Carew's Been a Hit With Maverick Athletics

Alex Carew has served as an undergraduate
intern for Shane Drahota in the Minnesota
State Athletics Compliance & Eligiblity
Office

Alex Carew, a fifth-year senior at Minnesota State, is a sport management major with an athletic coaching minor.  Toiling behind the scenes in the Minnesota State Athletics Department, Carew has spent the last couple of years working with Shane Drahota in the Maverick compliance and student services office.

Born and raised in Wisconsin in a family of five (he is a triplet with his two sisters Lauren and Caitlin), Alex was a three-sport athlete in high school and played the trumpet in the band. After beginning his post-high school education at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, he transferred to Minnesota State prior to the 2015-16 school year because UWEC did not have a sport management program.

When Alex got to Minnesota State he started digging into the sport management program right away and before long started a work study job manning the front desk in the main athletic department. The following year he trained in as Drahota’s undergraduate student assistant. Drahota, who serves as the school's Assistant Athletic Director/Compliance & Student Services, is a Jackson, Minn., native who is in his second stint in his current role with the Mavericks, rejoining the department in January of 2016 after spending two and half years as the Assistant Athletic Director for Internal Affairs at Wayne State College (Neb.).

The compliance and student services department handles Minnesota State’s athletic compliance and elibility, ensuring that Maverick student-athletes, coaches, recruits, administrators, boosters, and alumni are in line with the rules and regulations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. A monumental task that involves providing oversite for Minnesota State’s 20 sports and its 500+ student-athletes, making sure they are in progress to graduate on time, their financial aid scholarships are accurate, and to make sure that they are ultimately eligible to play.

After Alex’s first day of training in the office, Jeremy Christoffels (who was working with Drahota as a graduate assistant intern at the time and now serves as the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Assistant Commissioner for Compliance.) mentioned to Drahota that he thought “Alex is going to be great.” Observing that Alex "learned very fast and was good at so much of what he was asked to do," it wasn't long before the protege was taking on additional responsibility.

“Whatever I do, Alex is capable of," said Drahota, adding that Carew is involved with virtually every facet of his operation.

"It's been a blessing working with Shane," said Carew. "One of the best experiences I've had in college. It's fun working with him and I've learned a lot.  He's a bright guy and it's been about more than just compliance and eligibility, so not just sports, but outside of this realm, too."

In addition to working with Drahota, Carew has made the most of his collegiate experience at Minnesota State, playing the trumpet in the Maverick Marching Machine, the school's athletics band. He also coaches squirt hockey.

How has he been able to juggle all of this?  "That's a good question. I think prioritizing things is the key," said Carew.  "School work comes first. Then working with Shane. Then everything else."

Expecting to graduate in the fall of 2018 and taking a look into the future, Carew has applied to a few graduate schools and is waiting to hear back from them to decide where he will end up upon graduation. Ultimately he would like to get to the NCAA Division I level where he would continue to work in a compliance and student services office.

   contributed by Brooke Brower, Athletic Communications intern