Michigan State director of player engagement Kurt Richardson talks plan for his new role

East Lansing, Mich – New Michigan State director of player engagement Kurt Richardson has been on the job for a little over a week, but has nearly 15 years of professional background on the subject. His company, Encore Athletix, has consulted with over 500 professional athletes and 1,000 student athletes, aiding in their off-the-field development. His new gig will allow him to continue working with NFL athletes, such as clients Lamar Jackson, Saquan Barkley, and more.

Richardson’s predecessor at Michigan State, Darien Harris, covered a lot of ground in his role as director of player engagement before his promotion to assistant athletic director of NIL and special advisor to athletic director Alan Haller earlier this month. With Harris around to help show him the ropes, Richardson has made a comfortable transition into his new job.

“Darien laid an incredible foundation,” said Richardson earlier this week while meeting with members of the media after practice. “I couldn’t even articulate to you all how many things he did right. I don’t know where that came from, but I have been around some bad player engagement. There are so many pillars and stuff that are institutionalized now. It makes my job really easy in that there is not a bunch of infrastructural work (to do). I am not convincing people that this stuff matters. They understand.

“We took a bunch of players to Detroit. I was actually one of the people who spoke. We went to a bunch of businesses, and you see their eyes open up, you can start to see it. Darien laid down such an incredible foundation it makes it easier.”

During his first year on the job, Richardson wants to ensure that the initiatives spearheaded by Harris continue to run smoothly.

“My first year, what I am trying to do is assimilate in,” Richardson said. “Do everything that he did and just keep that going. There are no things that I look at, and this is not hyperbole, nothing that I am 50/50 on. I am 100% in on everything he did. There will probably be a couple things that I will find that we can add based on relationships that I have with other speakers and other people. Also he is still (at Michigan State), I get to call (Darien).”

While Richardson was speaking with the media, Michigan State’s freshmen were getting a lesson in money management.

“With 116 guys of course it is a mix of where people come from,” Richardson said. “Many people have not had a (money) conversation with their parents. Regardless of what their income status is, it is not a rich or poor thing. Families do not talk about money like that. Most people don’t have a baseline for that so getting that to them changes the trajectory of how they are going to think about money while they grab it.

“In fact, that is what they are doing right now. We have a group of freshmen that are learning about budgeting right now on their way to class. That is the priority of it.”

Providing skills needed for success in life beyond football

In the era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), players are being asked to juggle more than just football and academics. As such, Richardson is committed to connecting players with resources that will help them manage their money, while providing useful financial skills they can carry with them throughout their lives beyond football.

“Of all the things that we can complain about with NIL or money in sports, one (of the positives) is that these kids realize they are a brand,” Richardson said. “The people we are getting to Sunday’s, they really understand that this is a once in a lifetime thing. To be able to reach 25,000-50,000 people that can create a foundation, to create an organization where nobody can cut you from. That is the nature of it, teaching that.”

“In many ways it is the same, whether you are 18 or 25-years old getting that much money,” Richardson said. “It is accelerated wealth. Basically, it is just the same as if a regular person wins the lottery. I don’t know if you know the numbers on that, but they are almost statistically guaranteed to go broke again. I come from the finance world originally. So, that is especially true of young people. Their brain is not fully developed when they leave here. How they see money is twisted. The upside though is, because of it people are getting programs they wouldn’t get. I am not here pro bono. One of the things we are going to talk about is money management.”

Focus on mental health

In his new role Richardson and his staff will also provide mentorship in the mental health world with sports psychologists including Molly McQueary and others. Richardson will work with McQueary and other sports psychologists on a day-to-day basis. He is not the only one in the building focused on the subject.

“It is key,” Richardson said. “In the NFL, when I go do something, with the Colts, or the Jaguars, or the Dolphins, 100% of the time they have a sports psychologist in that room with me. Because guys will talk to me about stuff. I am a kid from the projects who has had a hard life and had some success. That always translates to these guys, so they will talk to me about stuff they wouldn’t normally talk about and those people can capture that and use that. That is the first conversation I had here with Doctor Molly McQueary. I would like for them to be at everything we do. If you talk about money management you learn how people lived with their Grandma, or bounced around from house-to-house like I did. That won’t come up in other settings.”

Richardson believes Michigan State is fully vested in providing players with the mental health resources necessary to help them maximize their potential as student athletes.

“In the NFL what they learned recently is that you can not have a good player if you do not have a good man out there,” Richardson said. “If you have somebody that is distracted, either by money, infidelity, imposter syndrome, all the stuff that can happen to these high performance athletes. They can not play the game that is so competitive.There are only 1,600 people on the planet that can do it. You can not go out there on Sunday and not be right mentally.

“There are teams that still don’t get it. It is like buying a Ferrari and not changing the oil. The person that you draft, 90% of their plays are between the ears. We know that, we always say the mental side of it is tougher. They only say that when we talk about performance. We don’t say that when we talk about vulnerabilities, or what people call distractions in our life. Then all of a sudden we don’t want to talk about it. In any other walk of life or any other job we know how you feel will dictate how you act. The root word of emotion is motion. How we move through the world is highly inspired by how we feel.”

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