The Next AD - A Discussion Thread

[SubGod22]

A barrage of info coming in the next week on NIL. Sounds like they'll be releasing a little something each day starting Monday on NIL and different options and how they work and everything else.

Interesting to hear that the typical NIL payment in Q4 of '21 nationally was around $300. Times like this I wish I owned a business so I could throw some money at players just to be mentioned on socials or something. Saal talked about Syd's social media presence and the following she has. I'm sure there are others who would offer value by getting some sort of shout out or positive review. Or hell, purchasing some of Syd's art to display in a restaurant or office.

Saal again talked about fan engagement at games.

I continue to be excited by the new AD and the direction the department will be headed in.

[WuDrWu]

I remain excited about the early pace, hopeful for the future, but with a tad bit of cautious skepticism for now.

I will say that scheduling the volleyball team for dinner literally hours after moving into a new home is an elite pro move and is deserving of a tip of the cap.

[Stickboy46]

Wasn't sure where to put this but I think this falls under "hurdles the new AD is going to have to figure out". The massive gulf between the top couple conferences and everyone else is getting larger. 7 year contract worth 7-10 BILLON ... escalating to at least 100 million per school per year.

That said .. i feel much better having ADKS at the helm because he seems like someone that can get creative to figure out how to leverage our strengths.

[Kel Varnsen]

I remain excited about the early pace, hopeful for the future, but with a tad bit of cautious skepticism for now.

I will say that scheduling the volleyball team for dinner literally hours after moving into a new home is an elite pro move and is deserving of a tip of the cap.

I admire the tenacity of ADKS, but I also admire his wife's ability to participate and be okay with all of that. It puts strain on the whole family when you're moving anyways, but this is an entirely different level. Kudos to Jenn and the Saal family.

[WuDrWu]

This will sound stupid I know, but that total number sticks out something huge, but it's "only" about $63 mil per school per year. It's not like a quantum leap forward, it's just being consolidated into bigger groups. There has been a huge gap for some time. We have to do what we do the best way possible. For the first time in several years, we appear to be making that effort at least.

[WuDrWu]

I admire the tenacity of ADKS, but I also admire his wife's ability to participate and be okay with all of that. It puts strain on the whole family when you're moving anyways, but this is an entirely different level. Kudos to Jenn and the Saal family.

I enjoyed visiting with her, she's very sharp and grounded and they make a nice couple. They seem to be exceedingly happy to be back in this area and looking forward to embracing the task at hand.

[Stickboy46]

This will sound stupid I know, but that total number sticks out something huge, but it's "only" about $63 mil per school per year. It's not like a quantum leap forward, it's just being consolidated into bigger groups. There has been a huge gap for some time. We have to do what we do the best way possible. For the first time in several years, we appear to be making that effort at least.

There are escalators in the contract that bump the per school total to nearly 100 million per school per year for years 3-7 of the contract .. (plus all their extras)

"In 2023-24, the league’s schools will receive the same conference distribution as they did in 2022-23 (nearly $60 million per school). The league’s payouts will increase slightly in Year 2 (2024-25) before drastically increasing the final five years of the deal from 2025-30, growing to about $100 million per school, including revenue from the College Football Playoff, bowl games and the NCAA Basketball Tournament."

[WuDrWu]

Sports Talk 1240 had AD Saal on today talking about NIL and the things coming up next week. Podcast is available on the KFH website. Our AD will be on the show every other Weds for the foreseeable future. A couple of new NIL initiatives to be announced next week. Feels that we are still several months behind where WSU should be but working hard to catch up. I have heard more interviews with AD Saal in two months than I did in the entire time of our former AD. This guy really sounds sharp and I have much confidence in his tenure.

Trying to look at the upcoming volleyball matches for WSU this weekend and I saw how, at least today, different schools are dealing with NIL.

Just on their team webpages we have the following:

Wyoming - Mountain West program:

https://gowyo.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster

Just the roster. Nothing else about marketing at all. So let's check their best player and returning senior scoring leader, KC McMahon:

https://gowyo.com/sports/womens-voll...c-mcmahon/7825

Well, nothing there either. Lots of sponsorships at the bottom of the page, but all related to the school. None for the student athletes.


Iowa State - Big 12 program:

https://cyclones.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster

Well, hmmm. Not much there either. Probably even less sponsorship for the program. Mostly just a lot of water carrying for the B12. Maybe the individual pages have something. Let's look at their 6th year, redshirt, Covid, 3rd program attending 2nd team AA setter, Jayden Newsome:

https://cyclones.com/sports/womens-v...-newsome/11981

Nice page with recaps and a separate page for "moments". But nothing regarding social media or NIL promotion at all.

Now, to be fair, the general ISU page has this link:

https://dash.inflcr.com/exchange/iowa-state-university Promoting the NIL Exchange. For grins, I checked their football page to see where the real efforts are probably being made. It was not better. Best I saw was a circle with a Twitter and Exchangeagram link in individual bios.

Creighton - Big East:

https://gocreighton.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster

Each player has a link to their social media page...Exchangeagram, Twitter, TikTok. Now let's check their bio, Norah Sis, their star sophomore OH:

https://gocreighton.com/sports/women...norah-sis/7398

Ah, link to Opendorse. https://opendorse.com/profile/norah-sis Where you can see about making your own deal as ADKS alluded to. Pretty cool. I assumed WSU didn't have anything like because I haven't even seen a social media link.

Wichita State - American Conference:

https://goshockers.com/sports/womens-volleyball/roster

Well, updates have been made already. Every player seems to have been contacted about what they want to share as each player has a link under their name for whatever social media they want to share. Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and every single player has a Opendorse link. I only checked 2 (Brylee Kelly because she's our best player and Emerson Wilford because she's a freshman) and surprising to me at least, Emerson's "prices" are higher. I'm guessing she has a big following on Instagram, but I'm illiterate when it comes to social media so who knows.

https://opendorse.com/profile/brylee-kelly

https://opendorse.com/profile/emerson-wilford

Edit:

For comparison, here's softball megastar Syd McKinney's Opendorse:

https://opendorse.com/profile/syd-mckinney

Not every softball student athlete has an Opendorse, but I'm guessing it's a timing thing right now.

Men's basketball does, and here's Craig Porter's Opendorse:

https://opendorse.com/profile/craig-porter

Finally, just to see how the rich live, here's Alabama QB Bryce Young's Opendorse:

https://opendorse.com/profile/bryce-young-profile

It would appear that ADKS has turned up the heat in this area. Good. We needed it. Looking forward to this week's announcements.


Just for reference, and I realize that every kid is getting $50K+ for walking in the door, but OU Football doesn't even have the Opendorse link and in fact, looks a lot like our roster page and bio info.

https://soonersports.com/sports/foot...?path=football

[SubGod22]

The barrage of info this week begins.

Go Shockers - Letter from the AD: NIL at Wichita State

It is with great enthusiasm, energy and humble gratitude that I write to you, the community of Wichita, on behalf of Wichita State University and Shocker Athletics. I've been incredibly fortunate to connect with hundreds of passionate Shocker Athletics fans, generous supporters and campus/community partners. Within our conversations, you have consistently asked, "how can we support Shocker Athletics and Shocker student-athletes in this new era of collegiate athletics?" We are listening and we hear you. As a result, I want to dedicate this first mass communication to providing comprehensive answers to your questions.

In addition to historical giving pathways (i.e. Shocker Athletic Scholarship Organization (SASO), restricted, unrestricted, facility master plan, etc.), recent emergence of "name, image and likeness" (NIL) and "Alston Academic Payments" have increased and diversified available pathways for supporting Shocker Athletics and Shocker student-athletes. I am excited to share more information with you, as we collectively navigate our new environment. In order to provide the best possible clarity, please allow me to take a brief look back, in order to set the context for today's environment.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
As an amateur enterprise, intercollegiate athletics unofficially began in 1852 when the rowing teams from Yale and Harvard competed in the first intercollegiate competition. Formed in 1906, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a member-led organization focusing on the integration of intercollegiate athletics into the educational mission of higher-education institutions, with focus on the student-athlete experience and the safety/welfare of its participants.

In the 116 years following establishment of the NCAA, intercollegiate athletics has experienced great change. Most notably, in the last 50 years Federal Title IX legislation (1972), the multi-media rights revolution (1980 - present), conference realignment activity (mid-1990 – present), NCAA cost of attendance legislation (2015) and NCAA time-management legislation (2017) have altered the course of college athletics indefinitely.

Changes witnessed over the last 15 months bring us to today and the need for this brief. In June of 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in NCAA v. Alston, that the NCAA could no longer limit education-related expenses to student-athletes, paving the way for additional academic bonus payments in the form of "Alston Academic Payments". And while the Alston decision was focused solely on these educational benefits, it also helped bolster the argument for student-athletes to profit commercially from their NIL.

There's much more in the link.

[Shockm]

To say or think that schools/officials are going to avoid these aspects of NIL is laughable. There isn't any enforcement mechanism that I can see. If schools can afford it, there is no end to what will be offered. Where there are no laws, there are no boundaries. To say there are is a "joke".

NIL - WHAT TO AVOID
While NIL laws vary from state to state, the NCAA has provided guidance with respect to prohibited NIL activity:

1. NIL cannot be a recruiting inducement, meaning it cannot be used to incentivize a student-athlete for selecting and/or signing a National Letter of Intent with an institution.
2. NIL cannot be provided in exchange for athletic performance, meaning student-athletes cannot receive NIL deals contingent on stats, playing time, accomplishments/achievements, etc.
3. NIL cannot be arranged and/or promised by Wichita State University/Shocker Athletics employees.
4. NIL activity cannot take place during official team activities and/or university-sponsored activities/events.

[Stickboy46]

There is more information in that one article than I've ever seen from our previous AD .. he's hitting everything out of the park so far.

[SHOCKvalue]

Can someone key me in to exactly what Boatright did on a day-to-day basis that took up a 50 hour (or whatever) work week?

Truly remarkable the stark contrast between Saal and Boatright. Not sure you could find two more disparate extremes. Imagine what state the AD overall might be in if he was brought in after Sexton left instead of the internal promotion of the empty suit. I bet things would just be chugging alone like they were prior to 2016 or 2017 or whenever it was that we had early indications that the wheels were coming off. All Marshall needed was a personality as big as his to reign him back in and keep the train on the tracks. Someone who also gave at least two sh*ts about the fans, which Boatright almost treated with a degree of arrogance and contempt. Seems like Saal checks those boxes.

[Stickboy46]

Can someone key me in to exactly what Boatright did on a day-to-day basis that took up a 50 hour (or whatever) work week?

From all appearances, He was busy making sure the food at the food court and at fuzzys was acceptable for the students. Lots of food sampling

[Dan]

Can someone key me in to exactly what Boatright did on a day-to-day basis that took up a 50 hour (or whatever) work week?

Truly remarkable the stark contrast between Saal and Boatright. Not sure you could find two more disparate extremes. Imagine what state the AD overall might be in if he was brought in after Sexton left instead of the internal promotion of the empty suit. I bet things would just be chugging alone like they were prior to 2016 or 2017 or whenever it was that we had early indications that the wheels were coming off. All Marshall needed was a personality as big as his to reign him back in and keep the train on the tracks. Someone who also gave at least two sh*ts about the fans, which Boatright almost treated with a degree of arrogance and contempt. Seems like Saal checks those boxes.

He was working on the Pensky file

[AZ Shocker]

We know the previous AD was bad...but I didn't realize how bad. Lol. This new AD is obviously a PRO!!! Too bad we didn't have him when the iron was HOT and we were dancing for all those consecutive years. A little bit of a rebuild now...but things look to be trending back to Shocker athletetics as we knew them a short while ago!

Go SHOCKS!!!