Global Sport Executive Professor Larry McCarthy and the Future of Sport Management at Seton Hall

Laurence McCarthy, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Economics and Legal Studies and associate professor of management, has brought his extensive global leadership experience back into academic life. After three years serving as president of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, he returned to Seton Hall University with a fresh perspective and a renewed enthusiasm for teaching. “I love being back in the classroom,” he says.

Across the sport management classrooms at the Stillman School of Business, that enthusiasm translates into a very practical kind of guidance. McCarthy designs his courses to help students prepare for a fiercely competitive industry. “All of the sport marketing students complete a marketing plan,” he explains. “They choose a sport organization, product, or individual that they are professionally interested in and build a full marketing plan around it.”

For McCarthy, this assignment is designed to be more than just coursework; the plan is meant to live beyond the semester. “The advice I give students is that the project should be professionally beneficial,” McCarthy says. “It should help them take a concrete step toward where they want to go,” he adds. To do so, he encourages students to place their specific career hopes at the center of their work.

“If you have an ambition to work with a particular organization, perhaps you should do a marketing plan for that organization,” he tells students. “Or if you want to be involved in a particular agency or sport, you should look at that sport as the topic for your sports marketing plan.” The goal is to quietly build a bridge to whatever might come next. A well-chosen topic, he explains, “will give you insight and background information that you can use in terms of getting an internship, or perhaps ultimately getting a job with that organization.”

McCarthy knows exactly why so many students are drawn to this area. “The students who come into sport management obviously want to be in the sports industry,” he says. The attraction is easy to understand. It is high profile, fast moving, and exciting. That same appeal, however, makes it hard to break into. “This line of work is very attractive,” he explains. “And because it is so attractive, it is extremely competitive. You have to work very hard to stand out.”

That message is one he returns to often. He tells students that they cannot simply wait for opportunities to appear. “You have to carve yourself out, or propel yourself forward,” McCarthy says. “Present yourself well, build real experiences, and make sure those experiences serve you professionally.”

The experiences McCarthy brings into the classroom reach beyond the United States. During his time as president of the GAA in Dublin, McCarthy commissioned a major study on the organization’s economic and social role in Ireland. The work did not stop when his term ended. “That study was published in the 2024 GAA report shortly after I finished up as president,” he says. “Then we turned it into an academic presentation.” In early September, McCarthy joined a principal investigator at the European Association for Sport Management (EASM) Conference 2025 to present those findings, analyzing the economic and social value of Gaelic games on the island of Ireland. “The plan now is to develop it into a journal article,” McCarthy adds.

Pieces of that work also appear in his teaching at the Stillman School of Business. “I use some examples in my classes,” McCarthy says, noting that he brings up the GAA specifically when it helps illustrate a complex idea. “Some of it is very relevant on the business side,” he explains, “particularly in terms of stadium management and organizational work.”

Yet, moving between the worlds of a global executive and a university professor sometimes leads to unexpected moments of gentle humor. Just recently, on Thursday, November 20, McCarthy’s name surfaced during a discussion in the Irish Parliament regarding license exchanges for returning citizens. Deputy Michael Collins cited him as a prime example of the limitations of the current system in Ireland, stating: “Many in the Dáil may be familiar with former GAA president Larry McCarthy, who returned to Ireland in 2021 and had to hire a driver so he could do his job, despite having originally held an Irish license and then a US license for 37 years.” McCarthy admits the mention was kind of “out of the blue,” a surreal footnote to his time in the public eye.

When asked about what comes next, he turns back to where his days now unfold. Continuing his scholarly work is certainly on the agenda, but his priorities remain firmly rooted at Seton Hall. “I’ll continue teaching the classes I enjoy,” McCarthy says, “and publish something every now and again.” He laughs, content with the shift: “I’m back to academic life, back to academic work.”

Categories: Athletics, Business