The March 12–18 cover story of the AmNews entitled “The Future of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness)” pointed out the concerns of how it benefits the student-athletes, but the NIL byproduct is also making college coaches even more powerful.
According to ESPN.com, Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Porter Moser said that the Sooners’ resources need to match the program’s expectations.
HBCUs don’t have the deep pockets of the power schools, but their talented players have caught attention. Student-athletes have much more power in controlling their future than they realize.
A case in point is former Howard University safety Bryan Cook.
“He spent his first two years at Howard … was a terrific player for us both years,” recalled Kery Davis, athletic director and vice president of athletics for the Washington, D.C.-based Howard University. “He started as a true freshman. Then he went to Cincinnati because he’s from Ohio and he always wanted to play at that level. (Former Jet) Sauce Gardner was his teammate, and he ended up being a second-round pick in the NFL.”
Cook won two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs and last month signed a three-year, $40.25 million deal with his hometown Bengals.
Davis is glad it worked out for Cook.
“As university administrators, you have to look at what the reality is,” Davis said. “The way it used to be 10 years ago — that’s irrelevant. That’s not the world we’re living in.”
Being an athletic director (AD) today is not your traditional gig.“The role of athletic director and commissioners and sports [is] changing and widening the net of people they can look at,” said Davis, who’s been an AD at Howard for 10 years. “They’re widening the net of people they can look at and choosing jobs like this. For example, I was not a cookie-cutter choice.”
A graduate of Dartmouth with a law degree from Cornell, Davis has seen the sports landscape change.
Tony Petitti, a former CBS TV sports executive, is a commissioner of the Big Ten and Brett Yormark, formerly CEO of the Brooklyn Nets, is a commissioner of the Big 12.
Davis fits the mold at Howard, now 159 years old. Under his charge, he has 500 student-athletes and 21 sports teams. And they win. Whether it is football, basketball, women’s volleyball, swimming and diving, soccer, golf, or track and field, they win: Howard has captured 31 conference or national titles under Davis’s leadership since 2015.
“They were looking for someone who was a creative and innovative business person who could develop a strategy to have the university compete in an ever-changing landscape,” said Davis. “That’s what people are doing now.”
Davis sits on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee. When asked if the NCAA might expand the tournament, Davis said he’s not on that committee, but that “it wouldn’t change in the next two or three years.”
To show how fast things do change, a week later, the NCAA announced it was expanding from its current 68-team field to 76 beginning next year.
The NIL issue may not be the wild, wild west, but it seems as if the wagons are headed in that direction. With all that is happening in the universe of college sports, Davis loves his job.
“You have to have passion for what you’re doing,” he said. “The best part of this job for me is being a part of the journey of young people. If you don’t have that as your mission, then this is not the job for you.”
