Penn State Sports Magazine
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M A Y 2 0 2 2 3 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M a number of influential and well-known Penn Staters on its board of directors. Ira Lubert, former chairman of the university's board of trustees, chairs the Success With Honor board. Anthony Misitano, former member of the trust- ees' advisory committee and CEO of PAM Health, also is on the board, as are S&A Homes CEO Bob Poole, Simon Property Group president Rick Sokolov and Mark Toniatti, the retired principal of Towers, Perrin, Forster and Crosby. There is an advisory volunteer board with numerous former Penn State ath- letes and prominent personalities. That list includes: • Grant Ament — professional lacrosse player • Kelsey Amy — senior designer Jordan Brand at Nike (field hockey) • LaVar Arrington — FOX Sports Radio (football) • Chris Bevilacqua — head of Bevilac- qua Helfant Ventures (wrestling) • Todd Blackledge — ESPN analyst (football) • Calvin Booth — general manager of the Denver Nuggets (men's basketball) • Ben Bouma — network sports pro- ducer (men's ice hockey) • Megan Hodge — professional volley- ball player • Michael Robinson — NFL Network analyst (football) • Lisa Salters — ESPN reporter (wom- en's basketball) • Susan Schandel — CFO of NASCAR • Linsey Shea — freelance network me- dia operations (women's lacrosse) • David Taylor — Olympic gold medal winner (wrestling) Those wishing to support the Success With Honor collective have numerous options. Monthly subscriptions range from $10 to $500 and offer membership perks of escalating value. The collective is also providing ways for businesses and others who wish to make large contribu- tions to become involved. "With this collective, our goal is to create the most robust off-the-field op- portunities available for student-athletes anywhere in the country," Belzer told BWI. "That means providing student- athletes with access to best-in-class NIL education, opportunities for them to have career internships, to build their resumes and be compensated for that." Belzer said the collective can also assist with "building camps and clinics for the student-athletes, helping them not just make money off the field, but grow their resumes and their profiles to help them accomplish whatever it is that they want to accomplish while they're in school, as well as when they graduate." Schools cannot facilitate NIL contracts themselves. But the deals that third-party organizations put together are expected to play a major role in both the retainment and acquisition of athletes. "We were really excited to team up with Penn State, because Penn State has the largest and most passionate alumni base of any university in the country," Belzer said. "There is an opportunity to create and build the case study, the blueprint, for what collectives are going to look like moving forward." With NIL valuations becoming an ever more important part of college sports, On3 has created an index for high school and college football and basketball players aimed at quantifying their earning power. As On3's Jeremy Crabtree explains, the index "looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college- level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete's value at a certain moment in time." Super senior quarterback Sean Clif- ford is No. 74 in the combined-sport NIL100 and No. 50 on the college foot- ball-player-only list. The veteran passer has an On3 NIL valuation of $170,000. When it comes to high school players, class of 2022 signee Cristian Driver is No. 11 on the list of just football players with a NIL valuation of $95,000. Running back Nick Singleton, a January enrollee at Penn State, makes the list at No. 58 with a NIL valuation of $47,000. Quar- terback Beau Pribula, another early-ar- riving freshman, checks in at No. 91 with a $40,000 valuation. ■ Altius Partnership To Help PSU Navigate Changing World As part of its efforts to adapt to major changes in college sports, Penn State has signed on with Altius Sports Partners to bolster its name, image and likeness program. Athletics director Sandy Barbour said the move will help Penn State remain competitive in a world in which athletes are able to profit from their notoriety. Altius is working with a number of prominent schools across the country, including three of PSU's Big Ten rivals — Indiana, Northwestern and Purdue "They have a talented and experienced team with a vast understanding and knowledge of the NIL landscape," Barbour said. "We know the education Altius will provide to our stakeholders will help every- one navigate these evolving NIL waters." Andrew Donovan, vice president of collegiate partnerships for Altius, said his company will be working to help Penn State develop "a comprehensive NIL strategy that supports all Penn State stakeholders and, most importantly, positions Penn State athletes to effectively and responsibly maximize their opportuni- ties on and off the field." Altius's clients are relying on the firm's guidance not just to respond to current events, but to plan for the future. In a recent interview with On3, Altius CEO Casey Schwab offered a glimpse into what college athletics departments will be confronting in the coming years. He said people need to be prepared for a future in which a "smaller subset of student-athletes" will be considered employees of their universities. Asked to characterize the collective sentiment among athletics directors, Schwab paused before choos- ing three words: "Pessimistic, reluctant acceptance." "It's not a positive feeling," he said. "It's, 'This is going to happen. We get it. This isn't going to be good for the schools. It's not going to be good for the athletes.'" But as Schwab noted in a separate interview with Front Office Sports in December, "Hope is not a strategy." "This is what athletics directors, commissioners [and] presidents should be sitting down and planning out," he said, "what this world will look like." — Nate Bauer