University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Performance Coach Roll Donates $250,000 for Postgrad Scholarship Endowment
October 27, 2021 | General
In the hopes of inspiring other coaches around the country to follow his lead, Tennessee Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Performance Brad Roll is making a $250,000 donation to endow a postgraduate scholarship in UT's Haslam College of Business.
Coupled with a grant from the Haslam family that will match Roll's generous donation, The Brad Roll Business Scholarship Endowment—established in memory of his mentor, Bob Slater—will grow to $500,000 by 2026.
Roll, 63, has been a member of Tennessee's Sports Performance staff since 2016. He trains the volleyball and men's tennis programs while also serving as a performance analyst for all UT Olympic sports.
More than half of Roll's 40-plus years of elite strength and performance training was spent working with football athletes and includes multiple stints in the NFL. But his recent work with student-athletes at Tennessee is what sparked his desire to commit to this philanthropic gift.
"It's been energizing to spend time around our teams," Roll said of the Tennessee Olympic-sport student-athletes he trains. "They have an incredible drive to achieve excellence. I hope this gesture inspires them to continue winning in competition and in life.
"I want these student-athletes to know that I'm here to help support them after they graduate—to help pay for their postgraduate education, keep them in Tennessee and help them get ahead in life."
The Haslam family established the matching-funds program to encourage others to raise their philanthropic sights. In this instance, the program inspired Roll to give above and beyond his original intent.
"UT recruits top student-athletes from all over the world," Dean of UT's Haslam College of Business Stephen Mangum said. "Offering scholarship opportunities to pursue graduate business degrees from Haslam is an investment that will benefit both the student-athletes and all Tennesseans. Coach Roll's generous gift is an example of the great things that happen when athletics and academics work together to provide the best possible experience for today's athletes and tomorrow's business leaders."
During stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and St. Louis Rams, Roll helped sculpt several of the top-performing athletes in the NFL. His extensive strength training experience also includes tenures with the University of Miami (Fla.) football program—he helped the Hurricanes capture national championships in 1989 and 1991—the University of Kansas men's basketball program—which won the 1988 national championship with Roll on staff—and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette football program, where he became that school's first full-time strength coach in 1983.
A former student-athlete himself, Roll was a football team captain at Stephen F. Austin and left the university with both a bachelor's and a master's degree in 1980. He earned placement in SFA's prestigious Jacks of Honor in 2004.
For more than four decades, Roll has made an impact through sport by challenging athletes to pursue peak performance in competition. Now, through The Brad Roll Business Scholarship Endowment, Roll can challenge and inspire Tennessee student-athletes to continue their pursuit of excellence through postgraduate academic achievement.
With his gift, Roll joins the Tennessee Fund's Shareholders Society for leadership-level philanthropic giving. To learn more about the Shareholders Society, call (865) 974-1218.
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Coupled with a grant from the Haslam family that will match Roll's generous donation, The Brad Roll Business Scholarship Endowment—established in memory of his mentor, Bob Slater—will grow to $500,000 by 2026.
Roll, 63, has been a member of Tennessee's Sports Performance staff since 2016. He trains the volleyball and men's tennis programs while also serving as a performance analyst for all UT Olympic sports.
More than half of Roll's 40-plus years of elite strength and performance training was spent working with football athletes and includes multiple stints in the NFL. But his recent work with student-athletes at Tennessee is what sparked his desire to commit to this philanthropic gift.
"It's been energizing to spend time around our teams," Roll said of the Tennessee Olympic-sport student-athletes he trains. "They have an incredible drive to achieve excellence. I hope this gesture inspires them to continue winning in competition and in life.
"I want these student-athletes to know that I'm here to help support them after they graduate—to help pay for their postgraduate education, keep them in Tennessee and help them get ahead in life."
The Haslam family established the matching-funds program to encourage others to raise their philanthropic sights. In this instance, the program inspired Roll to give above and beyond his original intent.
"UT recruits top student-athletes from all over the world," Dean of UT's Haslam College of Business Stephen Mangum said. "Offering scholarship opportunities to pursue graduate business degrees from Haslam is an investment that will benefit both the student-athletes and all Tennesseans. Coach Roll's generous gift is an example of the great things that happen when athletics and academics work together to provide the best possible experience for today's athletes and tomorrow's business leaders."
During stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and St. Louis Rams, Roll helped sculpt several of the top-performing athletes in the NFL. His extensive strength training experience also includes tenures with the University of Miami (Fla.) football program—he helped the Hurricanes capture national championships in 1989 and 1991—the University of Kansas men's basketball program—which won the 1988 national championship with Roll on staff—and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette football program, where he became that school's first full-time strength coach in 1983.
A former student-athlete himself, Roll was a football team captain at Stephen F. Austin and left the university with both a bachelor's and a master's degree in 1980. He earned placement in SFA's prestigious Jacks of Honor in 2004.
For more than four decades, Roll has made an impact through sport by challenging athletes to pursue peak performance in competition. Now, through The Brad Roll Business Scholarship Endowment, Roll can challenge and inspire Tennessee student-athletes to continue their pursuit of excellence through postgraduate academic achievement.
With his gift, Roll joins the Tennessee Fund's Shareholders Society for leadership-level philanthropic giving. To learn more about the Shareholders Society, call (865) 974-1218.
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