The Athletes’ Voice: Make Your Own Legacy

When NIL was introduced during my time as a Division III college athlete at Amherst College, I knew pretty quickly that my experience with it was going to look different than that of my Division I counterparts. 

The reality was that I wasn’t playing in front of 80,000 people every Saturday, I didn’t have a massive social media following, and there weren’t brands lining up to work with Division III athletes. If I wanted to take advantage of this new legislation, I was going to have to figure out what made me valuable and create opportunities for myself. 

Learning how to advocate for why Jack Betts could be a valuable asset became one of the most important lessons NIL taught me.  

I started reaching out to brands and businesses directly - crafting and reworking my pitches with each attempt. I learned how to sell myself, how to think about what a company actually wanted from an athlete partnership, and how to communicate the value I could provide beyond simply being a football player at a NESCAC school in Western Massachusetts. 

Some conversations went nowhere, and I used those as lessons in their own right. Others turned into opportunities, which validated the work I was putting in. Eventually, I had the privilege of working with more than 40 brands during my time as a college athlete, ranging from serving as an Insomnia Cookies Ambassador to speaking on a panel with Invesco QQQ. 

Of course, making money as a college athlete was exciting, but what really stuck with me was everything I was learning in the process. 

I eventually began to view NIL as an entrepreneurial incubator. I saw firsthand how it pushed college athletes to think like businesses: to understand their value, communicate it effectively, build relationships, market themselves, negotiate, create content and, ultimately, become their own best advocates. 

What living in this space taught me more than anything was that meaningful opportunities in NIL weren’t reserved for athletes on the biggest stages. Rather, athletes at every level could create value for themselves and others if they were willing to identify what made them unique and be intentional about building around those qualities. 

Challenging The System

In the early stages of these monumental legislative changes, much of the attention was understandably centered around athletes at the highest levels of competition. As a Division III athlete, it would have been easy to look at the headlines and assume this space wasn’t intended to serve someone like me. 

I chose to look at that as an opportunity rather than roadblock. 

There wasn’t much of a blueprint for what NIL could look like at my level and I became fascinated with figuring out what was possible. As I started finding success in NIL, other college athletes began reaching out to me asking how I was creating momentum for myself without professional representation or institutional support. Those conversations made me realize there was a real appetite for practical NIL education for smaller-market and underserved college athletes.

That reflection eventually became the Make Your Own Legacy Academy, a passion project I founded around the belief that personal branding and professional development should go hand in hand. As athletes learned how to better understand and communicate their value, they were also developing skills in networking, relationship-building, professionalism, and self-advocacy that could serve them long after their playing careers came to an end. 

Through the academy, I had the privilege of working with more than 60 college athletes across every level of NCAA competition. I taught them how to build their individual platforms, how to approach potential partners, and how to use NIL as a vehicle to create pathways that could prepare them for the next 50 years.

For me, that became one of the most rewarding parts of the entire experience. I wasn't interested in simply showing athletes how to land deals, I wanted them to understand why they had value in the first place and develop the confidence and skills to advocate for themselves.

Beyond the Final Whistle

That naturally expanded the way I thought about the college athlete experience more broadly.

College athletics demands an incredible amount of time, discipline, sacrifice, and emotional investment from our college athletes. Their sport becomes a major component of their identity, one they must balance alongside academics, relationships, expectations, injuries, and uncertainty about what comes next. 

Eventually, every athlete plays their last game.

That reality is why professional development has become such an important part of the way I think about college athletics. Ideally, the relationships, skills, and experiences athletes develop along the way should help prepare them for whatever comes after that last snap, serve, or rep. 

I believe the same level of intentionality has to exist around mental health and overall well-being. Supporting college athletes means doing more than helping them perform when it’s time to compete. It means giving them the resources to navigate adversity, develop an identity beyond their sport, and leave college better equipped for the challenges and transitions that come with life after sport. 

To me, that is where our industry has to improve most. The goal should be to develop not only elite competitors, but well-rounded human beings prepared to succeed long after their playing careers end. 

From the Field to the Front Office

As I continue on my journey through this ever-evolving space, now as the Senior NIL Partnership Solutions Coordinator at SMU, I carry with me the lessons I learned as a college athlete and the perspective I’ve gained working on the other side of collegiate athletics. It is a privilege to work alongside our college athletes, support their growth on and off the field, and create meaningful opportunities for them. Now more than ever, I believe this space requires responsible leadership that keeps the best interests of college athletes at the center. 

I never wanted my story to be defined only by what I accomplished for myself, but instead by the impact I had on others and the space around me. I want to use what I’ve learned to create pathways to success for college athletes, advocate for their development, and leave the industry better than I found it. 

I’ve always believed opportunity is something you create, not something you wait for. Patience has its place, but if you wait too long the window can close. While my time as an athlete was finite, what I could build from it was not. I started this journey as a Division III athlete watching Division I athletes succeed in NIL and wondering how I could carve out a place for myself in the same space. Today, I coordinate NIL at the same level that first inspired me to get involved, helping college athletes tell their stories, build their brands, and create value of their own. To me, that’s what it means to Make Your Own Legacy. 

#MYOL