Rutgers Athletics announced a new partnership with Altius Sports Partners (ASP) on Tuesday. Rutgers is creating a NIL General Manager role for the athletic department. In doing so, they are entering the full-time General Manager (GM) Program managed by ASP. The company will “hire, train, provide assistance and oversee an on-campus NIL GM at Rutgers.”
The purpose of this role is to “promote all-encompassing NIL endeavors that will equip Rutgers’ student-athletes with the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to take full advantage of opportunities and make informed decisions about their name, image and likeness.”
In addition, this GM role “will oversee operations surrounding NIL programming at Rutgers including education, training, monitoring, and working alongside the school’s compliance office to ensure adherence to rules and regulations. The on-campus GM will work closely with Rutgers to heighten the student-athlete experience by conceptualizing and coordinating programming and resources. In addition, the GM will raise awareness in the New Jersey community among key business leaders and other external stakeholders about NIL initiatives at Rutgers.”
This is an outstanding move by athletic director Pat Hobbs and the administration. NIL continues to be a major part of the student-athlete experience and will only increase over time. Creating a general manager role for the entire department is a clear sign that Rutgers is seriously investing in creating the best NIL experience for its student-athletes. It is vital in today’s collegiate athletics environment for school’s to promote NIL as much as possible. This latest move by Rutgers is a great sign that the university and the athletic department is committed to NIL rights and its own student-athletes maximizing their opportunities in the long term.
“Altius Sports Partners is an industry leader and this partnership is another tool in our efforts to provide our student-athletes a comprehensive approach to compete in NIL,” said Rutgers Athletic Director Pat Hobbs. “Altius will provide unparalleled support to our student-athletes and external stakeholders.”
“Cultivating this partnership with Rutgers Athletics is an honor for us,” said Celine Mangan, Director of Business and Client Strategy at Altius Sports Partners. “We’re excited to help establish the very best person to lead their NIL efforts and provide all stakeholders in the NIL space with the resources to navigate this new era. We’re confident that our expertise in identifying and developing top-notch leadership will be instrumental in elevating the entire program and propelling Rutgers Athletics toward future success.”
In addition to what Rutgers athletics is doing, the collective Knights of the Raritan and also Knight Society as two organizations outside of the school working to help them find opportunities in the NIL space. As the world of college athletics continues to evolve, Rutgers as a athletic department and athletic community continues to adapt with it.
The NIL GM job application can be found here.
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RU858
May 2, 2023 at 7:15 pm
Very mixed feelings.
Hobbs has no choice but to embrace NIL, particularly in the area of compliance.
With that said: Rutgers does not have the alumni, booster support to seriously participate in the NIL arms race, pursue elite talent. More importantly, Pikiell and Schiano don’t need prima donnas on their rosters, focused more on the highest NIL bidder than being a team player, getting a good education. Such players (pun intended) will be the first to transfer out, seeking greener (pun intended) pastures.
Rutgers has much to offer motivated student athletes, teams can be competitive in the B1G without fat NIL offers.
Aaron Breitman
May 2, 2023 at 10:05 pm
Thanks for reading and commenting. As for your take, I don’t understand why kids wanting to make money on their talents automatically makes them prima donnas? That’s seems like a biased or extreme statement.
Absolutely some kids can be singularly focused on themselves and money. But most are not that way including a good amount of the elite athletes. Sometimes it’s not even the kids themselves but their handlers who demand the most NIL. Look at Baye Ndongo.
Also you are saying Rutgers can’t pursue elite talent, but what about the 2024 basketball recruiting class? It could end up being the No. 1 class in the country. Do you think Ace Bailey is coming to Rutgers without NIL? He certainly isn’t coming solely for it and sees all the positives with the program. Harper isn’t motivated by money as a top priority, but he’s wrong to take an NIL deal to come here? In this climate, every school needs to provide NIL as part of the package to remain competitive.
I agree Rutgers can still be competitive while not being a powerhouse with NIL, but ignoring it or not investing in it would be a disaster. The administration, athletic Dept, donors and fans supporting NIL would go a long way towards helping ensure Rutgers keeps moving forward athletically.
RU858
May 3, 2023 at 1:28 pm
Should Rutgers make an effort to raise funds to compensate student athletes for their name, image and likeness – absolutely. Kudos to Hobbs for making an effort to do it in an appropriate, compliant manner.
I go back in my fading memory to an interview you did with Cliff and Paul last season. Both made mention of NIL, using at least some of the proceeds for charitable endeavors, but it did not appear to be front of mind for either.
Geo Baker was a vocal leader of the effort to win NIL, remains in the flight, as a loyal son of Rutgers. I wonder if he contemplated the risk of creating elite free agents, selling themselves to the highest bidder.
There is a reason why Rutgers basketball had NO transfers out after 2021-22, post 2022-23 transfers did so to step down, pursue minutes at more appropriate programs, make room on the roster. Coach Pikiell is not only a great judge of talent, but as/more important: character. He does not need NIL free agents to put together a competitive program that fans want to support.
Elite players focused primarily on big NIL paydays (themselves) undermine the team culture college coaches strive to create a sense of community, common across Rutgers Athletics. Rutgers boosters and alumni are not the most generous, unlikely to create the war chest required to pursue them.
Henry Rutgers
May 3, 2023 at 5:48 pm
I’m really not sure where I come down on this issue. We do our best to give generously to many different programs at the university. We currently do not contribute to any of the NIL programs. Should an athlete get a cut of jersey sales with his or her name of the jersey? Yeah, absolutely. When Northwestern athletes brought the action to the courts, and it evolved to a SCOTUS NIL ruling I read the judgement but was more aligned with the dissenting opinion. Somehow, someway the beast is out of the gate and the rules so vague and unenforceable that I think it will be very hard to rein NIL in.
I do think the NCAA proposed rules limiting transfers and reinstituting sitting out a year when the maximum transfers or consecutive transfers is exceeded needs to be fast tracked. When athletes attend four universities in four or five years they aren’t moving for the benefit of a better education.