COLUMBUS, Ohio – It's clear that one of the main hopes for Ohio State athletics under new athletic director Russ Bjork is the future of the university's NIL program.
Specifically, what Ohio State's support could become.
“He has worked with the Texas Legislature and the NCAA on the changing NIL landscape,” Ohio State President Ted Carter said Wednesday in Bjork's introduction. “He oversaw the largest fundraising effort in the history of Texas A&M athletics.”
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Bjork, who joined Texas A&M in 2019, helped lead a football program that was known as one of the most aggressive NIL programs in the country.
“No one really knows what the reality of no nuclear weapons is,” Bjork said. “Unless they're on your campus and handing contracts over to your compliance office, which is the health part of any NIL program. That's the reality. We don't really know what's going on across the country, and that's one of the challenges we have here.”
However, this success on the NIL field did not translate into success on the field.
Bjork inherited football coach Jimbo Fisher, and during his tenure at Texas A&M, he oversaw a football program that went a combined 37-23. However, over the last two seasons, the Aggies went 5-7 and 7-6, which led to Fisher's firing and a stunning $75 million buyout, the largest in college football history.
With the Buckeyes, and significant financial backing, the hope is that Ohio State's football field can lift the program to the national championships.
“Today’s leaders and today’s coaches have to improve the culture first,” Bjork said. “That will continue to be important. Team culture, team chemistry. There has to be a structure around NIL. The players know who the most valuable player is. The players know who is going to make the most money because of who they are. If there is a structure within your organization, if there is constant communication around Value, and if the coach is building the culture, and there's a lot of communication, people shouldn't have to hide around their locker saying, 'What's this person or that person getting?'”
While there are certainly distinct differences between Texas A&M and Ohio State, and the Big Ten and SEC, maintaining competitiveness in the NIL landscape is now a requirement in today's world of college football to compete for championships. Bjork's role as a fundraiser will be significant in these efforts.
It's not clear the details of what Ohio State will and can do in the NIL arena with Bjork at the helm, but what is clear is that he will be aggressive in trying to fundraise to get things done.
“Nothing, I would say we're still in the early stages of it,” Carter said. “We're still learning a lot about that. There's probably going to be more regulations around that. And that will ultimately tie into any joint revenue models that will be implemented in the future. There's no doubt that he'll be able to raise money for some type of capital event.” .
