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Carolina continues to sell the 40-year commitment more than NIL.
The football Tar Heels have 24 commitments in the high school class of 2024 to move into or close to (depending on what recruiting ranking you look at) the top 20 in the nation. Most of those commitments are 3-stars, which are generally good high school players with a high upside.
The fact that UNC isn’t landing any 5-stars like they did on occasion (i.e.,Travis Show, Zach Rice) could have a direct link to NIL, where schools are making up their own rules and, at least for now, no one is monitoring the “guidelines” the NCAA passed around while Mark Emmert was still the president.
According to the rich-get-richer theory, most of the perennial powers (the SEC, including new members Texas and Oklahoma, and few in the Big Ten) are still getting the best players and now with direct NIL payments that athletes are supposed to earn through their Name-Image-Likeness.
The “Carolina Way” is being used by Graham Boone, CEO of the UNC alumni football collective Heels4Life, and he is proud to say most of the money they raise is attached to work players do for local and regional non-profits. That is commendable with a Capital C.
But Mack Brown and his staff are still recruiting at the next level by explaining to recruits and their families how Heels4Life hooks them up with businesses in the community and state and how much their players are learning about marketing themselves and in general.
The special concert country music star and HUGE Tar Heels fan Eric Church is putting on at Memorial Hall on August 3 will bring in thousands with ticket prices as high as $1,500 for the best seats. Boone says every cent is going into Heels4Life to pass on to players who get set up with NIL partnerships.
Brown, who knows Church well, will be on stage spinning stories between songs or before the actual show starts. Although he has been adamant over the last two years that he or any employee of the university cannot be involved with NIL deals, coaches and administrators are now allowed to publicly support NIL as with this concert.
In an off-season press conference, Brown said he basically doesn’t want recruits looking for money to sign or those who will consider transferring for the right offer if they play well as freshmen.
So he uses the UNC brand, the great educational experience they will get and that “40-year commitment” that is part of the Carolina Way.
So far, looks like it is working.
Featured image via UNC
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I hope it keeps working. It keeps the athletics in the realm of what it should be, student athletes.
Look at all those empty seats in the Blue Zone. They scream wine-and-cheese, and they look terrible during televised games. UNC needs more butts in seats.