The Dawn of NIL, and What It Means for Recruiting
Get ready for one of the most confusing, game-changing, events of your coaching life
The summer before college in 1985, I worked at Wendy’s for a few months.
That was me, in the old-timey baby blue uniform manning the drive-thru, earning $3 an hour and watching my fast food store manager lose his ever-loving mind on a daily basis. Because…it was fast food.
Whenever things got really bad during a given day, our fearless manager would utter the phrase, “this is like a four hour car accident in slow motion.”
Ladies and gentlemen, NIL is going to be like a four hour car accident in slow motion.
I’m not making a comment on the intended benefits it all is going to afford student-athletes. If the rest of us can have the option of charting our own course and engage in activities that could financially benefit us based on our talents and the interest of the public, I think the 18+ year old adults that we coach should have the same opportunities. Seems fair, that’s all (by the way, we did a mammoth deep dive into the perceived pros and cons of NIL that you can listen to here).
But with the ruling that each individual state, and in some cases each individual campus, will set the NIL rules for student-athletes rather than the NCAA, we’re about to see something that’ll be college sports’ equivalent to the Wild West. Or, as my old Wendy’s manager Don would say, like a four hour car accident in slow motion.
What every coach needs to understand on when it comes to recruiting in this emerging NIL landscape
First, there will be a lot of coaches - and athletes - who won’t be thinking about all of this at first. Over the first few years, you’ll see 60-70% of recruited athletes not really understanding all of it, or feeling like they don’t have a market for their individual talents. And it’s true: Not every teenager is their own monetized brand. But as with most things in our culture, these slow-adapters will be drawn into paying attention to NIL, as will the next recruiting class you talk to, and then the next one in an increasing faction, and the next one, and the next one. My point here is that you have time to get your plan together, and figure out what you and your athletic department can and should do or not do related to this topic.
But don’t be fooled: This is a redefining moment in college athletics, and college recruiting. In the same way prospects want to see your athletic facilities and what brand your uniforms are, they’re going to increasingly be evaluating what your state’s rules are related to NIL, and what your athletic department is going to provide them in terms of tools, resources and affiliations. For you personally, you’re going to have to be prepared to answer their question "why should I come here to compete for you?” as they compare you to the other coach who is recruiting them, and using NIL to lure them to their campus. My message here is simple: Don’t ignore it, thinking it doesn’t really affect you. It will, and it does.
I’m curious to see which Division III and NAIA institutions are going to jump on this. Most won’t, mistakenly thinking all of this doesn’t apply to them because they are a small school and their athletes aren’t paying attention to this. That’s not going to be true, of course (do you think the Division III teenage prospect’s brain is wired differently than a Division I teenage prospect’s brain when it comes to wanting a social media following and the opportunity to earn extra money in college?). The small college athletic departments who develop a plan and compete for the attention of these athletes are going to have an unbelievable advantage over those who don’t. Especially those of you who coach and lead departments at the NAIA level…the latitude you have to get creative with NIL is mind-boggling in the world of college athletics. Small colleges shouldn’t pass on the opportunity to take the lead in this new frontier.
It’s all about the quan. Don’t remember what quan is? It’s this. And yes, your prospects want it all: The love, the respect, and even the money…and you’re going to be asked to be playing the role of Jerry Maguire, trying to get it for them. At least that’s increasingly going to be their view of you during the recruiting process, where everything is hyper-inflated when it comes to things that they deem as ‘important’ in their decision making.
Here’s your immediate to-do list:
Ask your prospect about it. Ask them about NIL, what they’ve heard about it, what kind of social media following they have, and if they’re interested in it as a layer of their college student-athlete experience. Whether or not you and your school has a comprehensive NIL plan or not, find out what the mindset of your recruit is. You’ll get a real-time view of what they think of all this, and how you and your department might want to prep for meeting their needs and expectations as this unfolds.
Educate yourself on your state’s and institution’s rules. You’re going to get asked questions by recruits that you need to know the answers to. And, if you want to come up with a plan, you need to know what you can and can’t do.
Learn to explain why your school, location and resources is an advantage to student-athletes. Like everything else we advise you to take the lead on in discussing with prospects, this is going to be something that’ll become a regular part of your recruiting dialogue. Develop a list or reasons your program, and your campus, should be the one when it comes to the NIL box they need to check-off as they make their decision. And if nothing immediately comes to mind as I ask you to do that, bring it up at your next staff meeting. Talk about it, because all of you are going to have to work together to put forward a winning plan.
NIL is starting, and it’s not going to go away. This new phase of your recruiting conversation is beginning, and I want you to be good at it as a part of your comprehensive recruiting dialogue that you’ll be having with prospects, now and in the future.
Questions? Contact the author, Dan Tudor, at dan@dantudor.com.
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