Name, Image Likeness - the face of change

As college athletics enter an unprecedented financial era — where student-athletes can be compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) or potentially even paid directly by the athletic department if proposed new rules come to pass — USF aims to be at this revolution’s forefront.

Familiar faces represent all that’s right with this brave new world, including USF football’s Byrum Brown and USF lacrosse’s Sofia Chepenik. An administrative staff and plan supports Bulls pursuing their brand-building opportunities.

“We’re in a unique, dynamic time, a truly permissive era of benefits and opportunities for student-athletes,’’ says Michael Kelly, Life Member, vice president for athletics. “We’re in a great place at USF. We have the Nault Center for Entrepreneurship, we’re an Association of American Universities school, and Tampa Bay is a desirable place to live and work.

“What I feel really great about is, with every adaptation in the last few years, USF Athletics has met or exceeded those opportunities, whether it was the cost of attendance, increased nutrition opportunities or academic benefits. We intend to continue that through the NIL and direct-compensation era.’’

Kelly elevated Andrew Warsaw, USF football’s chief of staff, to become the department’s first NIL general manager. Warsaw heads an NIL strategy unit designed to maximize opportunities, marketing, fundraising and education initiatives for USF’s nearly 500 student-athletes across 21 sports.

What does it all mean? How will it actually work? Kelly and Warsaw say this revolution will constantly evolve.

NIL dates to 2021, when a Supreme Court ruling allowed for earned income beyond scholarship awards. It stated that the “revenue-drivers’’ (student-athletes) could be compensated. Student-athletes began setting up their own businesses and seeking NIL endorsement deals, usually through third-party intermediaries, such as USF’s Fowler Avenue Collective.

A pending settlement from the House v. NCAA lawsuit would allow schools to distribute an annual shared-revenue pool of $22 million per university to its athletes, among other provisions, beginning in 2025. The details of that plan, though, have not been finalized.

USF’s NIL strategy unit will continually monitor the landscape so Bulls can maximize all opportunities, Warsaw says.

“There were moments when athletic departments created a marketing department or a video department for the first time,’’ he says. “Modern athletic departments now have full creative units, recruiting specialists, nutritionists, mental-health professionals … and these are all relatively new.

“Now we have a unit that specializes in revenue sharing and athlete compensation. We’re part of a modern era where things are shifting.’’

Brown and Chepenik are taking full advantage of that.

Through an endorsement deal with Toyota of Tampa Bay, Brown received an automobile. He also has his own line of Killer-B merchandise and is studying potential relationships with favorite products. Ideally, he’d like to negotiate a deal where he can share a product (maybe shoes or electronics) with each of his teammates. Additionally, Brown used his NIL muscle to stage a free youth football camp in Wesley Chapel. More than 200 kids attended.

“It’s truly a blessing,’’ says Brown, a quarterback who was named to the preseason Maxwell Award watch list. He’s majoring in health sciences with plans to become an orthodontist. “NIL allows you to earn income and start your future. I think it also reflects how you treat other people, your personality and what you do in the community. That’s what attracts the brands. 

“And it teaches you about deliverables. You make a commitment to a company and you need to deliver on what they ask of you. If your name is connected to it, it’s important to make sure it’s done correctly and it reflects your values.’’

Meanwhile, Chepenik signed a lifetime deal with LootMogul, a Web3 gaming and e-commerce platform that granted her an equity stake and made her the face of its ventures. Between NIL and her social media accounts — with more than 200,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram — Chepenik hopes to maximize her exposure and spread the message of women’s sports empowerment.

“I’d like to help bridge the gap between male and female athletics,’’ says Chepenik, who’s majoring in mass communications and wants to become a sports broadcaster. “If that could be part of my legacy, it would be awesome. It’s wonderful that the value of women’s athletics is being appreciated like never before and companies are recognizing that.

“I don’t want to pick something just because of the money. It’s my name, so it needs to have my values and morals. I want them to believe in me as much as I believe in them. This is about personal relationships, networking and representing yourself in the best way. Because of NIL, I think young athletes are learning these lessons earlier than they would have previously.’’

Warsaw says Brown and Chepenik are great examples of how NIL/athlete compensation can work in the right ways. Education will continue to be the priority for them and their families.

“I think the perception is that it’s just an arms race, where schools are paying millions of dollars to attract kids to come and play football,’’ Warsaw says. “But when you actually sit down with a kid and ask what’s important in their decision-making process, you get similarities. Who’s going to develop and coach me? Who are my teammates and do I fit in with them? And then, what does the money look like?

“Doing it the right way, you institute a system that takes care of the students who are already here who have earned it, then having a starting point where the new kids can be comfortable. For the most part, they’re looking to take care of their families and have the amenities that maybe nine out of 10 of the other students can get covered by their parents. The bottom line for most football players is finding a program that can develop them to play on Sundays (in the NFL).’’

Through NIL, Warsaw says USF hopes to match student-athletes with their interests and marketability potential. For example, if a basketball player wants to work with animals, a deal could be struck with Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, ZooTampa at Lowry Park or The Florida Aquarium.

“For all the athletes, it’s a chance to learn more about taxes, savings, investing and the strategies used by financially successful adults,’’ Warsaw says. “It’s ever-evolving and ever-changing, but at USF we are positioning ourselves to grow with the changes and be the resource that our athletes need.’’