Sam Hinkie Isn't Actually Teaching At Stanford

Sam Hinkie emerged from his self-imposed hibernation this afternoon to update his many fans on Twitter about his whereabouts and future plans. Tweeting from a Palo Alto Starbucks, he wrote that he was taking a “gap year” in Silicon Valley, where he would learn “even more about how what’s happening here will impact the basketball world,” do some snowboarding, and even teach at Stanford.

Curious about what classes he would teach—and really, hoping to get the syllabuses of them—I contacted the university about Hinkie’s position. Here is what Stanford’s Graduate School of Business sent me:

We are excited that former General Manager and President of Basketball Operations of the Philadelphia 76ers, Sam Hinkie, will be a guest speaker in one or more class sessions in our sports management courses at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB). This furthers the GSB priority of including dozens of guest speakers each year who provide real-world perspective into management issues.

Confused about how Hinkie’s tweet that he would “teach a little (at Stanford)” meshed with “will be a guest speaker in one or more class sessions in our sports management courses,” I asked for clarification. This is what I was sent:

I understand your confusion. Sam Hinkie will be a guest speaker at one or more class sessions taught by George Foster. He is not a member of our faculty. This is a common practice of the GSB to bring in guests to enrich the student experience.

So there you have it. Sam Hinkie isn’t becoming a professor, he’ll just be a guest speaker for an unknown number of class sessions, but at least one! The upside here, of course, is that a regular teaching load would have seriously cut into his snowboarding time.