Leadership Lessons from Coaching and Business: Interview with Cathy Andruzzi: S3E14

Leadership Lessons from Coaching and Business: Interview with Cathy Andruzzi

Her passion for basketball blossomed on the playgrounds of New York City. Later, as a player at Queens College, she led her team to a #2 national ranking.  Andruzzi subsequently moved into coaching at Wagner College and after two successful seasons, headed to East Carolina University (ECU) where her courtside strategies put the Lady Pirates on the map.  She led ECU to the school’s first and only AP Top 20 ranking and NCAA Tournament appearance.  During her stint at ECU, Andruzzi served as creator, executive producer and on-air talent for the Cathy Andruzzi Show, the nation’s first weekly women’s basketball coach’s television and radio show. 
Andruzzi next ventured into the corporate world where she cut her teeth in the highly competitive environment of retailing.  It was here that Andruzzi honed her skills in business and marketing as owner-operator of six successful Domino’s Pizza franchises in New Jersey.  She was only the fourth woman franchisee in Domino’s Pizza history.
Integrating business, sports and the media represented a natural progression for this strong communicator.  As a television basketball analyst in 1996-1997, Andruzzi produced and marketed the Women’s Basketball Show and The Game of the Week, a national package of women’s basketball games. She also created and secured the sponsorship for the first TV special devoted to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, The Dial NCAA Women’s Tournament Preview Show.  Strong contacts and a top-notch reputation persuaded executives of the American Basketball League to tap Andruzzi as the General Manager of the Philadelphia Rage in 1997. 
Andruzzi returned to the business world where she is managed her own consulting firm, Druzz Ltd., through which she is a strategic advisor for several organizations.  In 2015 she consulted Rutgers University on the development of the Global Sports Business Masters Program where she provided direction and strategic advice relative to launch.  She became a faculty member of the program where she taught Sports Leadership and Ethics. Andruzzi is also a Sr. Associate Director for the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida and an Advisor at University of North Carolina Kenan Institute Sport Entrepreneurship. During the Spring 2013 semester she was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Sports Business Ventures course at the UNC.
Now Cathy is a Leadership and Performance Coach.  She provides executive leadership coaching to senior leaders and teams in their organizations.

Website:
Cathy Andruzzi Leadership & Performance Coach

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(6) Cathy Andruzzi (@CathyAndruzzi) / Twitter

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Eric Reyes: Host of Hey Coach! Podcast
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