What Coaches and Athletic Directors Need to Know About NIL Before It's Too Late

In April, through The Athlife Foundation, I had the opportunity to speak to over 100 high school student athletes at the Baltimore Raven's M&T Bank Stadium about Name, Image, and Likeness, commonly known as "NIL." The most valuable conversations happened with the coaches, athletic directors and program directors in the room.

Most programs don't realize that decisions being made right now, before college and before any scholarship, are already shaping what's possible for their athletes later. One of the biggest questions from ADs was about who should be approaching student athletes and when to get families involved. There's a real legal difference between a booster, a recruiter and a legitimate NIL opportunity. Confusing them can cost an athlete their eligibility before their career even starts.

A booster is someone affiliated with a college or university program, such as alumni, donors or supporters, who provides benefits to prospective or current student athletes. Under NCAA rules, boosters cannot pay high school athletes, offer gifts or provide any inducement to attend their school. When a booster does this it is a violation, plain and simple.

A recruiter is a college coach or authorized representative of a program making contact with a prospective athlete about attending their institution. Recruiting has its own strict timeline and rules about when contact can happen, what can be offered and what constitutes an impermissible benefit.

A legitimate NIL opportunity is something else entirely. It is a brand partnership, endorsement or business arrangement where the athlete is being compensated specifically for their name, their image or their likeness, not for where they choose to go to school. The money follows the athlete's brand, not a college's interest in signing them.

The problem is that bad actors know how to blur these lines. An offer that looks like an NIL deal but is really tied to a recruiting decision is still a recruiting violation. If the opportunity appears only after a school expresses interest or disappears when the athlete commits elsewhere, that is worth scrutinizing carefully. Coaches and ADs are often the first adults outside the family to notice when something feels off. Trust that instinct and get the right people involved early.

What struck me most about the athletes in that room was how few were thinking about their brand at all. You don't have to be headed to the NFL or NBA for that to matter. Every student athlete has a story and a platform in the making. The ones who understand that early are positioned to benefit from NIL whether they go pro or not. That was the frame I kept coming back to in Baltimore, not how do you get an NIL deal, but how do you build something worth protecting.

Another question that was asked was regarding the timing for representation. For that, the answer is earlier than most people expect. Families often wait until there is a problem to bring in legal counsel and by then, the options are more limited and the stakes are higher. The right time to involve representation is before anything is signed, before any money changes hands and before anyone asks an athlete to do something that feels off regardless of how it is explained.

Coaches and ADs carry real influence in this process. The conversation you have with a family about who is approaching their athlete and why can change the trajectory of that young person's career. Knowing the difference between a booster, a recruiter and a legitimate NIL opportunity is not just legal knowledge. It is practical protection for the programs you run and the athletes you develop.

Maryland has extraordinary athletic talent. The next generation of professional athletes, entrepreneurs and brand builders is sitting in your gyms and on your fields right now. They deserve to enter the next chapter of their athletic careers informed, protected and positioned to win on and off the field.

If you are a coach, AD or program director with questions about NIL or protecting your athletes' futures, visit the Contact Page or schedule a consultation here.