One of Virnette House-Browning’s earliest memories from her years as Bradley’s Senior Woman Administrator was her first conference SWA meeting, which included pioneers and legends from other Missouri Valley Conference schools.
“I’m in this meeting room with Charlotte West (Southern Illinois), Mary Jo Wynn (Missouri State), Linda Herman (Illinois State), Sandra Williamson (UNI), Andi Myers (Indiana State),” said House-Browning. “I revered those women. I was scared to speak, and when I did speak, my voice shook.”
But, with their patience, the help of Valley leader Patty Viverito, and her own tireless efforts, House-Browning found her voice. She also found her place among them, both as a bold leader and a strong woman of color. And her work elevated Bradley athletics.
“Patty really helped me at the start,” said House-Browning. “We are still good friends. Every time Patty visits Youngstown State for a football game, we get together.”
Viverito remembers that House-Browning learned to hold her own.
“This is going to sound corny, but Virnette had spunk,” said Viverito. “She was a sponge, and that helped her learn and grow so much. Our structure, with ADs and SWAs working together, helped her learn.”
More than 25 years later, House-Browning may be out of college athletics, but her legacy and mentoring live on.
An Untraditional Athletics Administrator
At the start, the spunky Browning’s learning curve was substantial.
Most SWAs have been coaches and student-athletes. House-Browning had been neither. During graduate school in the late 1980s, she worked in admissions for her alma mater, Bowling Green State University. She did not realize at the time that she was auditioning for a different career.
“I met with families, met with students, did visits, did presentations … I loved it,” said House-Browning. “It was a very professional experience.”
Two BG head coaches noticed the young professional. Jim Larranaga (men’s basketball) and Gary Blackney (football) recruited her to work with their recruits.
“During recruiting visits to campus, I met with black football and basketball recruits and their families,” said House-Browning. “Even after I finished my master’s degree and was an assistant director in the alumni office, they still brought recruits to me. I enjoyed that because it helped sell the program, helped sell Bowling Green.”
Larranaga, now at Miami (Fla.), recommended House-Browning for an academic support staff post at the University of Virginia’s athletics program, where she connected with Craig Littlepage, later the first black athletics director in the Atlantic Coast Conference at UVA.
“Craig was a mentor, and a good friend to this day,” said House-Browning, the academic advisor to Cavalier men’s and women's basketball, working with two legends: Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan and then-UVA men’s hoops coach Jeff Jones, now at Old Dominion.
Her early experiences at BG made the “student” part of student-athletes always come first.
“I was always part of the ‘student-facing’ element,” said House-Browning, who went back to BG as assistant director for academic services before Ken Kavanagh, an assistant AD at BG, wanted House-Browning for his new job as Bradley AD.
“Ken wanted to take someone with him to Bradley that he knew, and we had been friends for years,” said House-Browning. In her early 30s at the time, she was SWA from her first day at Bradley.
Certification Supports Planning
Like other Valley female pioneers, House-Browning saw opportunity for her program to improve with the initial NCAA Certification process in the 1990s, which included a thorough internal audit, and a review and campus visit from colleagues at other schools.
Bradley’s certification process bolstered campus leadership’s desire for improvement.
“We were very diligent in our gender equity plan, our minority opportunities plan,” she said. “We had to be strategic. There had to be goals, metrics and measurement tools. We believed in those plans, and we were able to garner the resources to do the things that needed to be done.”
That support advanced Bradley sports to not just be more competitive, but more collaborative.
“Because the expectations were the same for everyone, that helped us change the culture,” said House-Browning. “Everyone started working together and supporting each other because that was how things got done, and things got better.”
Creating a Culture For All BU Student-Athletes
With men’s basketball long the face and major focus of BU athletics, House-Browning and Kavanagh faced a daunting task to make other programs more competitive in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“Coming into Bradley as the only woman of color on the staff was just part of the challenge,” said House-Browning. “We needed to make our staff look more like our student-athletes. And the culture needed to change. We had to change the way Bradley looked at things.”
The plan challenged leadership first.
“There were things that were glaring,” she said. “We had a lack of minority representation in the department. From a gender equity standpoint, and a student-athlete welfare standpoint, we had a lot of work to do.”
The list was long, requiring persistence and attention.
“Having the appropriate number of trainers. Having folks in the weight room. Having an equitable per diem for our teams,” said House-Browning. “Making sure our teams were traveling on an equitable basis. Shoring up compliance. Having enough academic advisors.”
Competitive success started with improving student-athlete life.
“All those things that really enhanced the overall quality of the student-athlete experience were our responsibility,” said House-Browning. “We had to roll our sleeves up in every aspect. We had to dig in everywhere.”
And House-Browning appreciated that Kavanagh saw the same needs.
“Ken and I worked closely together, and our leadership style was completely different from what had been at Bradley,” said House-Browning. “Our priority was working with student-athletes. Empowering them. Working with our coaches to really be advocates for what was in our student-athletes’ best interests. I felt like Ken understood and supported that, and he was an advocate.”
Renaissance Coliseum Raised the Bradley Bar
Into the 21st Century, the planning, development and building of the Renaissance Coliseum was the most visible competitive advancement for Braves sports. As now, Bradley men’s basketball played its games in Peoria’s downtown Carver Arena. But on-campus facilities lagged behind Valley competitors in size, scope and shine.
“Our facilities, Robertson Fieldhouse and Haussler Hall, were just antiquated,” said House-Browning. “It was a severe competitive disadvantage for our programs. Basketball was the ‘driver,’ and we knew we had to enhance our basketball facilities to remain competitive.”
The Renaissance Coliseum was the focal point for improvement.
“It was different. It was something that had to be done,” said House-Browning, who thought the planning process was critical. “We did it on a large scale. Our coaches were very involved in its development and planning. Campus and community leaders knew it had to be done.”
Opening in 2010, the Renaissance Coliseum gave a focus and a future to Bradley athletics across the board.
“Men’s basketball benefitted—yes,” said House-Browning. “But women’s basketball, volleyball … really all sports benefitted from a state-of-the-art facility. The facility serves all student-athletes.”
It inspired a new level of commitment and cooperation.
“We were intentional about getting all coaches and student-athletes the ability to compete on an equitable manner,” she said, listing locker rooms, travel accommodations, facility access and access to advisors helped Bradley get better through not just improvement, but collaboration.”
Diversity Demands Intentionality and Work
House-Browning is proud of the times that she persuaded coaches to look harder for staffing candidates from underrepresented groups.
“I’m telling you, it’s hard,” said House-Browning. “In one case I persuaded a terrific coach with whom I had a great relationship to reopen an entry-level search to help us be more deliberate in making it an access opportunity.”
It took the coach out of an established comfort zone.
“Initially, that did not go well,” said House-Browning. “But expanding diversity and access was what that position was designed to do. I wasn’t saying ‘hire the wrong person.’ Just do the work. Make the extra phone calls. Reach outside your own network to connect with people of color. Trust your own teaching skills. If that’s what you value, you have to be more intentional.”
House-Browning and that coach found a way to made it work because the former raised a flag, and the latter had the teaching skills the successful candidate needed. And they did the work.
Mentoring The Future
Her own need to “figure it out on the fly,” from her early days at Bradley, probably helped House-Browning find the mentoring skills which continue beyond her time in athletics.
House-Browning brought Jen Jones, the Braves’ current SWA, to Peoria in 1999. Their connection continues into Jones’ third decade at Bradley.
“She never told me how things had to be done, but rather gave me guidance, a foundation and let me carve my own path,” said Jones. “Of course, things didn't always go exactly as planned along the way, but she always had faith in me and continued to challenge and support me. She fought for me and for our student-athletes.”
House-Browning appreciates those long-term mentoring relationships with former student-athletes, coaches and colleagues—especially those that had challenging starts.
“At Cleveland State, we had a talented student-athlete whose upbringing ran counter to our expectations,” said House-Browning. “We had conversations, including one where I expressed that, if I were her coach, I would have dismissed her from the team. We had a lot to work through, but worked through it, and today, it’s a joy to hear from her because she learned and grew from all of that.”
Jones, the mother of five—including two current Bradley students—values the honest, personal, parenting bond she shares with House-Browning, the mother of a teen-aged daughter.
“Honest conversations with her about the challenges of navigating our careers along with parenthood—and knowing she really understood—has been so important in my ability to manage both fronts,” said Jones. “She didn't try to make it look easier than it was, but she helped me see that it could be done - and done well.”
Beyond Bradley
Leadership changes at Bradley led to Kavanagh’s departure in 2009. Two years later, House-Browning went back to Ohio as senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at Cleveland State, where she was SWA, as well as lead administrator for athletics communications, marketing, promotions and ticketing, and was sport administrator for women’s basketball, women’s cross country, men’s soccer and men’s and women’s tennis.
In Fall, 2020, she joined research giant Case Western Reserve University where she connects faculty with major corporations of similar interests by planning site visits and events for university administrators and others from campus and the greater Cleveland community.
Athletics set the table for House-Browning’s transition to campus advancement.
“I am utilizing all my skill sets from athletics, but in a different space,” said House-Browning.