Jerry Colangelo knew that it was only a matter of time before he partnered with Phoenix-based Grand Canyon University (GCU), a recognized leader in higher education.
So when GCU, fresh off an Initial Public Offering a few years ago, asked Colangelo, one of basketball’s most powerful men, to assume a leadership role on the university’s Board of Directors, Colangelo embraced the opportunity.
“I have had a long relationship with GCU, going back when it was a small sleepy little school that few people knew about outside of Phoenix,” Colangelo told Sports Litigation Alert in an exclusive interview. “When the new regime came in, it really changed the future of the university, putting on a path of growth. When they asked me to join the board, I gave them a commitment.”
Then the wheels started turning. Over the summer, Colangelo resigned from the board to better focus on the co-creation, with GCU, of the Jerry Colangelo School of Sports Business. Colangelo expects enrollment at the new school, which will be led by Dr. Brian C. Smith, a former basketball player at the University of New Mexico, to grow to 1,000 students in five years.
Colangelo, whose extraordinary career has included ownership of the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks, directorship of USA Basketball, and membership of the Basketball Hall of Fame, told Sports Litigation Alert he will take a hands-on approach with the school.
“I have developed some tremendous relationships over the last 40 years,” said Collangelo, who plans to invite those executives to speak to his students as part of the Colangelo Guest Lecture Series. “There’s only so much you can get out of a textbook. I’ll bring people here, who have been in the trenches. They have made mistakes, and learned from them. The students can learn from their experiences, and not make the same mistakes they made.”
Colangelo will also donate a significant collection of sports memorabilia to GCU, where it will be displayed in the University’s brand-new 5,000-seat arena. In addition, each year, a second-year student will be selected to be mentored by Colangelo.
Colangelo has embraced the school that bears his name as something of a legacy, a project that he plans to pour his heart and soul into.
“It’s a big world, and there are great opportunities if you’re willing to take risks,” he said in a press conference announcing the school. “You have to swim out to the ship. I use this line often: If it could happen to me, coming from the South Side of Chicago, it could happen to anyone who’s focused, hungry and willing to pay the price.”
