DRIVEN BY THE MISSION
Driven by the Mission highlights the hidden champions of the student-athlete experience. Hosts Raymond Harrison and Jean Boyd with nearly 60 years of experience in college athletics lead conversations with academic and student-athlete development professionals and other personnel central to the holistic development of student-athletes that provide insight rarely discussed related to empowering student-athletes. In a time of reinvention in college athletics, where the lead story publicly is revenue sharing, NIL, the transfer portal and the business of the college athletic industrial complex, we seem to be losing the truth. The truth that college athletics is the most ingenious system of comprehensive development for the young adults who participate therein. Driven by the Mission focuses on the core of what the student-athlete experience is about: creating leaders and champions in life, and the professionals who are blessed to be the custodians of this commitment to holistic development.
DRIVEN BY THE MISSION
Mission: Strength
Episode 6- Mission: Strength
On this episode of Driven by the Mission, Jean Boyd and Raymond Harrison sit down with Karl Holmes Jr., Director of Player Engagement for Oregon Football. Karl opens up about a non-linear path—from arriving at Arizona State with his belongings in trash bags, to JUCO detours, seven concussions, a cleared arrest that still echoes, and a degree earned at Grand Valley State. He explains how those chapters forged his purpose: advocating for student-athletes as whole people in a high-pressure NIL/revenue-share era.
Karl breaks down “Flight School,” his 8–10 week onboarding for freshmen and transfers, why radical authenticity beats any budget, and how he pushed for due process when a player was prematurely dismissed. He also shares a powerful story supporting a transfer navigating his mother’s illness and draft-night grief—reminding us that money and accolades can’t replace community.