Baylor president evaluates athletics department's strategy in NIL, rev-share era after Mack Rhoades resignation

Last week, after previously announcing a leave of absence, Mack Rhoades resigned as Baylor athletics director. As the school looks toward the search for a new AD, university president Linda Livingstone evaluated the next steps for the department.

Rhoades’ departure comes roughly less than six months after the House settlement ushered in the rev-share era in college athletics. But in addition to the $20.5 million cap in place under the agreement this year, Livingstone pointed out the need to ensure third-party NIL opportunities for Baylor athletes.

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It’s all part of her assessment of the financial model in college athletics, though she acknowledged Rhoades’ achievements in Waco. That means making sure donor support is in place, as well as making sure there’s stability from a financial standpoint.

“I think what I would say, in terms of going forward – and this is not a reflection on Mack. It’s a reflection on the changing nature of college athletics,” Livingstone said during an interview with the Waco Tribune-Herald. “I think we’ve got to really think about kind of our financial model in college athletics. Everybody’s doing this. And how do we financially support athletics at the level we have to, to be competitive on a national scale – both in the conference and nationally – from a financial perspective that doesn’t burn the institution in a way that’s harmful to other aspects of what we’re doing? And frankly, at the end of the day, we’re an academic institution. We’ve got to make sure we continue to support that.

“So how do we work with our donors and ways to support what we’re doing? How do we grow a broader sponsorship base? How do we think about outside NIL? Doing it in a legitimate way, for legitimate NIL at fair market value that’s external to the $20.5 million or so that we can spend internally. We’ve got to do all of those things better to have the financial base and athletics, both from an operating budget perspective, but also from an NIL perspective.”

Those third-party NIL opportunities are viewed as a difference-maker in the new landscape. While the NIL Go clearinghouse is in place to vet deals worth more than $600, outside deals can help athletes earn so-called “over-the-cap” dollars beyond rev-share. That, Livingstone said, should be Baylor’s focus moving forward.

“I think the schools that are going to be successful over the long run are going to have really robust outside NIL models that are legitimate, by the rules and consistent with the philosophy of what NIL was intended to be to begin with,” Livingstone said. “So I think those are some things that the new athletic director is going to have to focus on to help ensure our football program, our basketball programs, all of our programs can really be competitive going forward.”