Sports business notes: Ed Orgeron, performance analytics and NIL not impacting fandom

Some news and notes from the college sports business world:

Ed Orgeron still involved in lawsuit

At some point in the next few months, LSU will throw millions of dollars at a big-name coach to entice him to take one of the nation’s most coveted head coaching jobs. But even at that point, don’t expect the connection between departing coach Ed Orgeron and the university to be totally severed. 

One notable item that was lost amid Sunday’s news that LSU will part ways with Orgeron at the end of the season is that the coach must cooperate with the school’s ongoing Title IX litigation. The separation agreement that the school released said Orgeron, 60, must “cooperate in the defense of any litigation in which (Orgeron) is named a defendant or identified as a witness as a result of (Orgeron’s) employment at LSU.”

In June, Orgeron was added as a defendant in the Title IX lawsuit against LSU. He is accused in the suit of failing to report an alleged rape of an LSU student by then-LSU running back Derrius Guice. Orgeron did not report the rape to the Title IX office or any office at LSU, the amended lawsuit states.

The suit says the student, Ashlyn Robertson, later dated an LSU football player who told Orgeron about the assault. The lawsuit states that Orgeron “responded by telling Robertson’s boyfriend to not be upset because ‘everybody’s girlfriend sleeps with other people.’ ” When USA Today first reported the details of that conversation in August 2020, Orgeron issued a statement denying he made that comment. In an investigation by law firm Husch Blackwell, the coach also “credibly denied” being told of the alleged rape in that conversation.

Orgeron, who signed a six-year extension after LSU’s 2019 national championship season, will receive his full $16.9 million buyout in numerous installments through 2025. Orgeron also agreed to a non-compete clause: He cannot accept another SEC head-coaching job for 18 months. 

BC aligns with performance analytics company

The wearable space continues to evolve at an accelerated pace as coaches and athletes increasingly seek sophisticated data to maximize performance and recovery.

Catapult, a sports performance analytics company, announced Monday a multiyear deal with Boston College across men’s and women’s sports. With Catapult’s data, Boston College coaches will look to optimize training and reduce injury risks with insights from the company’s wearable and video products. The deal includes hundreds of Vector wearable devices, which provide coaches and athletes sport-specific data related to athlete movements.

Catapult also provides performance insights to teams at Harvard, Northeastern, University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Boston University.

“One of the things I have found somewhat frustrating as a consumer, you have all these wearables (in the industry in general) measuring lots and lots of data, but very little of it is actually helping you change your behavior, Catapult CEO Will Lopes told me earlier this year. “So particularly in sport, there is a lot to do still.”

In addition to collecting performance-related data, Catapult seeks to provide actionable insights to athletes and coaches.

Quick hits …

+ The dawn of the NIL era on July 1 has not led to diminishing interest in college sports, as some anticipated. New polling indicates that it has actually fostered more respect for and interest in the brands that engage in NIL deals with athletes. In a survey of more than 500 fans by Horizon Media and Scout Sports and Entertainment, nearly 60 percent of “avid” fans said they were more likely to respect marketers who sponsor college athletes and were more inclined to purchase brands that sponsored their favorite college athletes.

+ Samsung announced Monday that it is partnering with five marquee schools — Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas and Washington — as their official consumer electronics television partner. In connection with those schools, Samsung’s new Shrines of Glory video series focuses on so-called “super fans” and the elaborate fan caves they have created for game days. The series is developed and produced by Learfield and Publicis Sport and Entertainment.

+ Overtime Elite announced Monday that it had secured its first official brand partnership: Gatorade. Overtime Elite, which opens its inaugural season October 29, offers top basketball prospects a pathway to the NBA that doesn’t entail playing college basketball or overseas for a year. OTE secures highly touted high school basketball players by signing them to six-figure contracts. The NBA G League Ignite also offers players an alternative route to the NBA. Gatorade will have a significant presence at OTE’s new Atlanta-based facility, including a “Gatorade Fuel Bar” in the building’s performance space.