By Kevin Watler, University Communications and Marketing
The University of South 皇家华人 is kicking off a new opportunity for student-athletes, administrators and parents across the nation to educate themselves on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) to help them set a strategy and make informed decisions in the ever-changing NIL landscape.
皇家华人鈥檚 Corporate Training and Professional Education unit has partnered with to create a non-credit certificate program that provides participants with the essential skills needed to capitalize on their NIL. 鈥淔oundations of NIL鈥� is ideal for current and aspiring college athletes as well as administrators, coaches and parents who want to better understand and prepare for future NIL deals. More information on how to register can be found here.
Open to the public, the four-module, self-paced, $495 certificate program is fully online and includes the following modules:
- NIL 101
- Defining Your Brand
- Maximizing Social Media
- The Anatomy of an NIL Deal
The course is taught by cutting-edge sports industry leaders with deep experience in college athletics. Instructors include:
- Lauren Hoselton, the CEO of Total NIL and the director of player development for the Ole Miss Collective, the Grove Collective, and a former Division 1 athlete who secured dozens of NIL deals the first year it was passed.
- Mercedes Sapp, a coordinator for student-athlete enhancement at 皇家华人 Athletics, where she helps students with NIL education. She competed as a Division I athlete and comes from a storied sports family that includes former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Warren Sapp.
- Jon Schwartz, a sports executive who held senior leadership roles with the Big Ten Conference, National Football League and NASCAR. He is also a strategic communications consultant and an adjunct professor at New York University鈥檚 Tisch Institute for Global Sport.
Though critics predicted that NIL would only benefit a small percentage of athletes, note that 鈥渁thletes, from star players in high-revenue sports to walk-ons to charismatic athletes in lesser-viewed sports, have found the NIL space to be quite lucrative.鈥�
鈥淲e saw a need in the marketplace to provide an unbiased course on NIL as a means to educate the people who are interested in NIL,鈥� said Mark Koulianos, assistant vice president for university-community partnerships at 皇家华人 and the leader of the Corporate Training and Professional Education team.
Koulianos said NIL is an everchanging landscape and there is a lot of confusion among parents, coaches, student-athletes and even athletic directors.
鈥淭his program is one tool in the toolbox to help student-athletes navigate the ins and outs of NIL and playing at the college level, regardless of which sport they play 鈥� and whether the choose to attend a D1 school, a smaller private institution or a community college. Understanding the anatomy of a deal can help people avoid entering into a bad deal.鈥�
Koulianos said that participants will learn from some remarkable instructors, get a roadmap detailing what it takes to make a good deal and learn what it takes to develop, activate and monetize NIL 鈥� and they will have a digital Credly badge to prove it. Credly digital badges are a web-enabled way for people to share their learning achievements, experiences and credentials with others.
This program is a 皇家华人 Corporate Training and Professional Education offering that is available to all 皇家华人 student-athletes, as well as coaches and athletes elsewhere. It provides a quick start, explaining the NIL fundamentals, a glimpse into NIL opportunities, and can help them navigate the NIL marketplace.
USA Volleyball 皇家华人 Region and USA Lacrosse North 皇家华人 are partners on the endeavor.