UofL News Roundup -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Soccer Welcomes New Assistant Coach

A new face will join Karen Ferguson-Dayes's staff on the sidelines next season as the University announced the hiring of Nick Stirrett. Stirrett comes to UofL from Oregon State, where he spent two seasons. The announcement credits Stirrett with helping increase OSU's scoring output from 6 goals to 31 goals in his first season. That will be a boon to the Cards as they look to replace their losses at the front. However, that may have just been coincidence as he appears to focus primarily on goalkeepers and defense. He was a big help there, as well, as the Beavers' sophomore goalkeeper had the fourth-best season in program history in 2019 with six clean sheets and a 0.980 goals against average.

Prior to Oregon State, Stirrett worked with goalkeepers and coordinated recruiting at the University of Illinois for three years. He was with Penn State for one year in 2015 and arrived there after a two year stint as the head men's coach at the University of Mount Union. Stirrett seems to have brought success along with him wherever he goes. Because his stints are so short, it's hard to tell whether there is correlation there or whether it is just coincidence. As Gabby Kouzelos enters her final season as a Cardinal, though, I'm sure she'd love to have an outstanding statistical season to improve her stock among the NWSL teams watching. The women's soccer season should get underway in a little over a month, so we'll see how the team looks with Stirrett alongside KFD for the remainder of the summer.

UofL Announces NIL Initiatives

The University has been busy in the background, it seems. Though Governor Andy Beshear did not announce his NIL Executive Order until Thursday afternoon (as Jared wrote about yesterday), UofL has already announced a number of items pertaining to NIL that have already been ongoing or are set for the months ahead and fall semester. From the University's release, the following items are in effect or will be in effect going forward:

• Throughout the month of June, student-athletes have been offered educational sessions to help aid them in understanding potential opportunities. Now that the EO is official, the sessions will soon include education on the University's rules and disclosure processes. 
• A pilot NIL law clinic this fall available to all UofL students including athletes needing guidance on their NIL opportunities.
• A sport administration elective class entitled "NIL in College Sports" offered for the 2021 UofL Fall semester.
• NIL, social media, and brand management education modules through UofL's "eLevate" partnership with OpenDorse, plus custom athlete assessments based on a student-athlete's current social media account and habits.  Information on that program announced earlier can be found at this link.
• Life skills programming (speakers, resources) through Athletics' Beyond the Buzzer and Cardinal Select programs.
• One-on-one consultations & continuing NIL education outreach provided to UofL student-athletes and their parents and guardians.
• A plan to partner with The College Licensing Company (CLC) & Game Plan for their "Compass" resources---which include online life skills education modules (including NIL related topics), NIL disclosure and reporting platform, and student-athlete career services.
• Creating a UofL NIL Advisory Board which includes several athletics staff, university staff and faculty members with subject matter expertise on media, marketing, branding, contracts, intellectual property, international student visas and employment, compliance and other areas to serve as an outlet for guidance in the rapidly evolving NIL landscape.
• UofL athletics administration continues to meet with individual teams and student-athletes to learn about their questions, proposed plans, and help them navigate through NIL opportunities

The University also announced that the NIL initiatives will be headed up by associate athletic director Matt Banker. According to the release, UofL is doing all of these items as they have been deemed permissible by the NCAA. "...the NCAA has indicated the following activities have been permitted by institutions without triggering impermissible institutional involvement in a student-athlete's name, image and likeness activity: (1) Providing educational programming on NIL and associated regulations; (2) Assisting in evaluating opportunities; (3) Assistance with compliance and disclosure expectations; and (4) Assistance in the evaluation of professional service providers."

As the University continues to develop its rules, regulations, and processes regarding athletes' use of NIL, we will continue to increase our understanding of how they will affect sports at UofL and how they may impact our coverage of those sports. UofL announced a particular site,   https://gocards.com/sports/nil, that will be a landing spot for all of their news, educational resources, and updates for NIL related matters. We will be monitoring it closely. If you're interested in reading more about the initial steps the University is taking, you can find the full release here.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

As Jared wrote yesterday, there will be more discussion on the NIL matters today on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. The crew will be a bit thinner this week, as Daryl and I drop off for various reasons again, but there's still plenty for the three remaining knuckleheads to discuss. They'll follow up all of their prognostications with another summer quiz, so you won't want to miss that. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show or check out the replay or podcast whenever you can. 

Until next time, Go Cards!