Andrew Huff '25 MBA: Earning an MBA Between Deployments
Andrew Huff ’25 MBA is a new graduate of the Eller College of Management Online MBA Program. He is also a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard, a component of the U.S. Air Force—and is currently on deployment in the Middle East.
When Huff isn’t deployed, he serves as a commercial airline pilot, so it’s fair to say he keeps pretty busy (which is exactly the way he likes it). However, his non-stop schedule didn’t stop him from pursuing his MBA at Eller.
Huff was born into an Air Force family—his father was a fighter pilot, his brother went into the Air Force, and one of his uncles was also in the Air Force. So he always knew he wanted to follow in those footsteps, but he wasn’t sure what avenue to take. Ultimately, he went to college first and was able to enter the military as an officer. He also achieved his dream career as a pilot for Delta Airlines.
But Huff might be wired with an extra dose of ambition. Despite achieving his goals, he admits he “went a little stir crazy” and “has a lot of energy.” But that energy was channeled in the right direction...
He applied it to his next list of achievements—attending an Air Force school at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where he was introduced to the University of Arizona by a friend who was attending to earn his undergrad degree.
“He took me to a football game, and I really loved the campus,” Huff says, adding, “I learned all about Eller.” He was impressed with the online format and the college’s great reputation.
Then, the pandemic hit.
“My career with Delta was put on hold, and I was deployed for the second time in a row. So I had some downtime,” he says, adding, “I thought, if I’m ever going to do this, now’s the time.”
He enrolled in Eller, was accepted, and started grad school—which he admits “happened pretty quick!”
Huff started ambitiously with two to three classes at a time, then pared down to one to refine his focus and really hold himself accountable. He credits his overactive motivation for helping through the challenge of returning to school after being away from that lifestyle for quite some time.
“I leaned on family and friends, I used the study groups that were available for almost every class, and I reached out to instructors and asked for extra credit or more work in every session,” he says, adding, “The course was challenging, but I got a lot more out of the degree than just the coursework and the curriculum. I figured out how to expand my resources, meet people and collaborate. I learned a lot more that I didn’t expect to learn to get through the program and be successful.”
During his studies, Huff focused on entrepreneurship and marketing. He was set on entrepreneurship from the beginning but surprised himself at how much he enjoyed the marketing angle.
As he reflects on the circumstances during which he chose to earn his MBA online with Eller College, Huff says that while he was apprehensive about whether he could really do a program like his, he began to realize that he could do things that previously he had thought to be impossible or too challenging.
For those wondering if they should take their own leap of faith and pursue a degree with Eller, Huff offers the following advice: “I would say that raising the bar for yourself and constantly challenging yourself—even if you fall short—is 100% worth it. The skills that I learned from this MBA, and just the journey getting through it, are going to apply to every facet of my life moving forward—as a dad, a husband, a family member, a friend, an officer in the Air Force and an airline pilot—in ways that I couldn’t imagine.”
We at Eller College couldn't be more proud to call Huff one of our own–both as an alumnus and a lifelong member of our Eller family. From all of us, heartfelt congratulations and our deepest gratitude for your service to our country.