Penn State needs coordinated NIL effort as James Franklin continues his crusade [opinion]

James Franklin listened intently to the question Tuesday night, nodding his head and then seizing another opportunity to make his pitch.

Franklin continued his two-year campaign for the Penn State athletic department to keep pace with the elite college football programs when it comes to Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).

He said Penn State has made “significant progress” in the last year since Patrick Kraft was hired as athletic director, but that the Nittany Lions still trail the top-tier teams such as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, USC, Michigan and Ohio State.

“We still got a ton of work to do,” Franklin said. “We started in the first couple years where we said we were going to teach our student-athletes how to be entrepreneurs. That was our NIL model.

“So we were two years behind everybody else.”

For the last year, Franklin has often touted the alignment that starts with Penn State Board of Trustees president Matt Schuyler and includes university president Neeli Bendapudi, Kraft and Franklin. He said that cooperation is critical to the success of the football program.

But not everyone associated with Penn State is “pulling the rope in the same direction” as Franklin has said.

Several Penn State NIL collectives have emerged since June 30, 2021, when the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a lower-court decision in a case against the NCAA, and the college sports’ governing body’s Board of Directors announced it was adopting a policy that would take effect the next day.

It removed restrictions on college athletes from entering paid endorsements and other sponsorship deals and from using agents to manage their publicity. It essentially meant that no college athlete in any state will be ruled ineligible if he or she monetizes their name, image and likeness.

At Penn State, Success With Honor was designated last year as the athletic department’s preferred collective. But at least two other groups also were created, Lions Legacy Club and We Are NIL.

Therein lies the problem. Penn State does not have one coordinated NIL effort or a single go-to person that Franklin, new men’s basketball coach Mike Rhoades and other coaches can contact directly.

Worse yet, some members of the Penn State collectives seem to be at odds with each other.

This week, after back-to-back losing seasons in football and one in men’s basketball, the University of Florida announced it was revamping and streamlining its NIL efforts into one collective.

Florida Victorious is expected to work closely with Florida’s athletic association to raise money for all 19 sports, particularly football.

At Penn State, there hasn’t been one voice to speak on behalf of the university’s NIL efforts, except for Franklin. He said he and others have worked behind the scenes to educate the fans and donors about what’s needed in NIL support to compete with the top programs for a national championship.

“When you’re Penn State and you’re in the Big Ten, the reality is if you choose to compete at the very highest level, you can’t pick and choose what you’re going to compete in,” Franklin said. “Whether it’s facilities, whether it’s staff size, whether it’s alignment, whether it’s NIL, whether it’s all these things; if you truly want to compete at the highest level, then you can’t say we’re going to be competitive in three areas and not in this one.”

Franklin acknowledged that Penn State has made progress in upgrading its facilities, pointing to Lasch Building and its recent $48 million expansion and renovation. But he continues to bang the drum for Penn State to step up its NIL game.

Men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry left Penn State for Notre Dame last month after a thrilling postseason run in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments at least partly because of poor NIL support for his program.

“We’ve made up significant ground in the last year,” Franklin said. “But again, we’ve got to keep the pedal to the floor. We obviously just saw some decisions that weren’t completely made in the basketball program. That (NIL) was a big part of it. We know that.”