The Charlotte 49ers, in partnership with the University of Florida and Atlanta agency CSE, have launched Next Chair, a professional development gathering for elite college basketball coaches and athletic administrators. The event will be hosted May 14-16 on the campus of UNC Charlotte.
The event drew its inspiration from the work that was started with the former Villa 7 Consortium, which was on hiatus for the last three years.
“We were actively engaged in the idea of launching an event like this and hosting it at the University of Florida,” said Charlotte Director of Athletics Mike Hill. “When I was fortunate enough to be named the AD at Charlotte, Scott (Stricklin), Mike (Ellis) and I started to think about a plan that would allow both Charlotte and Florida to host the event moving forward. We’re fired up to be able to welcome so many from the college basketball community to our city and campus.”
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas is serving as the keynote speaker for Next Chair. The event will include a variety of sessions, including mock interviews and speed dating, intended to introduce upwardly mobile basketball coaches and senior administrators who will be making future hires.
“The idea behind Villa 7 was to build relationships between basketball coaches and administrators,” said Mike Ellis, of CSE. “It really exceeded our expectations – over 200 men’s and women’s coaches went on to be Division 1 head coaches. Next Chair will be basketball coach-centric but will still provide a platform for these key relationships to develop with administrators.”
