Alyssa Nakken ’15 Named 2025 Sport Management Alumni of the Year

The award recognizes exceptional contributions, professional excellence, and significant impact in the sports industry.

“Choosing USF was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and to be recognized by the university more than a decade later is both humbling and deeply personal,” said Nakken, now assistant director for player development for the Cleveland Guardians. “So much of what I’ve been able to achieve professionally is rooted in the experiences, relationships, and lessons I gained through USF’s sport management program. I’m immensely proud to represent that community and incredibly thankful for the foundation it gave me.”

Nakken, a standout softball player at California State University, Sacramento, found herself gravitating toward USF’s baseball program while pursuing her master’s degree, eventually working as chief information officer for the team.

“I knew I wanted to stay close to the rhythms of team dynamics and the culture of high performance,” Nakken said. “The coaching staff immediately stood out to me as the kind of leaders I wanted to learn from and support. I didn’t grow up dreaming of working in baseball specifically but I was drawn to the environment – one where each day looked different, where I could be outdoors, close to the field, and immersed in athlete development. That pull – to the people, the purpose, and the pace – ultimately led me here.”

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Nakken also joined the San Francisco Giants’ organization, first as an intern in 2014 in the baseball operations department and then as a staffer. In 2020, the Giants promoted her to the major league coaching staff as an assistant coach, marking the first time a woman had held a fulltime coaching role in the MLB.

Nakken’s string of firsts continued with the Giants, including becoming the first woman to coach on the field in an MLB game, during exhibition play. Her jersey from that first game she coached in was sent to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Nakken continued to coach in exhibition games in 2021 and in 2022 became the first woman to coach on the field in a regular season MLB game. She joined the Guardians last year.

Nakken said that being seen as a role model is humbling and that she carries a deep sense of responsibility to do the job well, not just for the players and staff she works for but also for the many people quietly watching from afar. “Regardless of any title or spotlight, I hold myself to the same standard: Show up with purpose, lead with integrity, and do the work with heart,” she said.

“Alyssa represents everything we look for in someone deserving recognition with our Alumni of the Year Award,” said Dave Almy, chair of the Advisory Board’s alumni relations committee and principal at ADC Partners. “She's quite literally changed the game of baseball specifically and sports business more broadly. She is an amazing representative of our University and ideals, and presents both our alumni and students with an outstanding example of what a USF education can lead to.”

Nakken credits USF with teaching her to think expansively and to value diverse perspectives. Sitting in classrooms with peers from across the world, each with unique backgrounds and aspirations, challenged and reshaped her ideas of success. Nakken said she learned to communicate across differences, how to solve complex problems collaboratively, and how to build something larger than herself.

Those lessons, she said, are at the core of how she leads and shows up today, not just for herself but for others around her.

“Above all, I’m a proud mother, and my daughter Austyn is the greatest gift of my life,” Nakken said. “The fact that she will grow up never questioning whether a woman can coach at the major league level – that this is just her norm – is probably my greatest honor. That’s what legacy looks like to me.”