TicketsCINCINNATI – As the intercollegiate athletics world continues to turn, the Cincinnati athletics department has announced Cincy Connect NIL, its official in-house unit that oversees all such opportunities for Bearcats student-athletes, in addition to traditional front-office roles in student-athlete management.
The department features three staff members. Trever Wright, after 10 years in UC’s athletics compliance office, was appointed Associate Athletics Director of Student-Athlete Management. In addition to contracts and cap management, including the College Athlete Payment System (CAPS), he will work closely with general managers of each sport, including football’s Zach Grant, men’s basketball’s Corey Evans and women’s basketball’s Symone Denham.
Eddie Taylor, Director of Athlete Influence is in his third year organizing organic Name, Image and Likeness deals among individual student-athletes and team-wide events. He also oversees NIL Go, the new clearinghouse for college sports NIL deals. Next to him is NIL Associate Grace Diederich.
Cincinnati’s Successes in NIL
The athletics department has had plenty to celebrate so far, including being named the top NIL program in 2024 at the NIL Summit.
Cincinnati has boasted top collaborations this summer with Dexcom U, C4 Energy Drinks and Save the Animals Foundation. The first two of those involved on-site camps in Baltimore and Austin, respectively, while STAF features an all-football-season activation.
Cincinnati has also held In Her Likeness, an NIL event exclusively for women’s student-athletes, three years in a row.
Multiple athletes across all sports have worked with Cincinnati-headquartered businesses Medpace, TQL and Fifth Third Bank.
How to Get Involved
For those interested in working with Cincinnati’s student-athletes, contact Taylor at taylo2ed@ucmail.uc.edu.
Sponsorship opportunities, as well as approval to use the C-Paw logo in NIL deals, run through Cincy Sports Partners, UC’s multimedia rightsholder, led by Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director/CSP President Ryan Holmes. He and his team can be reached through csp@uc.edu.
For more information on Cincinnati’s NIL resources and latest developments, visit its official site here.