Conference Hosts (2021)
Jeff
Fellenzer has more than three decades of experience in sports media, sports
management, higher education and as an entrepreneur. He is an Associate
Professor of Professional Practice at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication
and Journalism, teaching "Sports, Business, Media," "Sports and
Media Technology" and a sports film class: "The Athlete, Sports Media
and Popular Culture.”
Fellenzer’s
signature “Sports, Business, Media” class, which averages between 50 and 75
students each semester, was chosen in a student survey in 2012 as the No. 4
most popular class at USC. Among guests Fellenzer has interviewed in his
classes: John Wooden, Jerry West, Louie Zamperini, Pete Carroll, Bill Walton,
Scott Boras, Casey Wasserman, Sam Darnold, Ndamukong Suh, Daryl Morey, Fred
Claire, Kevin Love, Jeanie Buss, Sam Cunningham, Byron Scott, Lee Jenkins, Yogi
Roth, Lynn Swann, Ned Colletti, George Raveling, Keyshawn Johnson, Jim Nantz,
Jim Lampley and Al Michaels. His “Weekly Wooden” segments are a tribute to the
life lessons of his late friend, the Hall of Fame basketball coach and teacher
who was a three-time guest in class. He also teaches a Sports Beat class in the
USC Annenberg journalism master’s program, and serves as faculty advisor for
the school newspaper at Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, Calif., where he also
teaches a journalism skills class.
In
2014, Fellenzer was recognized as one of USC's "most inspirational
professors." He was selected Advisor of the Year for 2017-18 by the
Marshall School of Business for his work with the USC Sports Business Assn. In
both 2018 and 2019, he served as an Executive Coach for the NFL Speakers Bureau
program held at USC Annenberg, working with current and former NFL players to
improve their public speaking skills and brand messaging. Since 2015, he has
been a featured speaker/moderator and led sessions on networking, resume
writing and interviewing at the Sports Business Classroom program in Las Vegas,
held in conjunction with the NBA Summer League.
One
of only 43 Heisman Trophy voters in California and 925 around the country,
Fellenzer was a featured interviewee on ESPN's 30 for 30 "Trojan War"
documentary in 2015, and has been a featured guest on podcasts including Yogi
Roth’s #LifeWithoutLimits and Fred Claire’s “Life in the Front Office.”
Fellenzer
worked for almost eight years as a writer-editor at the Los Angeles Times,
where he wrote a column on recruiting that covered high school and college
football and basketball, and as a writer-editor for NFL Properties in Los Angeles. Fellenzer
left the Times to become founder/president of the Pete Newell Challenge, a
college basketball doubleheader held in the Bay Area from 1997-2006, and to
launch Innovative Sports Management.