Kyrah McCowan (EMPL ’26), Director of Football Administration and Program Relations at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent her career navigating the fast-paced, competitive world of college athletics. From Tennessee to Southern California and now Austin, her journey reflects resilience, adaptability and a commitment to growth. Now, she’s bringing those qualities to the Executive Master of Public Leadership (EMPL) program at the LBJ School.
McCowan began her journey as an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science. She initially thought she would pursue a career in law but was drawn to athletics after working in community relations and football recruiting.
“I was mentored by Judy Jackson, who served as the Associate Athletic Director of Student-Athlete Welfare in Football, and really inspired me to seek out a career in collegiate athletics,” McCowan said. “She literally pushed me to take advantage of my opportunities, especially the ones that scared me.”
That encouragement led McCowan to her first big move: leaving Tennessee to join USC’s football program under Coach Lane Kiffin. At first, she hesitated.
“I initially thanked him for the opportunity but turned the job down,” McCowan recalled. “They knew how to pull at my heartstrings, and I gave in. Tennessee made me, but LA raised me as I spent all of my adult working years living in LA and working at USC.”
For over a decade at USC, McCowan worked with six university presidents, seven athletic directors and seven head coaches, including Hall of Famers and Heisman Trophy winners.
“No one in this business becomes successful alone and adaptation is a must for longevity,” she said.
In 2021, she made another leap, this time to Austin.
“Similar to my first move, I was hesitant at first to leave the comfort of the known to venture out into the unknown, but I believed in the vision that Coach Sark had laid out and the potential in what could be accomplished at Texas,” McCowan said.
She joined the Longhorns as Senior Program Administrator and later proposed and earned a promotion to her current role. Professional growth has always been a priority for her. McCowan said that titles were not her focus at the time and that she was more interested in the function of the job. However, in 2022, she had to evaluate her job responsibilities and the landscape of her new working environment. She wrote a proposal to adjust her title and responsibility scope to encompass what she did accurately.
That same drive to grow and challenge herself led her to the EMPL program. She recognized it as the perfect next step in her journey.
“There is never a perfect time to do things, you have to just take the chance, jump and learn to fly as you go,” she said.
Once enrolled, she found herself especially engaged in the Public Leadership Ethics class, which pushed her beyond her expectations and gave her deeper insights into the complexities of leadership decisions and the ethical dilemmas leaders often face.
McCowan sees the lessons from the EMPL program as directly connected to her work, emphasizing that leadership is universal across all fields. Whether she’s analyzing budgets, negotiating with media entities, or strengthening her role as a collaborator and leader, she believes the program’s focus on leadership skills is essential to long-term success.
As one of the few women of color in college athletics leadership, McCowan has learned to embrace her identity as a source of strength. Though she’s often found herself in rooms where she stands out, she views those experiences as distinctions that motivate her to build on her accomplishments.
Looking forward, McCowan hopes to use her EMPL degree to refine her leadership approach and broaden her impact at UT Austin and beyond. She considers joining the LBJ School’s network of accomplished alumni a great honor and approaches each course and project with enthusiasm, optimism and a readiness for growth.
For McCowan, both athletics and leadership share a core truth: challenges are opportunities.
“In sports, you don’t back down from challenges and hardship, you lean into them,” she said. “Life is the same way.”
Learn more about the EMPL program.