Football coaching legend – and television personality – Herm Edwards will bring a bit of star power to the National Sporting Goods Association’s (NSGA) 56th Management Conference & 22nd Annual Team Dealer Summit in Phoenix, AZ, in May. His keynote presentation will kick off the annual event.

Edwards just completed his second season as head coach at Arizona State and led the team to a Sun Bowl victory and an 8-5 record that included an upset of Rose Bowl champion Oregon. He defied skeptics who wondered if he could be successful on the sideline again by leading the Sun Devils to a bowl game in his first season after nine successful years as an NFL analyst for ESPN television and radio.

Herm Edwards has been linked with one of sports’ famous phrases for nearly 20 years. “You play to win the game” was born out of a challenging stretch of Edwards’ coaching stint with the New York Jets in 2002. That phrase became the inspiration not only for his team’s comeback to make the playoffs that season, but for many others fortunate to be influenced by Edwards’ message.

Playing to win the game has personified Edwards’ life as a successful NFL player, NFL and college coach and national television analyst. It is an approach that will hit home with attendees of the Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit.

“Herm Edwards is a winner in every sense of the word and NSGA is excited to have a speaker of his caliber to share his inspirational message with our Management Conference attendees,” says Matt Carlson, NSGA President and CEO. “Herm has responded to some monumental challenges throughout his life with tremendous success and that will resonate well with those in the sporting goods industry facing their own challenges.”

Edwards continues NSGA’s tradition of presenting speakers unlike any event in the sporting goods industry, including basketball Hall of Famers Bill Walton and coaches Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Tom Izzo of Michigan State, legendary baseball ironman Cal Ripken, Jr., world champion boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and outspoken golf analyst David Feherty.

Registration is open for the Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit at nsga.org/events/conference2020/.

There will be more announcements coming about the rest of the speaker lineup and education sessions for the Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit. Speed Networking, which has become one of the most popular features of the event, will return to give retailers and team dealers the opportunity to talk with manufacturers in a series of short, structured meetings.

The Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony will cap off the event on Tuesday evening with the induction of Peter Capolino (Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Company), Robert Greenberg (Skechers) and Klaus Obermeyer (Sport Obermeyer). For more information on the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame, visit nsga.org/hall-of-fame/.