David Cohen may have risen to the top of the food chain in sports law as the general counsel for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But his first love, when it comes to a profession, is rarely far from his thoughts.
Growing up in Baltimore, Cohen desperately wanted to become an Athletic Trainer for a professional sports team. In furtherance of that goal, he attended the Athletic Training program at West Virginia University. After earning his undergraduate degree, Cohen rose through the ranks of Minor League Baseball, even being named as the 2001 Minor League Baseball Athletic Trainer of the Year for his work with a team in the Montreal Expos organization. Along the way, he completed his master’s degree from WVU in community health education.
While Cohen’s professional career would take a detour into law, he never lost his passion for the athletic training discipline, as evidenced by the following interview:
Question: How did you become interested in becoming an athletic trainer?
Answer: My involvement in Athletic Training began while I was a high school in Baltimore. The Boys’ Latin School of Maryland was one of the first secondary schools in Maryland to have a full-time Athletic Trainer. Jim Talbert, the school’s Head Athletic Trainer, had a sports medicine club. As a freshman, I joined and was one of the few students who spent time with him outside of the regular club period. Jim taught me the basics and allowed me to shadow him at first. It was a great learning experience and as time went on, I got to take on more and more responsibility. When it came time to look at colleges, I looked at a lot of schools. At the time, students could either go through an apprenticeship program chose West Virginia University as they had one of the first approved curriculum programs.
Q: Tell us about your career path as an AT?
A: When I was in high school, I wanted to be an Athletic Trainer in the NFL. I went to WVU, and my sophomore year was accepted into their Athletic Training program. Shortly after that, I sent resumes to all the NFL teams looking for an internship. In response, I got a stack of rejection letters on really nice letterhead. I quickly learned that professional sports (and the world) is network driven. I went back to Jim Talbert early my Junior year, and he connected me with Richie Bancells, the Head Athletic Trainer of the Baltimore Orioles. Richie passed my information along to Brian Ebel, who was at the time the Orioles Minor League Athletic Training Coordinator. Brian placed me as an intern with their AA team. Two years later, he hired me for a position with the 1996 Gulf Coast League Orioles.
After the 1996 season, I moved to the Montreal Expos, who had a full-season position opening. I spent the 1997 to 2001 season with the Expos at the low A, high A, and AA levels in addition to working a season each in the Maryland Fall League and Arizona Fall League. There were a lot of great people who helped mentor me during my tenure with the Expos, and I grew a lot. In 2001, I was selected as the ‘Minor League Baseball Athletic Trainer of the Year’ by my peers in the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society.
I started law school in the fall of 2001 and went back to baseball after my first and second year of law school. For 2002 and 2003, I worked for the Boston Red Sox, who assigned me to their short-season Class A affiliate in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Q: What were the challenges associated with transitioning from an AT to a lawyer?
A: Law school was a challenge! All kidding aside, the toughest thing was finding balance. My wife and I got married in 1999, which was two years before I started law school. Working as an Athletic Trainer involved long hours of hard work and required a strong work ethic. Law school was the same in that respect. My wife has always been very supportive of my career, the big change, and the challenges that it brought. I often say that we both went through it as I could not have done it without her.
One big change involving going from a very active job to going back to school and being in a seat for countless hours per day. To this day, I don’t sit for long. Rather than use the phone or send an email, I walk to someone’s workspace to ask a question.
From a position perspective, I am lucky that I had a lot of great mentors in the business and legal world. During my third year of law school, I was hired by the Angels to be their risk manager. I worked 30+ hours per week while finishing my degree. After graduation, I started working full-time with the Club while studying for the bar exam. I was fortunate to pass the bar on my first attempt, and I started taking on more and more responsibility. Eventually, I had built a legal function in an organization that did not have one when I was hired. I am so grateful for people like Bill Stoneman and Molly Jolly of the Angels who gave me the first opportunity by hiring me, mentoring along the way, as well as countless other opportunities to learn and grow during my nine-year tenure with the Angels.
Q: How does being an AT help in your current role with the Bucs?
A: Having worked as an Athletic Trainer and lived the life on the team operations side of the business gives me a unique perspective. It allows me to relate to people in a multitude of roles and speak with credibility. It also helps me deal with matters involving injuries, medical information, and healthcare in general. I keep more than a couple of my Athletic Training textbooks in my office, and I refer to them from time to time.
Q: Some might have turned their back on the AT profession after becoming a lawyer, you have maintained many connections. Why?
A: My view is that to this day, I am an Athletic Trainer first. I appreciate my background as an Athletic Trainer every day. While I am not practicing, I still maintain my Athletic Training certification with the NATABOC and my NATA membership. It is very much a part of who I am, and I don’t plan on dropping it.
The most effective people I know have and maintain relationships in a multitude of places. I keep in touch with a lot of Athletic Trainers, lawyers, and business people. My philosophy is “Give more than you take. Be a fountain, not a drain”. It takes effort to build and maintain relationships, and you have to give first and often. However, you never know when those relationships will be important for your career or the careers of others.
Since becoming a lawyer, I have developed relationships with a few other people who started as Athletic Trainers and went to law school. There is a small, but growing group of us. The first was Ned Ehrlich, who worked as an Athletic Trainer for the Eagles and Dolphins and now works for the NFLPA. There is also Tammi Gaw, who now works in the non-profit world in DC and spent time as an executive with the World Police and Fire Games, Charles Gallagher, a litigator in St. Petersburg, Florida, Angela Lubach, who is now Associate General Counsel for a retail company in Wisconsin, and recent addition Jim Hoch, who is working at a firm after spending several years as an Athletic Trainer with the Chargers and Dolphins. I am sure there are more, but this the group I have gotten to know the most.
Q: What are some examples of how the AT professional and sports law have blended together?
A: Like being a lawyer, being an Athletic Trainer involves supporting others. Neither role has a position without others in the industry.
To be honest, my Athletic Training experience is not too different from my legal experience. The difference is just context. While working as an Athletic Trainer, I learned that one needs to treat the conditions that cause injuries rather than just the injury itself. It was a holistic approach to care. As a lawyer, I try to take the same approach as a lawyer. A problem may arise, and you have to be ready to deal with it. However, it is important to realize what caused the problem and find ways to address the root causes.
Ultimately, the most effective professionals understand the big picture. I am a big fan of learning as much as possible about as much as possible. If you take the time to understand others and consider their perspective, needs, and goals, it makes it easier to come up with an effective solution — and to build the consensus needed to implement it.
