Q & A: Jason Rademan
I interviewed Jason Rademan, Director of Team Services for the Dallas Stars. This is a position in Hockey Operations for the team. It is my dream to work in Basketball Operation for a Professional Basketball team so this was an amazing experience for me. Jason gave amazing insight into what exactly is his role within the organization and speak to me directly about the steps it takes to land a job like his. Here are the highlights from our conversation.
Okay, First Question, Where are you from?
“I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. I was born in Pennsylvania. I was a big Philadelphia Flyers fan growing up. My parents are both from Philadelphia, but I grew up in Florida.”
How, what, or who really got you into sports?
“I always loved sports. I was always into it. I went to Penn State, my major was kinesiology. I wanted to do something with sports. At one point I wanted to be an athletic trainer. I worked for the football team while I was there. I also worked for the student newspaper. I did an internship right out of school with the Orlando Magic in the Public Relations department. I progressed from there to the University of Oklahoma in the Sports Information office and then I came to the Stars here working for 7 years in Public Relations before I made the move into Hockey Ops.
Was your current position your dream job?
I would say yes I found this. I think that’s the value of internships. When I was in Orlando they had a really well organized internship program and they exposed you to all different departments within the Organization. Obviously I wanted to travel and be around the team, at the games. In those 7 years of doing the PR I found that this is actually what I really wanted. The organizational side of it.
I know you touched on this, but specifically what was your educational background?
“Yea, I just got a bachelors from Penn State in kinesiology, which is sports medicine. But also I worked for the student newspaper so I kind of had a varying background there. I’m probably not entirely using my degree, cause that would be taping ankles and treating injuries, but I feel like that got me here.”
Can you go into more depth on your specific role here with the Stars? Maybe an example of a day-to-day for you.
“It depends if were home or on the road. I mean obviously now we just got the schedule which came out a couple weeks ago so I take the schedule and go through and plan out the whole season. I sit down with the Coach and the General Manager and plan it all out. You know, do we wanna stay over in Denver and then fly to Edmonton or do we wanna fly straight there? Basically it’s just handling all the travel, logistics, details. Over the course of a season whether we’re home or on the road you know the coaches and the players shouldn’t be worried about when are we leaving, where are we going, where are we staying. I handle all those details. I also do the immigration side of things, so right now in the summer I’m working on all of the visa paperwork for the players that we have this year. All Non-Americans need a work visa for the United States. Basically all of the details away from the ice should be handled so they can just focus on playing and coaching. That could mean getting a new player set up with a realtor, a moving company. Getting his kids into schools. Getting them situated and making the wife happy. Anything like that.”
What about the problems and complaints that I imagine can arise from all of that?
“I need to plan it so that there aren’t problems. Now things obviously come up. there is certain things you can’t control. Like the weather, you can’t control a snow storm and having to de-ice for two hours. Some thing you just have to roll with the punches, but when it comes to rooms and meals a lot of the time I am putting out fires. But I am planning it so that we can avoid issues. Yea, the players complain, but you want to make them as happy as you can within reason. I have a budget. I can’t just stay in the most expensive hotel in every single city I kind of have to balance it. Obviously New York and L.A. and Toronto might be expensive, but Columbus, Phoenix, and South Florida I can balance it out with the spending on a hotel. It can’t be the Ritz Carlton in every city. Certain teams maybe can do that. You know you’re in Boston, maybe the Bruins can say I don’t care about cost just put us in the best place. I do the best I can within that framework of the budget. Then there is the catering. On a typical game day we feed them breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, and then dinner either on the plane to the next city or in the hotel if we’re staying over. We’re constantly feeding them, keeping them energized, carb loading. They all have their own routines but it’s basically trying to make as many people happy as you can within the framework of were in Boston today, then we go on to Buffalo tomorrow. Just handling the details. I’m around, if something comes up or something happens, God forbid to a player’s family and I need to get a hold of them on the road I’m the contact. If someone get’s hurt I have to call back to the wife and tell them he’s going to the hospital. I’m the guy who is always around to handle whatever. There’s a lot of things that aren’t really in the job description. You do the best job you can. Then at home obviously it’s more routine. They all live here, have their cars, and drive to the games. Things still come up, like tickets, if a player’s family is flying in from Sweden and we need to get 10 tickets together we will do that. But, I am always planning the next trip, I might be sitting here in Frisco going to the game against the Maple Leafs tonight but working on next weeks trip and the trip that’s next month as well. I’m always kind of working in advance.”
How specifically did you get to your position? How did you manage to maneuver your way to Director of Team Services?
“Well at first Orlando, Oklahoma, here I was in PR. So your dealing with the interview requests and the website and the publications and all this. My first year here was an internships. I did 3, so I was lucky my parents were very supportive and helpful with financials because i was making about 200 bucks a month. But anyway, I sort of progressed and did the communication side of it and I was traveling with the team so I was going on all those trips to Vancouver to San Jose. It was full-time. I was here everyday. Then after my first year here I got hired full-time and got benefits and all of that stuff. traveling with the team and handling all of the PR stuff on the road I saw all of the operations, I saw the way it worked, but someone else was setting it up and handling it all. That person was let go, we had a change in General Managers and a change in structure and then wanted to bring me from PR up into Hockey Ops. They knew me, I knew everybody. I was around and then said he was good in PR, he’s detail oriented, and he can handle this we’ll bring him up to take the role. It was a little bit of a transition, it helped that I knew the routine from having gone on the trips. In sports having that familiarity feeds to opportunities.”
So all of your internships led to this?
“My boss that I interned for in Orlando helped me get the University of Oklahoma position. My boss at OU happened to know my former boss here with the Stars, they had crossed paths at some point. So the former VP here reached out to Texas, Oklahoma, A&M, SMU, the local schools and said do you have any candidates that are working in your sports information office we’re looking for somebody. It just kind of worked out timing wise that I went from Orland to Oklahoma to here.”
Based on everything you have experienced, what would you say are the most important skills you have carried with you through the industry?
“Obviously Communication, in any department in here you have to be able to communicate. In the position I am in now, I have to go through the calendars and be able to sit with a coach or owner or GM and not be intimidated. You have to be able to communicate and stand up for what you planned, what you believed, why you did what you did. Being able to communicate is the biggest thing. Being organized, especially during the season. Being able to work ahead and know what’s coming. And also it’s flexibility, being able to work on the fly. I don’t know if those are really skills that you can list but those are definitely the biggest things.”
What would you say is you’re favorite part about your job?
“Coming home from a really successful road trip. The team won our games, things went smoothly on my end of things. Feeling like i set it up well and we won. It’s always a nice feeling you get on the plan, you’re coming home, and you feel like job well done we won. It always helps when you win. I would say my favorite time is just playoffs. That is what you work for all year, it’s exciting. You’re on the road, it’s just your group, you’ve been through the season together. You’re in some other city, everyone is against you booing your bus and everything. You know you’re in Minnesota finishing off a game 6 on the road, you’re moving on. I’m not the one on the ice scoring the goals and making the saves, but when you feel like you played this little small role and we’re singing and screaming in the locker room to me that’s what it’s all about.”
Would you change anything about your career path, if you could start over?
“I love it. I’m really happy here. It’s a greta place to live. A great organization. We have great people to work for and work with. The players are really good. And were on the right track, we’re gonna win here soon. I really enjoy being a part of it, and I can’t wait to keep it going!”
More personal to me, knowing what I’ve done up to this point, am I on the right path?
“You are for sure. I would say you’re lucky that you live in a big city where there is a lot of sports and event going on. I would say even if it’s unpaid, a big time commitment, go work events. Don’t wait until next summer. Call the Celtics and say I’m here what can I do, what can I get involved with, what can I be exposed to within your organization. The more you can do, the more people you can meet, and the more you can do behind the scenes. The more you’re gonna understand what it entails and the more you’re going to meet people who can help show you hey this is what I do and this is how I got to my spot. Just doing summer internships is good but it’s the people that are doing things all throughout the year that are getting those relationships and meeting the people who will get your resume to the top of the pile when a job comes available. You can’t have enough experience.”
I would like to give a special thank you to Jason Rademan for taking the time to talk to me. This was probably the most insightful interview I have ever gotten the privilege to do. This is a man who works in Hockey Operations, it is my dream to work in Basketball Operations so getting to talk to a man who has been in my same position and hear just what it took to get to the position I someday hope to find myself in.
