Foundations of NIL is a non-credit certificate program that provides current and future student-athletes, parents and administrators the training they need to build, develop, activate and monetize NIL and land deals.
TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 14, 2023) – The University of South Florida 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.
USF’s Corporate Training and Professional Education unit has partnered with Total NIL to create a non-credit certificate program that provides participants with the essential skills needed to capitalize on their NIL. “Foundations of NIL” 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. To register, visit usf.to/NILCertificate.
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 USF 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’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport.
Though critics predicted that NIL would only benefit a small percentage of athletes, analysts from ESPN note that “athletes, 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.”
“We 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,” said Mark Koulianos, assistant vice president for university-community partnerships at USF 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.
“This 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 – 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.”
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 – 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 USF Corporate Training and Professional Education offering that is available to all USF 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 Florida Region and USA Lacrosse North Florida are partners on the endeavor.
To view this story on the USF Newsroom website, click here.
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About the University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, a high-impact research university dedicated to student success and committed to community engagement, generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. With campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee, USF serves approximately 50,000 students who represent nearly 150 different countries. For four consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked USF as one of the nation’s top 50 public universities, including USF’s highest ranking ever in 2023 (No. 42). In 2023, USF became the first public university in Florida in nearly 40 years to be invited to join the Association of American Universities, a prestigious group of the leading universities in the United States and Canada. Through hundreds of millions of dollars in research activity each year and as one of top universities in the world for securing new patents, USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. Learn more at www.usf.edu.
About Total NIL
Total NIL provides resources to answer questions related the Name, Image, and Likeness, providing courses, seminars, and connecting public speakers with groups seeking more information about the NIL. Total NIL also provides one-on-one consulting services to help student-athletes find and negotiate NIL deals.