, or now, then don’t feel pressured by others, or yourself, to take it. If it comes around once, it will come back around again.” (the late Nancy Johnson, mom of Chicago Sports Network Bulls Insider, KC Johnson).
3. What’s something happening in women’s sports right now that you think is underrated or under-discussed?
All of it! It’s growing, it’s booming, it’s finally getting the attention and buy-in it has deserved for years!!! But, there’s an interesting and troubling phenomenon that I’m witnessing in my everyday life these past couple of years: many of the very best high school female athletes simply want to be done with sports once they head off to college. My husband, a long time high school girls basketball coach is observing this and I’m seeing it in my professional life working closely with DIII coaches in their recruitment efforts. Men/boys will play forever and often think they are better athletes than they actually are. Girls/women often don’t understand how talented they are and haven’t seen enough easily available evidence of how transformational colleges athletics can be in their lives.
4. Who’s someone in this space — athlete, builder, fan, or otherwise — who deserves more flowers than they’re getting?
DIII coaches, particularly female coaches. Without the complication of athletic money being part of the mix, DIII coaches have the space, the luxury and the responsibility of building successful teams — not just on the field/court/pitch/course - but outside this space as well — as people, students, campus residents and ultimately, successful college graduates. They are passionate, sometimes intense, crazy individuals and don’t get paid nearly enough for what they do, all-day, everyday and often times late into the evenings. They show up!
5. What are you most excited about right now — in work or life?
Well, a lot. Working in an industry (college admissions) that is constantly changing, evolving, struggling, persevering and now, working personally with and supporting two amazing, much younger than me, women in leadership positions for the first time. I’ve also been able to carve out a professional space that is not getting nearly the recognition it could and, I believe will soon. I am a college admissions officer whose primary role is to work with all athletes being recruited by our coaches (at Illinois Wesleyan University) regardless of sport and where the prospective student-athlete is located in the country. I like to remind my admissions colleagues that we can’t bring in a class without the assistance of athletics and they can’t field teams without us — it behooves us all, and the students we serve, to work together, period! It’s a unique and impactful position.
Personally, I have the very best family in the world! My husband is a keeper and truly the yin to my yang (even 42 years in) and my children, despite living in different time zones, show up for each other — always.
Know someone who should be featured in a future Friday Five? Drop a comment or slide into my DMs.
— K