‘Form genuine relationships’
Patsy Armstrong’s ability to relate to others guides her through career in
college athletics
by Hallie Hart
While working at San Diego State and then at Oklahoma State, Patsy Armstrong has put connections with people at the center of her career.
Photo by Allen Rhodes Photography
As the director of on-campus football recruiting at Oklahoma State, Patsy Armstrong could see everything from the perspective of a soon-to-be college athlete’s mother.
Armstrong bonded with the parents she met during campus visits, and many stayed in touch with her, calling to thank her even if their sons chose schools other than OSU. While she worked to create a welcoming atmosphere for prospective Cowboy football players and their families, she also supported her teenage son, Anthony Bland, on his recruitment journey.
Various colleges sent mail to star wide receiver Bland, leading up to December, when he signed with Princeton as his mother sat beside him in Stillwater High School’s fieldhouse. Bland’s experiences gave Armstrong an up-close look at other football programs’ tactics, providing her with inspiration and keeping her up-to-date with trends. Although no two universities have identical recruiting approaches, Armstrong noticed a common theme that led to success stories.
“When it was all said and done, the heart and core of recruiting is relationships,” Armstrong said. “I saw firsthand the coaches and the staff that were building these relationships with Anthony, genuine relationships, authentic, and in turn, that’s what I needed to make sure people felt when they came to Oklahoma State.”
From California to Oklahoma, Armstrong has built her career around those types of connections.
After gaining experience in athletics and student life at San Diego State, Armstrong became OSU’s director of on-campus recruiting in February 2018, making her mark as the first woman to work in a football operations role for the Cowboys. In August 2019, she switched to a job as OSU’s assistant athletic director/basketball operations, a position she held until it was recently eliminated because of budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an industry of constant changes, Armstrong has remained true to her people-focused leadership style. From appearing in a video with athletes and coaches speaking out against racism to mentoring fellow members of a group called Women Leaders in College Sports, she has shown meaningful relationships extend beyond day-to-day interactions at work.
She recognizes her capacity to positively influence others, and she doesn’t take it for granted.
Embracing leadership
About five months after Armstrong settled into her first job at OSU, journalist Mark Cooper featured her in the Tulsa World, and she explained the significance of her role in the sports industry.
“It’s bigger than just me,” Armstrong told the Tulsa World. “I want to make sure I set the tone for myself, for women, for African-American women.”
More than two years have passed since the article’s publication, but now that she can reminisce on her accomplishments at OSU, her words hold even more weight.
“When I first got to Oklahoma State, there (weren’t) many women in leadership positions,” Armstrong said. “There’s not many people of color in leadership positions. And I just really wanted to set that tone, to know that we are smart, we are just as capable, we are just as driven, we are just as awesome as anybody, and we can do the job.”
Fitting into a mostly male-occupied space was nothing new for Armstrong.
Her father was in the Navy, so she spent her childhood moving among military bases, where she competed on coed club teams in sports that included soccer and softball. Male athletes often vastly outnumbered the girls, but that didn’t discourage Armstrong.
Her dad, a former college basketball player, coached many of her teams and held her to the same high standards he had for the boys.
“I think that helped me at a very young age to be able to adapt to different environments, different types of people, different types of personalities, different levels of competitiveness,” Armstrong said.
As Armstrong grew up, she held on to her love for sports, receiving the “most athletic” title in her high school class. She was a cheerleader at UC Santa Barbara, and she said her injuries — an MCL tear, a fractured vertebra and the lingering tendinitis in her wrists — illustrate the intensity of the sport.
After giving birth to her son, earning a college degree in Black studies and briefly living in Russia while Bland’s father played basketball there, Armstrong embarked on her career in the sports industry.
“...We are smart, we are just as capable, we are just as driven, we are just as awesome as anybody, and we can do the job. ”
In 2005, she landed her first job in athletics, an administrative assistant position for San Diego State’s football team. Simultaneously, she pursued a master’s degree in post-secondary educational leadership, which prepared her to take her professional life in a new direction.
With her additional credentials, Armstrong became an office manager in SDSU’s Student Life and Leadership office, eventually ascending to a lead student life adviser position.
Instead of working alongside football players and coaches, she was ensuring that student clubs ran smoothly, meeting with student leaders and organizing campus activities for thousands of people.
Despite the different responsibilities, Armstrong drew some parallels between her jobs in athletics and student life.
“Up until then, I had only worked with student-athletes,” Armstrong said. “But these (campus leaders), obviously, it was kind of (a) very similar type of student, because they’re very driven, very focused, very goal-oriented. They just didn’t play a sport.”
Contributing to the creation of Aztec Nights, a series of late-night social events meant to provide students with a safe, fun environment on campus, was one of Armstrong’s biggest endeavors at SDSU.
Although she had pivoted away from sports, Armstrong kept her strong ties to the athletic department. Determined to make sure athletes would regularly mingle with the rest of the student body, Armstrong spread the word about her events to people who worked in athletics, and they sometimes planned for top recruits to visit campus on those nights.
“That was awesome because I was able to maintain those relationships and also help the school out, in a sense, in another way,” Armstrong said.
Those connections helped her return to SDSU Athletics, but she had no idea that after four seasons with the football program, she would move halfway across the country to make a difference for a Power 5 school.
Making the move
At first, Armstrong didn’t seriously consider the opportunity to join OSU’s football staff.
Then she discussed it with the person who means the most to her, and his surprisingly positive reaction made her think twice.
Although Armstrong has easily formed connections with numerous friends, colleagues and mentees, none are as powerful as the mother-son bond she shares with Bland. Armstrong always prioritized Bland over everyone and everything else, staying in California so he could continue going to school there and live near his family. An out-of-state move for her career would have to wait, and that was how she wanted it to be.
But Bland, then a high school sophomore, encouraged her to give OSU a chance.
Armstrong reminded him it meant they would leave San Diego, traveling almost 1,400 miles from his friends, yet Bland embraced the idea of switching high schools for his last two years and had confidence he would keep up with his buddies.
“He was just very mature about the whole thing,” Armstrong said.
Patsy Armstrong poses for a portrait with her son, Anthony Bland. In the midst of her busy professional life, Armstrong has prioritized him.
Photo by Allen Rhodes Photography
From that point, Armstrong consulted with football coach Mike Gundy and Kevin Klintworth, OSU’s senior associate athletic director/communications, to clarify the details about her position as the on-campus recruiting director.
Klintworth was familiar with her strengths. He knew her from her early years at SDSU, and though he moved on to Cal and then OSU, Armstrong turned to him for mentorship as her career progressed and evolved.
In 2014, she had left the Student Life and Leadership office to be a football administration specialist for SDSU coach Rocky Long, enjoying the team’s journey to two Mountain West championship titles.
Then Klintworth reached out to her about the opening at OSU. The job transition came with its challenges — Armstrong described recruiting as a “beast” because it never stops — but it also allowed her to thrive in a role that centered on cultivating relationships.
Ron Moses, one of Armstrong’s friends, said her experience as a recruit’s parent and her lifelong ties to sports gave her a rare level of knowledge about the process.
“I think it helped out a lot for Coach Gundy to have her on staff,” Moses said. “And just have her insight and experience into, ‘Hey, if I went on a recruiting visit, this is what's important to me as a mom. This is what I want to know.’ It's not all about x’s and o’s and things of that nature.”
Moses, an associate athletic director for student services at Old Dominion, connected with Armstrong when she gave a presentation at the Black Student-Athlete Summit in Austin, Texas. Since then, they have shared ideas and relied on each other for advice. Moses said Armstrong’s sociable nature makes people feel comfortable, a key factor in recruiting.
“I think Patsy's genuine,” Moses said. “I think that's the best thing about her.”
Armstrong’s cordial demeanor continued to help her foster relationships with coaches and student-athletes when she became an assistant athletic director/operations. Armstrong worked primarily with OSU’s women’s basketball program, taking care of responsibilities related to team gear, meetings, travel and more.
“The best part of it has just been the girls being able to have another role model or mentor,” Armstrong said. “Someone that’s not their coach that they can … consider like a big sister or an aunt.”
She was always there to offer guidance to student-athletes, but she also listened to their voices.
Supporting others
During the summer, a couple of Cowboy football players contacted Armstrong and asked if she would speak in a video they were creating.
She agreed, and on June 11, she tweeted the finished product with the hashtag “#BringChange.” The video, which also featured athletes and coaches from multiple OSU teams, addressed social injustice and urged people to openly acknowledge and oppose racism.
In the wake of nationwide protests after police killed George Floyd, the video was personal to Armstrong.
“I’m Black, white and Japanese, but society sees me as Black, so I’m Black,” Armstrong said. “And then I have a son who is also mixed, but society sees him as Black. … I just felt it was important for me to touch on my feelings and the emotions that I have to go through of having a son that is Black living in America.”
Armstrong had another reason for appearing in the video. It’s the same reason she gladly answered all of the questions women’s basketball players had for her when she was an assistant AD, and it’s why she cared so much about creating a positive environment for football recruits.
In every workplace, Armstrong has prioritized students.
“I remind people all the time, we work in college athletics,” Armstrong said, “and the people that we should be supporting are our student-athletes because we wouldn’t have jobs if it wasn’t for the student-athletes. … I know why I’m here, (what) my purpose is, and I just want everyone that works in college athletics to not lose sight of that.”
Despite the uncertainty the pandemic has caused, Armstrong can rely on her experiences in athletics and campus leadership to propel her to wherever she goes next. Moses said Armstrong’s next step depends on where she wants to go and what is important to her.
“With the skill set she has, the sky's the limit, really, for whatever it is she wants to do just because she's able to look in different areas,” Moses said.
Throughout years of balancing a busy schedule as a sports industry professional and a mother, Armstrong has consistently set aside time to network with like-minded women. As a member of Women Leaders in College Sports and a creator/former leader of a circle for women in football, Armstrong has talked to many who seek her advice.
Usually, Armstrong shares two major lessons. She talks about dressing in business wear because she recognizes the tough truth that women are often judged for their wardrobe choices, but her other message is deeper, the message that defines her career.
“No. 1 is, I say, form genuine relationships,” Armstrong said. “And it’s hard, because especially when you’re distanced, or don’t work with them directly, it’s like, you don’t want to be awkward … but you have to really find a way to form genuine relationships.”
Sometimes, Armstrong still hears from families she met during her time as a recruiting director. Although she is no longer part of OSU’s football program, that can’t take away their common link as parents of college athletes.
Armstrong has followed her own advice, and her network shows it.