This WSU Sport Management alumna used to swim for the Cougs. Now she plans events for USC’s Galen Center.
By C. Brandon Chapman
For Monica McNamara, sport has always been more than just a pastime. It was the lens through which she learned about the world.
“I grew up in the Bay Area, where my mom was a Pac-12 athlete at Cal in the late 1970s, right when Title IX was just starting to make a difference in college sports,” Monica said. “That was a huge motivator for me to swim. In our family, everything revolved around sports — it’s how we connected. It felt natural to turn that into a career.”
In 2014, she came to WSU as a walk-on athlete with the women’s swim and rowing teams. But her collegiate athletic career was cut short by a serious hip injury that required surgery.
“That injury was really tough,” she said. “But it also opened my eyes to the other ways I could still be part of sport, even if I couldn’t compete.”
Monica graduated with a bachelor’s in Sport Management and double minors in Communication and Human Development in 2018, then stayed on at WSU as a graduate assistant in both Athletics and Sport Management while earning her master’s degree in 2020.
“The Sport Management program gave me the opportunity to expand my interests in so many ways,” she said. “Tammy Crawford told me something early on that really stuck with me: ‘Sport is six degrees of separation, and you can either go an inch wide and a mile deep, or an inch deep and a mile wide.’ I chose the inch deep and mile wide — learning a little about a lot — and that’s benefited me more than I realized at the time.”
Today, Monica works as the Director of Facilities & Operations at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles, managing a venue shared by five varsity teams: women’s and men’s basketball, women’s indoor and beach volleyball, and men’s volleyball.
In addition to USC sports, Monica helps plan the venue’s steady calendar of rentals for corporate events, ticketed shows, esports tournaments, and even major film productions.
“It’s a unique space, because on any given day I’m balancing team practices, games, and outside events,” she said. “We’ve hosted everything from NCAA watch parties to big-budget movies to Call of Duty and Fortnite tournaments. It keeps things exciting and unpredictable.”
Monica posing with colleagues and big-name guests to the arena.
Her time at WSU gave her hands-on experience she still draws on today. She completed practicums with WSU Athletics Communications and Game Management, helping with everything from collecting press clippings to running ticketing software to operating the student section on game days. She also interned at Gonzaga Athletics, focusing on basketball and baseball operations and researching facility security plans.
“The practicum and internship requirements were some of the most valuable parts of the program,” she said. “They gave me real experience while I was still learning about the industry.”
Some of her fondest memories of Pullman have nothing to do with sports at all. “Watching summer sunsets over the wheat fields, going to the Moscow farmers market on Saturdays, just connecting with good people in this small town — Pullman has this way of bringing everyone together,” she said.
Monica also feels a deep gratitude toward the trailblazing women in WSU’s program history — like Joanne Washburn and Sue Durrant — who fought for gender equality in sports.
“As a female in sports, there are definitely more hurdles to overcome,” she said. “But I feel it’s my responsibility to help blaze the trail further and mentor other young women trying to break into the industry. The more we support each other, the more opportunities we can create for the next generation.”
When she looks back on her journey — from the pool to the stands to the operations office — Monica said she’s proud of the path she’s taken.
“You never know exactly where sport will take you,” she said, smiling. “But if you’re open to learning, building relationships, and saying yes to opportunities, you’ll always find your lane.”
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This feature is one in a series of features the College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences is sharing, leading up to the Sport Management program’s 40th Anniversary celebration on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.