How will the new NCAA guidelines for NIL affect Wichita State? Collective responds
Some semblance of order could be coming to the wild, wild west, also known as the name, image and likeness era in college sports.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors, a group of mostly school presidents, approved new guidelines on Monday to specifically target cracking down on the role booster-led NIL collectives have been playing in recruiting.
When the NCAA originally introduced its NIL policy last summer that allowed student-athletes to profit off their name, the only two guardrails it put up was that NIL money could not be pay-for-play and it could not be used as a recruiting inducement.
But for the last 10 months, criticism has grown after the NCAA was either unable or unwilling to enforce its own rules. NIL collectives began popping up all over the country, as did stories of boosters using five, six and seven-figure NIL deals to incentivize recruits to enroll at their school of choice. College basketball coaches told The Eagle that NIL money is the new “arms race” and is the No. 1 recruiting tool in the transfer portal.
The NCAA hopes Monday’s guidelines will curb that behavior.
“Today, the Division I Board of Directors took a significant first step to address some of the challenges and improper behaviors that exist in the name, image and likeness environment that may violate our long-established recruiting rules,” said Jere Morehead, chair of the board and president at Georgia. “While the NCAA may pursue the most outrageous violations that were clearly contrary to the interim policy adopted last summer, our focus is on the future.”
Tymber Lee and Tyler Weber, the former WSU baseball players who founded the first Wichita State NIL collective, Armchair Strategies, read Monday’s guidelines and don’t believe it will impact the way the duo goes about its business.
“We have always been focused on helping Wichita State student-athletes first and foremost,” Weber said. “Our goal is to create an avenue for Wichita State student-athletes to make positive contributions to our local communities, while receiving compensation and growing their respective brands.”
Weber said that even before Monday’s NCAA announcement, Armchair Strategies’ priority was taking care of the current WSU student-athletes on campus rather than trying to entice potential recruits to come to Wichita. He says the group hasn’t been involved in the recent recruiting process for the men’s basketball team, instead focusing on locking up NIL deals for Shocker volleyball and softball players.
The collective made a splash on its launch day, April 26, when it prepared an NIL package, which included a signing bonus, a car and future NIL money-making opportunities, to help keep men’s basketball starting point guard Craig Porter at Wichita State.
The crackdown on NIL money being used in recruiting is welcomed by Wichita native Matt Baty, who handles the compliance part of Armchair Strategies. He also runs his own NIL collective for student-athletes at the University of Kansas and has experience in compliance working in the athletic departments of Wichita State and KU.
Baty said Armchair Strategies has worked closely with the WSU athletic department, specifically the compliance office headed by Korey Torgerson. The group also helps student-athletes track their NIL deals by logging them in Opendorse, a requirement for them to remain eligible.
“For the past year, we’ve built a foundation with our NIL initiatives on doing things the right way,” Baty said. “Our priority has always been the student-athletes and putting them in the best position to capitalize on their brand while maintaining their eligibility. Where others have maybe operated in the gray area, we’ve always operated in the black and white. We understand the rules and have operated in the confines of those rules.”
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