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Carolina may be seven feet away from big-time NIL success.
It’s no secret that UNC came out of the starting gate late and has never caught up to the other schools that are killing it in recruiting through NIL.
Now, the answer is only slightly above their heads.
Hire Armando Bacot as head of CarolinaNIL, the new consolidated collective that has formed the umbrella over basketball, football, baseball and all the Tar Heel teams that want to stay in the game with the best athletes in this new age of college sports.
What players make – from Drake Maye to R.J. Davis – is a protected secret in the Tar Heels’ NIL world. Except for Bacot, who has not been shy about earning what he terms “life-changing money” from NIL and told Inside Carolina this week that the figure over five years is more than $2 million.
Bacot heaps praise on playing for the UNC brand, but it was more him than anything else. He obviously is a marketing savant and figured out early how to cash in on his name-image-likeness potential.
Sure, becoming the Tar Heels’ all-time rebounding leader helped his profile immensely, but he took it to the next levels on his own — with TV commercials, movies, restaurants and all kinds of other products.
Carolina has seemed to reorganize into what wasn’t working for most athletes not named Bacot. Very likely, young people without AB’s creative chops or alumni who have made money the old-fashion way are not the answer. Maybe Mondo is.
Think what his experience and success alone can mean to kids being recruited as freshmen or transfers in all sports. Bacot could be a presence from near or far as a very large example of how it can be done.
Give him a fancy office festooned with the spoils of his success on the court and in business. Let him help coaches sign up athletes and then teach them how to promote and leverage their time at UNC.
And Bacot can do it from near or far. He is trying to make the Utah Jazz right now, and if he can there is still advice and information he can impart by phone or email. And, during the off season when recruiting ramps up for the next school year, he will be back.
In announcing his latest venture with the local ATMA Hotel Group, Bacot mentioned at least a half-dozen times that he made that life-changing 2 million bucks from the exposure he got as a Tar Heel and the marketing savvy he learned from fixing up old cars and selling them as a kid.
“I had no clue,” he said of arriving at Carolina. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”
Now he does, and UNC should take advantage of what they did together.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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