The Allan “Bud” Selig Sports Law and Business program (SLB) at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University has appointed Aaron Hernandez, former director, as its assistant dean and executive director. Evan Singletary has been promoted from program coordinator to assistant director. The program offers a Master of Sports Law and Business (MSLB), which students may also pursue concurrently with a Juris Doctor (JD).
Hernandez and Singletary will manage the day-to-day operations of the degree program while working to prepare its students for careers in the sports industry. Griffin Limongelli, who graduated from the program in May, will take over for Singletary as the new program coordinator.
“We want to expand the program externally, build strategic partnerships, develop pipeline programs, fundraise scholarship money and grow the brand,” Hernandez said of his vision for this new role. “The main goal is to get students jobs in sports.”
The program blends the study of sports, law and business to help students receive an employment edge in the competitive sports industry. In 2023, the program enrolled 52 students. Nearly half are or were student-athletes. About 17% are completing the program alongside earning their JD.
Hernandez, an El Paso, Texas, native, was a first-generation law school graduate with no connections in the sports world before he found his way to Marquette University for its sports law program. He credits that experience with helping him find a role with the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), where he eventually worked as associate director of football, on the path to becoming an athletic director.
It wasn’t until he did a happiness inventory exercise that he discovered the thing that made him happiest was returning to Marquette to help with recruitment.
“It filled me up,” he said.
That epiphany brought him to ASU Law and the Selig SLB program, which he said is the only program of its kind.
“Our location, the practical experience the students take part in and the people all set it apart,” he said. “Most academic environments function like a business, but there’s a culture here. We spend a lot of time vetting and recruiting our students; the result is special. It’s a very tight-knit culture and we want to build equity in the program.”
One person building equity is Singletary, who graduated with the MSLB in 2022.
“I have the degree and want to play a part in how it grows,” he said. “I want to see the degree get better for students, employers and teams. I want to draw high-caliber students.”
Singletary has played sports from a young age, including as a track-and-field athlete at the University of California, Irvine. The Los Angeles native worked with the NCAA often and spent some time with the LA Sparks/Chargers/Rams organization. He said the experience behind the curtain of sports teams was eye-opening as an athlete, and made the business and legal side of the industry all the more intriguing.
The new role at the Selig SLB program means that Singletary, who graduated from college with a degree in education, will get a chance to teach in the classroom, all while undergoing extensive training to become an NBA referee.
“I want the program to be known in all aspects of sports,” he said. “I’m committed to the program.”
