Trace Armstrong has made a career of making and building strong relationships with his clients – college football coaches. Armstrong has built one of the largest college football coaching representation practices on the basis of establishing life-long relationships with those at the helm of some of the top Division I football programs in the nation.
In a SBJ article by Liz Mullen, she highlights an example of Armstrong’s character in a story from 2009 when Armstrong was driving towards Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, when a client (Butch Jones) called saying that officials from the University of Cincinnati wanted to meet that night in Detroit. Jones, now the head coach at the University of Tennessee, remembers “He literally turned the car around and drove right to the airport in Orlando. He had no luggage and no clothes.” He flew from the warm Floridian climate up to the not-so-warm December in Detroit weather with literally the clothes on his back.
He met with Jones and Cincinnati officials and negotiated through the night until they struck a deal at 3 a.m. From Detroit, the duo flew to Cincinnati for Jones to be introduced as the head football coach, with Armstrong still dressed for Florida. Although heading further south, he was still not dressed for the climate – even though he found a sweater large enough for his 6-foot-5 frame.
Armstrong is currently the vice president and director of coaching at Athletes First, previously having been with CAA Sports. He represents around 20 Division I head football coaches including Urban Meyer (Ohio State), Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia), Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M) and Tom Herman (newly with Texas). In addition to his college coaching clients, he also represents NFL coaches, college basketball coaches and broadcasters.
Armstrong is based in Gainesville, Florida, where he lives and played college football at the University of Florida. He will work with Athletes First’s founder David Dunn and coaches agent Kyle McCarthy, according to Athletes First president Brian Murphy.