Since the beginning of the school year, senior Morgan Bohl has experienced the athletics department beyond the comforts of the court.

For her final class as a senior, the defensive specialist had to choose an internship to go along with her business and marketing major.

And after playing for Minnesota her whole college career and seeing what Gopher Sports marketing did for her team, she opted to apply for its marketing internship.

While juggling school and volleyball, Bohl started working with the marketing team at the beginning of September.

“It’s great to see the behind-the-scenes part of sports here,” Bohl said. “Just the small things that I’ve never really noticed — it’s opening my eyes to all the different promotions that go on during events.”

Sophomore teammate Erica Handley said she has noticed the leadership qualities Bohl has gained from her internship translate into her role on the team.

“I think this internship is really helping her become more of a leader,” Handley said. “We all look up to her.”

Bohl is now a co-captain on the team.

“She’s more comfortable, more confident in what she’s doing for our team,” head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “If that’s a direct result of working with [marketing], then great. If not, then she did it all on her own.”

Amanda DeLisi, assistant director of marketing and head of the internship
program, has been working with Bohl since the beginning of the semester. DeLisi also oversees the marketing and promotion efforts for the volleyball team.

She said the department usually assigns interns to a sport that they work on that for the whole season.

But Bohl and the two other student-athletes who work with Gopher Sports marketing don’t work on a single sport because of their own packed schedules.

DeLisi said the student-athletes work at events and do general office work.

“The nice thing with them is they get to work with all of the sports, compared to people who are just working with one,” she said.

DeLisi said Bohl has helped her research ideas for halftime shows.

“She’s been a great asset,” DeLisi said. “She sees things that other schools do that we don’t get a chance to.”

With the internship program, Bohl has also researched volleyball groups and high school basketball coaches to work with for promotions, and she helped out at the men’s basketball exhibition game last week.

DeLisi said with the volleyball season winding down, Bohl will have more opportunities to work with basketball and hockey.

Though Bohl will finish school after the semester, the internship program is yearlong.

DeLisi said she and the other staff members working in marketing at the athletics department talk to their current interns at the end of the fall semester about plans for after college.

In the near future, Bohl said she sees herself staying in a career with sports.

“I feel like I just gotta stay with sports because I’ll miss it too much if I don’t,” Bohl said.

Though she’s from Colorado, Bohl said she’s planning to stay in Minnesota for a while and try to land a job with a professional sports team.

“That’s big thinking, but that’s what my dream job would be,” Bohl said.

She recently applied for a marketing job with the Minnesota Twins.

“Right now I’m planning on staying here just because I think I have a little bit more connections,” Bohl said. “But I’ll see where that takes me.”