Daron K. Roberts
Founding Director
Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation
Daron K. Roberts is a former NFL and college coach who serves as founding director of the Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation (CSLi) at the University of Texas. The Center is the first university-based institute dedicated to developing leadership and character curricula for high school, collegiate and professional athletes. His research revolves around issues of rejection, failure management, student-athlete financial literacy and leadership.
As a highly sought after leadership coach, Daron equips executives and elite athletes with strategies to wage war against their status quo. He has worked with companies such as Google, Facebook, Coca-Cola, and The New York Giants Football Club. Roberts holds a faculty appointment in the Liberal Arts Honors Program. He has received the Silver Spurs Centennial Teaching Award, Creative Engagement Award and was named a distinguished faculty member by the School of Undergraduate Studies in 2015. In 2011, he was awarded the university’s highest distinction for young alumni by being named an Outstanding Young Texas Ex.
After graduating from Harvard Law School (2007), Roberts served coaching stints with the Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, West Virginia Mountaineers and Cleveland Browns. He holds a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government from the University of Texas (2001) and an M.P.P. from Harvard’s Kennedy School (2004).
