Mullins, Henry putting academics first for UW football
Apr. 6—LARAMIE — Delaney Mullins and Addie Henry see parts of themselves in Brittany Wagner from the Netflix documentary series "Last Chance U."
Wagner climbed to fame for her role as an academic counselor in the first two seasons of the show at East Mississippi Community College. She helped countless football players achieve academic eligibility in pursuit of moving to the NCAA Division I level.
Mullins and Henry play similar roles at the University of Wyoming, serving as academic coordinators for Cowboys football. The pair started in the school's office of academic support as interns in 2020, working their way up the ranks over the past four years.
Mullins and Henry are part of a five-person team in the department that works with student-athletes in all 15 of the school's NCAA-sanctioned sports. They work directly with players and coaches to ensure all of UW's roster is eligible in the classroom by the time football season comes around.
"We like to say that we have an open door policy," Henry told WyoSports last week. "Coaches are always in our offices, we're always in their offices, so we have great communication with all of them. If we say there's a concern, they're on it, which is really awesome. I feel like that doesn't happen very often in a lot of football programs.
"... (UW football coach Jay) Sawvel and all the other coaches really pride themselves on academics, which makes our jobs a lot easier. He's always said that's his No. 1 focus is to get these guys a degree."
Mullins was recently promoted as the department's director of academic services while also serving as the academic coordinator for football and volleyball. The Centennial, Colorado, native holds both a bachelor's and masters degree from UW, obtaining both while working in the school's office of academic support.
After originally setting out to become a high school teacher, Mullins pivoted to reconnect with her passion for athletics.
"No day looks the same, and that's also why I chose this on purpose, because I didn't want some desk job where I'm doing these mundane tasks all the time," Mullins said. "Who knows what's going to happen? Who knows what story we're going to hear? But we get to learn about the athletes more so than them just playing football and more so than the percentage we have to write on the piece of paper.
"... We're kind of the moms away from their moms. We say that in recruiting, but we mean that, because they'll pop in and say, 'Hey, how do I apply for housing? Where do I go to do this? Where's the best restaurant in town to take my girlfriend?' and we're like, 'Oh yeah, I guess you don't have anybody to go ask those things.'
"You don't want to ask your coach that, maybe you don't want to ask a professor or your friends, so we're kind of the in-between for everything."
Henry grew up in Nebraska and came to UW as a thrower for the track and field team out of high school. She left the program in 2022 with the fifth-best shot put throw in program history. She also oversees academics for wrestling and women's soccer.
Having been a college athlete herself, Henry was inspired to pursue a career on the academic side after seeing what her coordinators did for her throughout her Cowgirls career.
"We see the well-rounded everything," Henry said. "The academics, the football and everything else that goes into it. Watching them be successful, whether it's in the classroom or on the field or graduating, it's just so rewarding.
"I think that's probably why we come to work every day."
A helping hand
It's no secret being a DI football player is a full-time job in itself. On top of daily practices and rigorous strength and conditioning programs, student-athletes are also expected to keep high marks in the classroom.
If they don't, playing time goes out the window.
Mullins and Henry have the unique challenge of informing players how academic eligibility works. UW determines eligibility on a semester-by-semester basis, meaning a student-athlete generally must maintain a grade-point average of 2.0 or higher during the spring semester before the season.
"Their offseason is almost more important, because if you go ineligible in the spring, you're not playing during the season," Mullins said. "It's based off of your GPA, credit count and the percentage of your degree completion.
"We start those conversations now and say, 'If the semester ended today, you're not playing in the fall.'"
Mullins and Henry haven't had any major problems with a player's eligibility during their time on the job, and part of that is their constant communication with both the coaching staff and professors on campus. Former UW football coach Craig Bohl built a culture centered on academics during his 10-year tenure, and Sawvel has continued the tradition going into his first season at the helm.
"As soon as there's a problem, we have no issue going over to coaches, and they're OK with us popping over there," Mullins said. "That's not the case at a lot of DI athletic programs, but the line of communication is just so direct here, and we appreciate that.
"It started with Bohl, and Sawvel probably has even more of an emphasis on academics. That's just how the foundation has always been."
Every student-athlete's academic experience is unique, and Mullins and Henry treat it that way. They're constantly shifting their attention to the players who need it most.
"You kind of just have to see what the student's expectation is of themselves and then what my expectation is from them, as well," Mullins said. "I might be praising someone who just got a 70% on an exam because that's a pass, but for someone else, I know that that's like their worst nightmare."
Emotional support
Mullins and Henry don't just help UW's football players in the classroom. The pair is available at all hours if someone needs help submitting a paper or taking a test.
They're also on call in case a new player needs a bit of guidance getting to class.
"We tell all the freshmen or transfers, 'If you're lost on campus, literally FaceTime us and just turn the camera around, because we're going to know where you're at,'" Mullins said. "As soon as (Texas Tech transfer Tyler King) got here — I think it was the first day of school — he literally FaceTimed us, and we're both like, 'OK, up the stairs, and there you are. Have a good class.'"
Building those relationships with players is part of the drive to keep Mullins and Henry invested in their work. But academic life isn't always easy, especially for a student-athlete.
Sometimes, Mullins and Henry need to sit a player down and explain how grades decide whether or not they see the field at War Memorial Stadium.
"We can see their potential, because we see them every day," Mullins said. "That's when we know that they're capable of doing the work and they're just not trying. So, we just have to sit down with them and say, 'We know that you can do this, why are you choosing not to do this?'"
Added Henry: "(One of the hardest parts) is trying to convince them that they can do it, because they all can. They're all pretty smart. It's also hard bringing coaches into that, because we don't want to get them in trouble, but sometimes, we have to to give them a little more of a push by getting coaches involved."
Transfer portal
There isn't exactly a handbook for student-athletes when they enter the transfer portal. Some players are looking to jump to the next level or for a large sum of name, image and likeness money, and academics are the last thing on their mind.
"This transfer portal is a little bit difficult on academics in the sense of: We're kind of the first line," Henry said. "They have to be eligible with us first. Coaches will bring us a list, and then we actually see if they'll be eligible here.
"Sometimes, that's a very hard conversation telling a coach, 'Hey, we can't recruit him anymore, because he's not going to be eligible here.' They take that very well, because they're like, 'OK, if he's not meeting the academic standards, we don't want him.'"
Part of the problem with transferring is finding ways for credits to carry over from other universities. UW has pretty strict standards for credits to transfer over, making it even harder for coaches to recruit players in the portal.
"We're considered the Harvard of the west with transfer credits," Henry said. "We deny a lot of credits. So, that's really hard. If a transfer does come here, academically, they are on a good foot, because they need to be."
Added Mullins: "They could have the best film in the world and have great grades, but if none of those classes transfer here, then we still have to say no. But then you're already in the portal, and there's no going back. For us to have to say no to somebody, it's a tough conversation with coaches, but we're the first line of fire."
The payoff
Working directly with student-athletes as they make their way toward degrees is the most rewarding part of the job for Mullins and Henry. The path is hardly ever easy, but seeing football players walk across the stage at graduation makes the headaches worth it.
"We get to see all the hard work that goes into getting that degree," Henry said. "So, watching them walk across the stage and finally getting that degree, we like to say that's the finish line."
Added Mullins: "There's going to be guys who we know will graduate just fine, and there's going to be some who we're dragging them across the finish line. We're going to help you get that degree. Watching those graduations, sometimes I'm having flashbacks like, 'I remember that one time he failed that class, and we fixed it and he made it out.'
"It's so satisfying, because we know the challenge that goes behind it that nobody else realizes, not even their parents. I'm like, 'Remember that late night in the tutor room where we had to figure this out?' Finally, here they are graduating. It's awesome."
Fans often times forget what student-athletes must do away from the football field. Players earn praise after a big play or a rivalry win on Saturdays, but the cheers coming from Mullins and Henry sound a little different during the week.
"If a kid aces an exam, or even gets a C on an exam but that's his A, we also celebrate those small wins," Henry said. "It's rewarding for us to see them pride themselves in something off the field."
In the end, Mullins and Henry chose their professions to make a difference in the lives of the student-athletes. The Cowboys having all their players academically eligible is an unspoken expectation, but it means the pair did their job right.
"Running out on the field at the (Arizona Bowl) and holding the trophy was so fun, because we were like, 'Everybody made it. Everybody was eligible. Everybody got to play,'" Henry said. "It was such a great experience.
"... It's fun getting on the airplane and the coaches are like, 'Oh my gosh everybody is eligible,' and I'm like, 'Yes!' That's always really fun. Even after the bowl game, we'll get on the bus and they're like, 'Good job ladies,' and I'm like, 'Well, you guys just won a bowl game, I don't know what we did, but cool.'
"That's always really fun that coaches know the importance of what we do."
Alex Taylor is the assistant editor for WyoSports and covers University of Wyoming athletics. He can be reached at ataylor@wyosports.net. Follow him on X at @alex_m_taylor22.
