College of Charleston has been dabbling in the name, image and likeness business for the past 3½ years.
Former head basketball coach Pat Kelsey was at the forefront of NIL collectives when he arrived at the downtown campus in the spring of 2021. He was a fund-raising machine, pumping more than $1 million into the school's athletic department budget during his three seasons at College of Charleston.
With Kelsey's departure to Louisville last April, the school looked to expand its presence in the NIL marketplace.
On Oct. 21, CofC officials announced the launch of The Charleston Edge Collective, which will give student-athletes the money and tools to capitalize on their talents, build their personal brands and secure opportunities, both on and off the court or field.
"We believe The Edge collective will give our coaches and players the ability to compete on a national level," said College of Charleston athletics director Matt Roberts. "The collective will help with the recruitment and retention of student athletes. We've been involved with NIL in the past, but The Edge takes what we've been doing to an entirely new level."
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Mark Peper, a Charleston attorney, is the founder of The Edge, and Tyler Jones will serve as the group's CEO.
"I have a love for the city of Charleston, the College of Charleston and a passion for winning," Peper said. "College of Charleston is in a unique position to take advantage of the NIL ecosystem. We're working lock step with the athletic department and that's an important distinction between us and some of the other collectives that are out there, because everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goal."
The goal is to raise $600,000 for the collective within the first year, a source inside the athletic department confirmed.
While previous NIL and fund-raising efforts have been focused on men's basketball, The Edge also will funnel money into sports such as baseball, softball, soccer and volleyball.
"We want to be the top mid-major program out there," said College of Charleston baseball coach Chad Holbrook. "We have the city to do it, the athletic department to do it, and an athletic director and school president that believe in what we're trying to do.
"We will be able to attract kids that maybe we didn't have a shot at earlier because we will be going above and beyond what a scholarship offers. It will also help in retaining the players we already have in the program."
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A year ago, CofC baseball lost two of its top pitchers, Trey Pooser and Ty Good, to SEC powers Kentucky and South Carolina, respectively.
"Hopefully with the collective, we're able to hang onto those kinds of players in the future," Holbrook said. "We want kids to come here, play four years and earn their degree and this will help us do just that."
Peper, who played soccer at Wofford, is convinced that NIL can help the Cougars' Olympic sports become competitive against even schools from bigger conferences such as the ACC and SEC.
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"If we're able to raise, $10,000 to $20,000 for the soccer teams, the softball or volleyball programs, that will go a long way in leveling the playing field," Peper said.
More and more mid-major programs are entering the NIL marketplace because of the NCAA's recent $2.77 billion antitrust settlement.
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The settlement will mean less revenue from the NCAA for mid-major schools such as College of Charleston, The Citadel and Charleston Southern.
CofC expects to see between $150,000-$200,000 less each year from the NCAA beginning in 2025.
In 2023, College of Charleston received $496,705, or about 2 percent of its revenue, from the NCAA, according to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
The tentative settlement includes the NCAA and conferences paying $2.77 billion over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes who say now-defunct rules prevented them from earning money or endorsement deals dating to 2016.
The deal will also provide a framework for an estimated $20 billion more in revenue sharing with current athletes over that same period.
The settlement's terms have not been finalized, and they still must be approved by the court.
The NCAA will reportedly pay off about 40 percent of the $2.7 billion in damages, and its member institutions will handle the remaining 60 percent. The power conferences alone will account for 24 percent, or about $660 million.
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"The settlement is going to change college athletics, and whether that means revenue sharing or NIL, we're going to push forward and lean into it," Roberts said. "We want to use this to our advantage."
"Launching the collective sends a national signal to recruits, donors and our competitors that we're serious about this and we're not going to shy away from the new legislation."
New basketball coach Chris Mack, who has not been on the bench since 2022, is already a convert to NIL.
"You either get on the NIL train or you are going to get left behind," Mack said. "I'm fortunate to work at a place that accepts and embraces NIL and collectives. I think recruiting and retention are crucial to building a successful program, and NIL will give us an advantage with that.
"We don't want to have to replace eight, nine players each year. There's not a program out there that can consistently succeed with that much turnover every year."