Academics

Illinois Leadership Academy

Setting the Standard in Leadership Excellence
…a groundbreaking program that is both
comprehensive in scope and substantive in depth…

As one of the nation’s premier collegiate athletic leadership development programs, the Illinois Leadership Academy would develop, challenge, and support student athletes and coaches in their continual quest to become world-class leaders in academics, athletics, and life.

The program works with both Illini coaches and student-athletes. The student-athletes are divided into three separate phases. Personal Leadership teaches freshmen how to effectively lead themselves and ease the transition to college. The Emerging Leaders group identifies and develops high potential leaders in their sophomore or junior years. The third phase is Veteran Leaders. The Veteran Leaders encourage established leaders to step up and be vocal, as well as serve as mentors for the younger student-athletes.

Another component of the Illini Leadership Academy are the development programs for the head coaches and assistant coaches. Programs focus on developing coaches to be more effective leaders and grooming assistant coaches to become strong head coaching candidates, to name just a few.

Widely considered the nation’s top expert on sports leadership, Jeff Janssen, founder of the Janssen Sports Leadership Center, is a consultant for the Academy. He has produced many books, videos, and articles in the field and works with Fortune 500 companies outside of the sports world.