UPS may have coined the popular phrase "We love logistics," but few know more about organizing a multitude of moving parts than Mississippi State's Bradley Douglas.
"Controlled chaos" is what the athletic department's coordinator of game day and events might term the method to his madness. Combining many years of experience, Douglas constantly is working to make Mississippi State game-day activities as fun and fan friendly as possible.
A 2011 MSU interdisciplinary studies graduate, Douglas was a student worker in the Event Services Office before being hired as a fulltime supervisor. He subsequently joined the athletic department to help supervise facility use and manage game-day football operations inside Davis Wade Stadium.
After an organizational restructuring in the department in 2010, he transitioned to game management for several sports before beginning his current duties in 2011.
"Now my job is to handle everything outside the stadium fence on game day," he said. "I feel that I have an advantage because I have worked in several different areas and can see the big picture."
That big picture includes supervision of all on-campus parking lots at a university that remains among only a few in the Southeastern Conference allowing "on site" parking on game days. He also manages approximately 1,500 game-day employees that staff the lots, direct traffic and work in the MSU Parking Assistance Center.
"There are a lot of good people in many different departments that take so many moving parts and make them come together smoothly," he said. "I've also definitely developed a tough skin and learned to accept things I can't change."
After campus games have concluded and fans have departed, Douglas said he enjoys unwinding with his immediate family, all of whom attended MSU. He also relaxes by heading to the woods to do some hunting.
Last December, he also made time to marry Elizabeth Du Bois, whom he met while a student.
Douglas clearly enjoys his work and the daily personal relationship with his alma mater. "It's rewarding to be a part of big events and activities at State," he said.