UPB’s Dylan Tehada Rams His Way Through the Sports Industry
By: Andrea Aruino
For as long as he could remember, Dylan Tehada’s world revolved around sports – first a player, then as a digital content writer at Unlimited Potential Basketball, and now as an analyst working on the business side of the game. Growing up in San Jose, CA, he was surrounded by sports and started playing as early as three years old. He has a deep love for many sports, but baseball takes the throne as his favorite. Just like most athletes, Tehada dreamed of taking his talents to the professional level in Major League Baseball (MLB). When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he decided to take a different path and funnel his time and energy into school, determined to carve out a future working in sports.
Tehada began his academic journey at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) as an undergraduate earning himself a degree in marketing. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in business analytics which is the focus of his current job as a partner insights analyst with the football team, the Los Angeles Rams. Before diving into what he does in his new role, it’s important to understand how he got there.
As an undergraduate student working as a scout player for the women’s basketball team, he learned to forge bonds that would shape his journey working in sports. Seeking more opportunities, he asked one of the coaches on the women’s basketball team if they knew of anyone in the sports industry as he was trying to break through and find a role that fit him. That was when he was introduced to UPB’s Coach Packie Turner who was holding a workout with some of the players on the team. This moment marked a monumental step for Tehada – a path paved with guidance, growth, opportunities, and unwavering support.
Once he got integrated into UPB, he became tasked to write their blogs and take charge of social media. When asked how his role with UPB helped him land and succeed in his new job, he said, “One way that UPB prepared me was through storytelling. There’s a certain message we’re trying to put out there.”
Being with players on the court, getting to interact with parents, and interviewing a range of UPB members from staff to newcomers, he easily translated his knowledge of storytelling to his job as a partner insights analyst. Being able to present his data requires him to master the skill of storytelling in order to present his data in a digestible manner. More specifically, he is responsible for evaluating the performance of the Ram’s partner-own assets. That may look like crunching numbers to see how many impressions their social media series has amounted to or how many views their digital feature is getting in the stadium. All these numbers and statistics mean nothing if the people being presented with the data don’t understand, which calls for Tehada to pull from his skills learned at UPB to answer the “why” and how to effectively share a message.
UPB encouraged Tehada to be able to answer the “why” in every aspect of his work. If there was an event coming up or if there was a new coach, it was his responsibility to magnify its importance, whether that be through blogs or social media posts. Not only was he learning how to tell stories by writing or telling them, but he also learned by hearing them.
“I took a lot of joy in writing the blogs because of the stories I was hearing and being able to share that with everyone. One of the things that I loved from the get-go was that it’s a community first and foremost,” Tehada said.
Tehada emphasizes UPB’s commitment to ensuring that every player and family feels welcome. He gained inspiration from seeing firsthand how much power a supportive and determined organization can do for someone no matter what level they’re at with basketball and in life.
If there’s one thing to take away from Tehada’s story, it’s that UPB is a place for growth in areas of basketball skill, knowledge, and most importantly community. He takes pride in the support and attention that UPB staff provides to anyone interested in joining. Tehada encourages anyone who wants to join to lean on that support saying, “No pun intended, you’re going to realize your unlimited potential,” made possible by embracing the discomfort that sports pose whether on the field or on the business side. Tehada will continue to embody these lessons learned from UPB as he progresses through the universe of sports.
