>> My name is -- full name Azizuddin Abdur-Ra'oof; typically, I go by Ziz.
I try to be like my friend Boomer who used to play quarterback here
and just go by the one name thing.
At any point, I work in the athletic department,
I'm the director of Student Welfare and Career Development.
It varies, you know, it can end up being a student dropping by my office just to talk to me
about classes or what's happening with their day, and along with that,
talking to them about internship opportunities, career opportunities.
Depending on what year the student's in, is what the conversation will go to.
I don't think there is a typical day.
I mean, typically, if I walk beside our weight room, I'll see --
I might see a student in there and go, oh, my God, I need to talk to him about this,
or I need to talk to her about this.
So there's no typical day and that's what I like about it.
I like variety.
Today, for instance -- or actually this evening, I have a SAC meeting, which is --
it stands for Student Athlete Advisory Committee,
so I'm the advisor for that particular group.
It involves two members from each sport, for them to have a voice and be able
to voice their concerns to the athletic department,
so it's a group that I love working with.
We also do a lot of community service work along with just issues and things
that pertain to them and their daily life.
So as far as -- I know we -- I'm hopping around on that typical day,
but it's not -- I don't have a typical day.
And that's what I love about it.
Helping people, especially student athletes, having been one myself,
I think in the generation that we -- in this particular time that we're living,
students really need to hear from those who've walked the path before them.
I think that's what other people's experience -- you call it OPE --
so instead of you repeating the same mistake,
it's best to learn from other people's experiences.
So I really like to invite other former student athletes back
to talk to current student athletes.
That's one of the things that I do.
And then also, myself being involved with them and being able to talk to them
about my own personal experiences.
I would say just sometimes I'm a straightforward person.
I like to just tell you what's really on my mind.
So sometimes I have to count backwards from 100 and filter things and not just say what's really
on my mind when it comes to dealing with some things from an administrative standpoint.
I think what's the most important aspect of it is caring, truly caring
and being a trusting person and being able to offer candid advice to someone.
And then there are times when you --
you sometimes you don't want to give too much information,
meaning they have to help themselves.
I want them to show initiative.
So it's sort of like -- it's a give and take
and you don't know how much information you should always give, so sometimes it's best to --
that's when you really have to know the person and it's just one of those things
where you just have to feel it out and go from there.
Well, I love the diversity.
I love the size of the school.
I'm a local guy.
I'm from Anne Arundel County, grew up in Annapolis, Maryland,
graduated from Northeast High School.
At -- while I was at Northeast High School, you know, I was involved in sports,
I was student government president, involved in --
I was a Thespian, so I had a pretty varied life.
Didn't really think about playing football in college.
Wasn't really thinking about that.
It just kind of happened.
And I think, you know, working with some really good teachers at the time and good role models
at my high school, they shared information with me and it just kind of led me to the path
of Maryland/ and what I liked about Maryland was just the size.
I loved being around different types of people because I can learn from them, and, of course,
you know the academics was good, very good coach,
my coach was Bobby Ross, and they had a good team.
You know, I alluded to Boomer Esiason earlier in the conversation, he was the quarterback,
so he's -- he's someone who obviously he's done very well for himself
and had a fabulous NFL career as well as done some great things for us, the cystic fibrosis.
So we had those type of individuals that I was able to interact with and that helped me.
So I think just being able to give back and watching others, and Boomer's just one of many.
During college in my fourth year of playing football, I ruptured an Achilles tendon,
and that was early in the year so I'm out basically until the next year.
Actually, I didn't -- I wasn't -- I didn't actually start running again until like April.
So literally from September to April, no sports.
You know, so I was just basically a student at that time.
So it gave me a segment of time during my day where I could do other types of things,
so I could focus totally on my academics, and I graduated consequently in that spring.
And I was able to come back and play football, but I got drafted the following year
by the Kansas City Chiefs, and I had a short NFL career.
My first pass that I caught in my NFL career, I run a down and out,
catch the ball on the sideline, and couldn't get up.
So I popped a groin muscle.
So I'm thinking to myself, you know what?
This might not be the right thing for me; you know, an Achilles, a groin muscle,
and to be honest with you, I didn't really like pro football that much.
Just was one of those things.
It was kind of weird.
I mean, what I didn't like about it was, the difference between college and pros back then,
it's a business, and that's what you learn early on.
It's completely a business and you're the widget.
Final piece of advice would be to think outside the box.
Get outside of your own world.
What I find is -- in my interactions with college students is they stick to their books
and they don't think about some of the other things that other people are doing
like reading Fast Company or talking to an alum about what got them into a particular career.
I think they would be surprised, because it's not a straight path, it zigzags and you all
over the place, and you end up in a place where hopefully that person who's
in that particular job or career loves that -- loves what they're doing.
But it's not linear.
It goes all over the place.
So be flexible and adaptable.