FROM FIELD TO
BOARDROOM
THE DL
ISSUE 18 QUARTER 1 2017
Sunday Conversation | Billy Cundiff
By Jenny Aust Turner with Savills Studley
Here ’ s the scene : After months of preparation , it comes down to this one win-or-lose moment . The team is counting on him and he ’ s hoping not to crack under the pressure . In one instant , all of Billy ’ s hard work will either pay off or have seemingly been for nothing . The setting ? Not the football field he has been all too familiar with after 13 years in the NFL , but a boardroom sitting across the table from investment committee . Billy Cundiff hung up his football cleats a little more than a year ago and now focuses his time and energy on development for Hines . Even though his day to day is a big change from what it was in the NFL , he finds some days there are more similarities than differences .
While people typically hear about the difficult transition of professional athletes to civilian professions , Billy has been preparing for his off the field career the day he stepped on it . “ I always thought I would be a high school history teacher and coach basketball . It was never really my plan to be in the NFL ”. As a successful two sport athlete in high school , Billy excelled as goint guard on the basketball team and both quarterback and kicker for thefootball team . “ Basketball was my first love . In the summer time , I would leave my house in the morning for the playground and play basketball until it was dark out . My mom never worried about where I was , because she knew I was at the basketball court ”. His main goal was to play basketball in college and he was recruited to play both that and football at Drake University in Des Moines , Iowa . “ I wanted to be the quarterback , like I was in high school , but they needed a kicker .” Billy ’ s second choice position ended up working out pretty well for him , as he went on to break records for the most points ( 284 ), field goals ( 49 ), and PAT ’ s ( 137 ) for Drake in the Pioneer Football League .
After a successful collegiate career , Billy went on to graduate and sign with the Dallas Cowboys in 2002 . “ I had to beat out four different kickers to get the spot in Dallas . The largest crowd I played for at Drake was maybe 12,000 people . Now I ’ m at the Cowboys Training Camp with 15,000 fans watching and Hard Knocks filming . It was a pretty huge change and there was a lot of pressure to perform .” He spent the next four years playing for Dallas , before being traded to Tampa Bay . In the following four years , Billy played for seven different teams , before landing in Baltimore for 2009-2011 . Billy would make the Pro Bowl team in 2010 with the Ravens , averaging 71.1 yards per kickoff to lead the league and had touchbacks on 51.3 % of his kickoffs . While most of his peers were solely interested in money and fame , Billy remained focused on his long-term plan and life after football . While recovering from an injury in 2007-2008 , he managed to get his MBA from Arizona State University . “ I was preparing for the day I was done with football the day I started playing . I wanted to make sure that when football was over , I could be in a position to start a career and build towards the long term ”. After a few more seasons in the NFL and simultaneously securing a degree in ASU ’ s MRED Program , Billy officially retired in 2015 after being released from the Buffalo Bills . 13 years in the NFL , 14 teams , and two Master ’ s degrees later , Billy was ready to begin his career off the football field .
After considering several different career paths , Billy met his first introduction to Commercial Real Estate through CBRE ’ s NFL Outreach Program . Specifically designed to recruit NFL players interested in the business , this program predicts that many of the skills necessary to be successful in sports translate to business . “ Traits like working hard , having a competitive drive , and performing well under pressure are all crucial to being successful in this business , just like sports . When I would be training for try outs , I would work all day , every day for months just to get ready for the real possibility I might not get picked up by anyone . I see that parallel in Development .” After the CBRE Program Billy Cundiff and his MRED , Billy joined Hines Hines in 2015 , focusing on underwriting deals and expanding the land development side for single family homes . When asked how it was similar to football , he said , “ When I was a kicker , I found you would get all of the credit or all of the blame . There are so many variables that go into it , but in the end , it ’ s your neck whether or not you make the kick . It ’ s eerily similar in development . I ’ ll work on a project for months before presenting it to executive committee , with no guarantee it will be approved . In one instant , all of your hard work will either pay off or be worth nothing .”
So far , it seems like the hard work is paying off . Much like in the NFL , there is pressure to perform and a considerable amount of hard work required . “ In the NFL , production is what allows you to stay . If you can ’ t produce , you have to get out . I think that is the same for commercial real estate . Most athletes are competitive in nature and can handle that type of environment . I think that ’ s why CRE attracts so many athletes . It ’ s high risk , but high reward ”. One thing he can confirm is there is definitely less pressure than being NFL Kicker . When asked if he would ever consider going back , he says “ It ’ s hard to do one thing when you ’ re focused somewhere else . Commercial real estate is much more sustainable for me in the long term , which is exciting . My sports career gave me the tools to be successful in my professional career , so I ’ m thankful for that .” Working at Hines , he is still very much on a team and is constantly competing for new business by chasing deals . He readily admits he rarely watches the NFL games and doesn ’ t really even have a team . However , when a kicker lines up for a game-winning field goal , he remembers how it feels . “ I miss the anxiety that gets your blood pumping . I always found that the things that make you nervous are the things that are most fun ”. While the competition and high pressure situations have not gone away for Billy , the fun now takes place in the boardroom , as opposed to the football field .
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