On Monday, May 15th, former Cleveland Browns member and current NFL free agent Andrew Hawkins finished a two-year journey that involved hard work and an exhausting amount of frequent flyer miles, when he graduated from the School of Professional Studies' Sports Management program with a Master of Science. Hawkins had a notable statement on his graduation cap: "Just as smart as I am quick. Shuttle: 4.0, GPA: 4.0.”
The father of three, who is on Twitter as @Hawk, began the degree in Spring 2015, keeping his offseason busy with weekly flights cross country to New York, where he would spend a day learning in his classes, then returning home in far-flung locales like Florida and California, continuing his rigorous football training.
For Hawkins, the ultimate goal is to become the General Manager of a football team. His degree in Sports Management is a step forward, as it provided an education in all sides of the business. He shot a short “Day in the Life” video for the sports programming network Uninterrupted, where he worked as an intern for three months. According to the New York Daily News, a highlight of his schooling was “a 35-page paper on the use of analytics in the NFL.” While Hawkins has a bright future, he’s also at a turning point in his present. A current free agent, he requested his release from the Browns and is weighing his prospects for the future. In a winning Sports Illustrated profile, he goes into more detail about his future plans: "he's looking to join a contender," or a team closer to winning the Super Bowl. While he's been meeting with teams, it should be noted that he recently worked out for the Patriots. As Sports Illustrated put it, "even with a Master's degree in his hand, the grind never stops."
