Most 21-year-olds who are preparing to stroll for graduation are most likely in the procedure of upgrading their ConnectedIn profiles, searching the web for possible job opportunities or living it up for a couple of more weeks prior to striking the marketplace.
For Rice alumnus Peter Chung, who will leave through the Sallyport throughout this May’s start events, he’s not just working a full-time job already, he’s making history each time he clocks in.
Chung, a current graduate with a bachelor’s degree in sport management, was employed in February as the director of gamer workers at Houston Christian University. In this function, Chung directs the recruiting operations of HCU’s football group. At 21, he is the youngest individual to hold that position within the leading levels of college football.
While this difference might appear like a lot to measure up to, Chung said he attempts not to think of it excessive.
“Honestly, it doesn’t really faze me too much,” Chung said. “My buddies constantly joke with me about it, however it’s something that I’ve constantly wished to disregard. Because at the end of the day, being the youngest DPP is cool, however if I get fired in a month for doing a bad job, it does not actually matter.
“I’m not going to try to live up to expectations of, ‘Oh, he’s the youngest DPP. He needs to be this game-changer.’ I plan on doing things and breaking records at HCU and just getting the job done. But it’s not something that I think about 24/7.”
Chung’s experience in football workers started as a recruiting expert at Rice, where he helped in offering the Rice football brand name to employees. He contributed in 3 of the leading 5 recruiting classes in the program’s history, however the story of how he got to that point didn’t precisely have a smooth start.
“I bombed the interview. It was bad, bad,” he said. “Then I was given a second chance, and I came back and crushed that. From there, it was just learning. I came in not knowing anything. And while I was there, I just spent a lot of time with the staff and the players trying to build relationships.”
Chung said he needed to rely greatly on his individuals abilities early on, as he didn’t have a standard background when it pertained to football.
“I always knew I wanted to work in sports, but with football specifically, all the experience I had was playing Madden (the NFL video game),” he said. “I commentated on some football games as a play-by-play commentator when I was in high school. But that was about all the experience I had. I thought I understood football, and then working at Rice — that’s when I figured out, ‘Oh, I actually don’t know anything at all.’”
Chung said his childhood was far from focused around football. His moms and dads, who moved from South Korea, extremely valued his education and pushed him to pursue professions beyond sports maturing.
But the heart desires what the heart desires, he said.
“My mom and dad are still trying to figure out exactly what I do,” Chung said with a chuckle. “But they’ve been great and so supportive. I think they were a lot harder on me going into high school because they wanted me to go into things like pre-med, law school, computers and stuff like that. But now that I’m in college, they want me to do what I enjoy doing and what I love.”
Despite his non-traditional course to the football world, it appeared that there was something unique about Chung from the dive, said Tom Stallings, teacher in practice in Rice’s Department of Sport Management.
“If you get to spend any time with Peter, you find that, No. 1, he’s authentic. What you see is what you get,” said Stallings, who was a coach of Chung’s in his time at Rice. “He’s very smart and thoughtful. He’s not some brash guy who talks a big game and everything. He’s a guy who’s loyal and who’s going to be a good team player — just a really good, competent person.”
The favorable credibility Chung constructed for himself at Rice can be found in convenient when Houston Christian started trying to find somebody to fill its DPP position.
“As a student, he received more and more responsibilities — to the point that when (Chung’s former boss Marco Regalado, Rice football’s executive director of player personnel and recruiting innovation) got called by one of the football operations people at Houston Christian, Marco referred Peter Chung to him,” Stallings said. “He said he was looking for someone with a little more experience. And Marco told him, ‘You know, Peter’s got more experience than I do.’ Marco had three years of college recruiting experience and Peter had four.”
It was a hand-in-glove suitable for Chung and HCU head football coach Braxton Harris, who employed him.
“We are thrilled to have Peter Chung join our staff,” Harris said. “He brings experience and interest for hiring to our staff and is an increasing star in this occupation.”
Chung’s distinct background and resume have actually enabled him to have an outside-the-box view of how to finest hire a gamer to a program, and for that, he mainly credits his experiences at Rice.
“If I never came to Rice, I wouldn’t have this job right now. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “The people there are unbelievable. The friends I made at Rice are going to be lifelong friends, and the teachers I’ve met have played a big part in shaping how I’ve learned and how I understand where I want to go with my career.”
