How CC Andrews found her passion and career beyond the court
Like several others whose passion was reignited by bringing Athletes Unlimited into their lives, former AU Pro Basketball player CC Andrews is thankful for the role the women’s professional sports organization has played in her life over the past three and a half years.
Andrews had retired from playing basketball after graduating as one of the Atlantic 10’s top players out of Saint Joseph’s and spending three seasons overseas in Denmark, Greece, and Turkey.
But when good friend and former college teammate Natasha Cloud called to tell her about Athletes Unlimited, she gave it some thought, unretired, and played the next two seasons with the upstart league.
It turned out to be a career-altering decision.
As a member of Athletes Unlimited, she received an email inviting those interested to participate in a partnership with Harvard Business School’s “Crossover Into Business” semester-long program. There, professional athletes develop their business acumen by working with MBA student mentors.
For Andrews, she saw an opportunity to brighten an outlook that dimmed slightly when she felt lost with her direction.
LOST AND CONFUSED
Andrews double majored at Saint Joseph’s with a business degree focused on communications and sports marketing, and figured she’d find her purpose once her playing days ended.
She spent time with the school’s sports information department, helping gameday crews while seeing what it meant to serve on the media end of operations. And at the time, it satisfied her curiosity.
“I had no clue what a game day looked like or what game day operations looked like,” she admitted. “And I think even now, I’m realizing how much preparation goes into putting on an event. Like, work goes into putting on a St. Joe’s softball game. From player cards to making sure the announcers know who’s playing, communicating with game day media, having pamphlets ready, making sure the website was updated, promotions, and giveaways.
“I think there are a lot of things that go into making what seems like a small thing actually happen. I learned the processes and that this is a production regardless of whether there is one person in the stands or 50 people in the stands or 500. Every game day is a production, regardless.”
But even after graduating in 2016 and spending time on ‘the other side’ of athletics, Andrews said she was still unsure of what she wanted to do with her business degree. Thus, she ventured back to her comfort zone and played overseas.
It wasn’t until she stepped away from basketball to visualize and conceptualize where she wanted to apply her education and put her degree to work.
Living in Los Angeles when she wasn’t playing, she spent time working with the Rams before settling into a position with Adidas for three and a half years, working in product development before moving to sports marketing on the women’s side.
It was a call from Cloud, however, that would change her life.
FOUND AND FOCUSED
Andrews always thought about furthering her education and attending business school, but also didn’t want to accrue any college debt after she had already paid off her previous education.
Filled with inspiration and vigor after forming bonds with her Athletes Unlimited sorority, she took advantage of an opportunity she learned was customized for every participant at Harvard Business School.
“This was a great opportunity for me to go back to school, get a little more experience without having to pay for it,” Andrews said. “So once I saw the athletes who went there before me, it kind of made sense.”
Though she was still working at Adidas, Andrews made time to follow the curriculum that ran from August 2023 through January 2024 and included analyzing case studies roughly every two weeks. She informed her program mentors she wanted to stay in the athletics sector, so there were plenty of sports cases, studying athletes who owned businesses, as well as many teams and their partnerships, such as Dwyane Wade and his agent during contract negotiations.
She also implemented what she was learning at her job.
“I tried to figure out what was going on behind the scenes,” she said. “I got to talk to my boss, like, what went into this partnership, what were the deliverables, what are we actually trying to get out of it? I think a lot of times in business, there are different ways to measure success, and that’s something that I didn’t know going into it.
“It helped me understand our business better, and talk to higher-ups a little bit better, and know how they’re thinking. And that’s a big thing that the business school taught us was to see how executives are thinking when they make decisions.”
Diving into the business side of women’s sports by taking advantage of Athlete Unlimited’s partnership with the Harvard Business School is something she’ll always be thankful for, as she’s now secured a position with AU’s front office and is ecstatic to be part of a pioneering league that has lifted professional women’s sports.
“A lot of it is relationships; I think jobs and most things, you still have to be able to build relationships with people, build relationships with your consumer, build relationships with your bosses,” Andrews said. “You have to build relationships across pretty much all categories of life.
“I really think coming to AU reignited what I thought I wanted to do, and where I had a passion for, and it helped me think about why certain things are happening and how to alleviate some of those things, not in totality, but just having a better understanding. AU definitely reignited that passion with me.”
W.G. Ramirez is a 38-year veteran sports reporter in Southern Nevada, serving as a correspondent for Athletes Unlimited. Follow him on X at @WillieGRamirez
