Tyler Kolek is one of the best players in college basketball. He's also one of the savviest when it comes to NIL deals.
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"How TKO Miller connected with TKO Kolek
TKO Miller has a few employees who are MU graduates, so they started asking around about who to contact about an NIL deal. They landed on Danielle Josetti, the school's executive associate athletic director for compliance, marketing and sales.
Per NCAA rules, schools can't solicit NIL deals but can tell interested parties about who is available and gauge the interest of individuals. MU has its own restrictions for deals if companies don't align with the school's ideals, such as tobacco companies, though student-athletes can have alcohol-related endorsements if they are 21 years old. No issues have cropped up yet."
"There weren't an overwhelming number of people calling Josetti in the fall and early winter, but business interest picked up in February
as the Golden Eagles established themselves as a top 10 team.
When TKO Miller office manager Katie Yde left a message, Josetti knew it was the perfect NIL deal.
'When I called her back, she brought up Tyler,' Josetti said. 'I said I think that would be great. He'll be great.'
Making the deal happen
Oleszczuk got Kolek's phone number from Josetti. The deal came together quickly.
'I started out with "Hey Tyler, your old coach was my boyhood friend because I grew up with (Wausau native) Dave Paulsen, who coached him at (George) Mason," Oleszczuk said. 'And so it broke the ice a little bit and we said, hey, do you want to do this and he said "Yeah, it sounds fun."'
"Student-athletes must report every deal to their schools. Oleszczuk, a former practicing lawyer, drew up a simple agreement."
"Inspiration from 'This Is SportsCenter' commercials
TKO Miller does its own commercials, so Oleszczuk and Co. started brainstorming ideas. An employee suggested doing something like the
'This Is SportsCenter’ commercials where athletes were shown doing mundane tasks around the ESPN offices."
"Kolek, who has taken some acting classes at MU, knocked out his three commercials in just over a hour. He tosses water bottles behind his back and shoots paper in wastebaskets. TKO Miller's Yde shot and edited the videos on her phone.
'I’m open for everything,' Kolek said. 'I love doing those little stuff like that. That stuff is fun to me. Meeting new people, interacting, just getting my name out there with a different crowd.
'People come up to me and are like "Oh, I’ve seen your commercials." Those corny commercials, they mean something to people and they mean something to me. It’s just fun for everybody.”
It was just what Oleszczuk was looking for in the deal."
"The future of NIL deals for MU athletes
Kolek is one of the best players in college basketball,
the Big East player of the year and an All-American. He's also pretty savvy when it comes to NIL deals.
'Not many guys still realize how much money there is to be had out there,' Kolek said.'"And I don't think people are taking full advantage. Even myself, I'm not taking full advantage and I'm asking questions. I'm trying to figure it out.'
He's done small deals like getting $500 to show up at a local restaurant and take pictures. He's done more ambitious ventures like a clothing line
where you can buy shirts that feature a profane, off-hand remark he made before last season.
It can be a lot to balance business dealings with the demands of being an elite college athlete. So after discussing things with MU head coach Shaka Smart and his family, Kolek decided last week to sign with an NIL agent from Priority Sports, which is allowed by the NCAA.
'It’s kind of off my plate and I don’t have to be the one thinking about it,' Kolek said. 'They can just come to me with whatever they get or whatever they think works for me.'
Kolek cited a recent deal as to why having an agent would help an athlete.
'Nobody really knows what the market is,' Kolek said. 'That’s why you hire the agents. The trading card deal, say for example, they’re giving me $2 per signature and I got 5,000 signatures to do, per se, I wouldn’t know if that’s good or not. But my agents have done 25 other trading card deals, so they would know.'
Most high-major college athletes make money through collectives, and Kolek also works with
the Be The Difference NIL group that sets up MU athletes with community groups.
Since athletes can also get deals on their own − and Josetti already had enough work with her usual duties − MU hired former Golden Eagles women's soccer player Madison Dunker in late March
as a general manager of its NIL program run through Altius Sports Partners."
