Iowa Ledger (2022) - Tippie College of Business

When he was a student at Iowa, Anthony Nelson (BBA18)’s career plan was an accounting
degree from Tippie, passing the CPA exam, and getting a job at a Big Four firm.
Instead, he won a Super Bowl.
Mind you, he’s not disappointed by this
unexpected career turn. A linebacker for
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers now entering
his fourth season, he says the NFL has
been a thrill, and the ring he won from the
team’s Super Bowl victory over the Kansas
City Chiefs is something to cherish. (He
keeps it in a safe deposit box so nothing
can happen to it).
He’s played an increasingly important
role in the team’s defense in his first
three seasons and is expected to play a
significant role in his fourth.
Nelson said he was well-prepared for the
rigors of the NFL by his three-years of
experience as a linebacker for the Iowa
Hawkeyes, and by his experiences in his
Tippie classes.
Accounting and playing linebacker
have certain similarities, it turns out.
The people who succeed at both are
analytical, plan-ahead types who know
their circumstance and prepare for all
contingencies.
“I’m an accounting type—pretty detailed
and focused,” he said. “I compartmentalize
things, I can look at pass coverages
and stunts and blitz packages and
understand they’re separate and also a
part of something—which is a big part of
accounting.”
A strong work ethic also helps. He
learned from the academic rigor of the
department, the high expectations the
faculty set for the students and their
demand for excellence. He said those
expectations prepared him to work
with Tom Brady, one of the greatest
quarterbacks in NFL history who’s famous
for his ferocious work ethic and his
demand for excellence from everyone who
plays with him.
“He carries the same kind of high
expectations and demands of us
that the professors in Tippie have for
their students,” he said. The class he
remembers most is managerial accounting,
taught by Lisa Dutchik.
“We were taught how to take all the theory
we’d been learning and apply it to real life
situations, and she made it engaging and
interesting,” he said.
A native of Urbandale, Iowa, Nelson
graduated from Waukee High School and
came to Iowa in 2016. The choice was never
really in doubt. His father, Jeff Nelson
(BS92), a mathematics graduate, played for
Coach Hayden Fry as a defensive lineman
from 1990 to 1992, including the 1991 Rose
Bowl team. His mother Christy (Balster)
Nelson (BBA94) is also a Tippie alumna.
“Playing at Iowa was my main dream,” he
said. “We were a Hawkeye family, and
I’ve rooted for the Hawkeyes as long as I
can remember. We had Hawkeye stuff all
around the house.”
Nelson even married a Hawkeye in 2021.
Jordyn (Steinkritz) Nelson (BBA18) is also
a Tippie graduate and a current member
of the college’s Young Alumni Board.
But it was more than just Hawkeye
football that attracted him to Iowa. With
the NFL not yet on his radar and the
Big Four his goal, academics were as
important as football.
“I knew I wanted to major in business and
that Tippie was a great school that would
provide me with so many opportunities,
so that was an easy decision,” he said.
But after his second season with the
Hawkeyes, he started hearing draft buzz,
and then Coach Kirk Ferentz called him
into his office and told him that scouts
and agents were looking at him. He told
Nelson that if he ever needed any advice
or someone to bounce ideas off of, he was
there to help.
“That’s when I realized the NFL was a real
possibility,” he said.
So he set aside his Big Four dreams and
went pro. He was picked by the Buccaneers
in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL draft,
after recording 119 total tackles and 23
sacks as a Hawkeye. He also earned an
accounting degree in just three years, is
on his way to a master’s degree in finance
from Tippie, and made the Academic
All-Big Ten team twice, learning time
management skills to keep his GPA up.
“Take an extra class and carve out a few
minutes here or there to get ahead a
chapter,” he said.
Do that and you never know where you’ll
end up. Though for most of us, probably
not in the Super Bowl. •
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS 29