The Benko Briefing - January, 2024
1/3/2024 3:30:00 PM | General, APEX
AD addresses Eagle Nation in letter form
Dear Eagle Nation,
Happy New Year! I hope you and your family had a great holiday season and enjoyed some downtime with family and friends.
It has been six months since I last wrote extensively on name-image-likeness (NIL). Provided several developments over the month of December, I thought it was a good time to both update you and request a call to action to support our student-athletes through the Eagle Nation Collective (EagleNationNIL.com).
On December 4 of this year, 1,127 football student-athletes entered their name into the NCAA transfer portal—a 44 percent increase from the previous record-setting day of 780 entries last December. This number quickly pushed past 3,000+ in the same week. Adding further complexities, the NCAA sent updated guidance to member schools a couple of days before Christmas detailing that football student-athletes entering the transfer portal this fall are eligible to play immediately at their new school next fall, even if they are transferring for a second time or more. And if these events were not enough, NIL dollars continue to grow larger by the day.
So, where do we go from here? How can Georgia Southern and its peers compete in this arena?
Let's first start with how you can best position Georgia Southern for the future, and that is by joining the Eagle Nation Collective (EagleNationNIL.com). Launched officially back in July, this collective has allowed student-athletes in all sports to further take advantage of the NIL opportunities. Founded by Leonard Bevill and started with several other founding members, the Eagle Nation Collective is our best platform to stay competitive in the NIL space. It has primarily utilized dollars for retention purposes as it has proactively reached NIL agreements with student-athletes for each of our 17 sponsored sports.
I have spent the past two years talking to members of Eagle Nation about NIL and the proliferation of the transfer portal. I know some of you are very supportive of these changes, while others express frustration at how fast the pendulum has swung in this particular area of intercollegiate athletics. I understand. I started working in college athletics to be a positive change agent—wanting to play a small role in helping young men and women reach their goals, dreams and ambitions.
When I started this job almost four years ago, NIL was rarely talked about. However, I am reminded of a story I recently read in a book detailing a rhetorical question asked during a staff meeting led by a prominent college football head coach. The head coach asked his staff if they saw any dinosaurs on the way to work that particular day. Everyone in the room looked at each other, confused. No, they responded; there were no dinosaurs on their drive to work. The head coach responded that he did not see any either and that there were no dinosaurs on the way in that morning because they could not adapt, they could not adjust. And because of that, they are gone, which will happen to that organization if they can't adapt and adjust. While NIL and the transfer portal spur frequent debate, one thing is for sure—now more than ever, it is imperative that we support our student-athletes' NIL earning potential!
Which brings me to my last point: a call to action. While the Eagle Nation Collective has been successful in not only securing one-time and recurring gifts, it has also hosted several successful events, the next of which is a concert with Cole Swindell on April 20 at Beautiful Eagle Creek.
But we need YOUR help to take the next step! There are several ways to give on EagleNationNIL.com. You can also buy tickets to the Cole Swindell concert in April. The Eagle Nation Collective will host golf scrambles across the state this spring to benefit NIL. Our ability to continue to be a leader in this space is directly predicated on Eagle Nation's support of our collective. Please consider giving to support our student-athletes!
In closing, for Georgia Southern to reach its desired goals, I will continue to highlight four (4) actions that individuals and companies can take to help us:
- Financially support the Athletic Foundation and the Erk Russell Fund
- Buy season tickets and create a home-field advantage
- Support the Eagle Nation Collective (EagleNationNIL.com)
- Get others to do the same!
Our best days are ahead. Thank you for your continued support!
Hail Southern! GATA!
Jared Benko
