Andrew Hufford

A few miles away on Park Avenue . . . 
Andrew Hufford, MSE '03, sat at a desk on the 14th floor of the NFL tower and flipped through a pile of player contracts that needed agent signatures.

Hufford spent his summer tracking and filing contracts, verifying weekly club rosters and obtaining national college football media guides as an intern for the NFL Player Personnel Department, which writes and executes NFL rules and regulations. It wasn't all paperwork, though. He got to meet NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and pro football players Warren Moon and Dwayne Rudd. 
During the internship, he hoped "to learn as much as possible about the day-to-day operations of the NFL," he says. He worked on several projects, including the College Advisory Committee, College All-Star game analysis and a coaching database, which was his main assignment. "I clean the fishbowl, but I don't feel like I'm just another intern," he says. "I have a lot of responsibilities and a lot of privileges."
During his time at Baylor, Hufford became interested in sports management. It was Baylor alumnus Kevin Fernandes, BSEd '97, an NFL player personnel coordinator, who advised Hufford to seek an NFL internship. Hufford sent about 20 résumés to different departments in the organization, and says, "I kept getting rejection after rejection, but finally, I heard back from Player Personnel." Fifteen were called in to interview for the two available positions, he says.
The internship confirmed for Hufford his ambitions to have a sports-related career, although he's open to it developing in any number of ways. "I may work for a club in the NFL, I may work in the game operations department, or, eventually, I may become a football coach for college or high school."