When Howard College head coach Larry Scott took over the soccer program in 2020, he realized his employees lacked a place essential to the group’s success. Recognizing a necessity for a devoted recruiting chief, Scott sought somebody who understood this system and will join effectively with gamers.
He discovered that in Janice Pettyjohn, a pupil who was serving because the soccer group’s gear supervisor on the time. Scott noticed her potential to do extra and trusted her to deal with expanded obligations.
In April 2022, at age 22, Pettyjohn was named the director of participant personnel and on-campus recruiting, changing into the primary lady employed to a full-time soccer place at Howard. Pettyjohn recruited all of the gamers on Howard’s present roster, which is making ready for this system’s spring game on Saturday.
“Her being a pupil and now alum and understanding the way to navigate a number of the areas of being a pupil whereas all the time being concerned in athletics was only a traditional mixture of what was wanted,” Scott mentioned.
“Whether or not it was contemporary concepts or new ideas, she introduced them in a means the place our challenges weren’t challenges — we used them as strengths. And I don’t suppose anybody else might have been higher at doing that.”
By hiring Pettyjohn for the function, Howard made historical past and mirrored the college’s core values within the course of, mentioned David Davis, assistant athletic director of soccer operations.
“She’s been an innovator, the primary lady employed as a part of our program, and she or he’s doing an excellent job, and it’s proper on model for what Howard College represents,” Davis mentioned. “‘The Mecca,’ the place future Black leaders are cultivated, has a historical past of trailblazers, and she or he’s following that trajectory.”
In Pettyjohn’s function, her obligations vary from overseeing this system’s compliance with NCAA laws to roster administration to all features of recruiting, together with displaying prospects and their mother and father round campus throughout visits.
Howard’s location within the nation’s capital and its standing as one of many top historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) helps Pettyjohn’s efforts to woo native recruits, she mentioned, and she or he locations an emphasis on attracting native expertise as a part of her total technique.
“The most important focus, at first, is ensuring that we’re recruiting at dwelling. We put a really, very, very giant give attention to native DMV [Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia] recruiting … since you need to preserve the superstars at dwelling,” Pettyjohn mentioned.
Past selling Howard’s athletic prowess to recruits, Pettyjohn additionally encourages them to embrace the college’s sturdy tutorial status, impressing on prospects – and their mother and father – an understanding of how incomes a level from the HBCU can open doorways far past the NFL.
“We’re not promoting a dream,” she mentioned. “The identical five-pound weight at LSU is similar five-pound weight at Howard. The distinction is {that a} Howard diploma carries immense worth.”
Darius Fox, a senior offensive lineman, was a part of Pettyjohn’s first recruiting class in 2020 and credit her with cultivating a supportive atmosphere.
“She helped me give attention to extra than simply soccer. Our conversations have been about life, not simply the sport,” Fox mentioned. “That disconnect from soccer helped me and my teammates navigate faculty. Through the years, we’ve really turn out to be a household, and she or he’s the highest individual chargeable for that.”
Since transitioning to her present place, Pettyjohn has helped assemble groups that received back-to-back Mid-Jap Athletic Convention championships in 2022 and 2023. Various gamers from these championships participated in Howard’s Professional Day last year and this year’s showcase in March, displaying their expertise in entrance of NFL scouts and different group representatives.
“When recruiting, it’s vital to indicate that we are able to ship gamers to the league,” Pettyjohn mentioned. “The previous few years have demonstrated that, particularly with our championship wins.”
Traditionally, girls in male-dominated areas have confronted obstacles whereas proving their value. Pettyjohn hopes to encourage future generations by emphasizing that success comes from dedication, not id.
“I don’t really feel like I do what I do effectively as a result of I’m a lady. I really feel like I do what I do effectively due to my work ethic and my ardour for this sport,” Pettyjohn mentioned. “Me being a lady is simply the additional bonus. … So the recommendation that I all the time give younger girls after they come and so they ask me [about working in a male-dominated industry] is, simply stroll into that room. … You should be there, and God positioned you there.”
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