By Wes French, General Manager of Teamworks PersonnelAs a previous high school football coach and longtime college sports lover, I have witnessed a change in school activities over the past few years. I’m glad to see student-athletes suddenly benefiting monetarily from their skills. I am aware of how, for the better or worse, these modifications have ultimately altered the game.
At Teamworks, a sports tech company helping athletic departments and conferences navigate this new age, I’ve witnessed firsthand the trauma caused by NIL, the House arrangement, and looming cover supervision policies. Colleges, conferences, and communes are scrambling to modify, hiring new staff, and implementing processes to handle a quickly evolving landscape.
I’ve learned from my 13 years of experience in engineering that the direction of an entire industry depends on decisions made first in a revolutionary era. Ponder the NFL’s increase in the 1970s: location television deals, group mergers, and superstar athletes pushed the league to extraordinary heights. However, the NFL forged its personal journey, not by following various leagues. Their decades-long creation into a giant required experiment, innovation, and management that embraced the league’s special challenges.

The issue for college sports now is whether its leaders did rise to the occasion. Did they accept the difficulties of NIL and plan for a prosperous coming? One thing is sure: there’s no easy box. The path ahead didn’t come through carbon-copying choices made by professional teams. It may call for ingenious, well-thought-out choices that take into account the peculiarities of college sports.
College sports are essentially distinct from professional athletics. Schools must juggle a complex combination of scientific support, regulatory compliance, performer well-being, and payment. Income channels include fellowships, stipends, NIL offers, and revenue-sharing contracts, creating an intricate web of overlapping techniques.
In contrast to the NFL or NBA, where teams have a one-time salary cap for only 53 people or fewer, university athletic departments manage thousands of players across various activities and teams, all at different stages of their seasons. Put in a long list of stakeholders—athletes, protectors, agents, colleges, the NCAA, conferences, and brands—and the difficulty multiplies.
What’s more, school gymnastics is a much less sophisticated industry. The NFL has had years to produce best practices and enhance its salary cap program. College activities don’t have that comfort. Undergraduate athletics had chart its own course, one that considers the realities of educational institutions and young, emerging athletes, despite the advantages ‘ contributions.
It’s easy to overlook two truths in the accelerating formalization of college sports: these athletes are still young and education is important.

Before my job in tech, I was a high school math teacher and sport coach. I firmly held my people responsible while developing their leadership skills as young men and potential leaders. Now, I continue to be motivated by that same travel. The most common college athletes didn’t compete, and the lessons they pick up along the way may influence their futures much beyond sports.
At Teamworks, we’ve spoken with lots of sport officials and instructors who share this goal. Their top priority is to prepare players for life beyond the sport and help them improve their current earnings. This shared mission—developing student-athletes as people —should information every coverage, process, and technologies introduced to this area.
This is what distinguishes school sporting from other sports. It’s about developing character and preparing fresh individuals for the difficulties of life, not just about making warriors on the industry. Every new part created, every piece of technology introduced, and every scheme implemented must connect with this greater goal.
Finding the right balance between urgent needs and long-term advancement when developing solutions for undergraduate athletics is essential. Integrated Systems for Efficiency: With so many partners involved, flawless integration is necessary. Five guiding principles can serve as a useful framework for navigating this revolutionary period. Effective solutions must connect recruiting, compliance, athlete payments, and roster management into a single, cohesive system to reduce silos and improve operational clarity.
Iterative Problem Solving: Universities and conferences face varying and often urgent challenges. A wise decision starts with addressing the most pressing needs and laying a solid foundation for growth and adaptability.
Built-In Flexibility: No two institutions operate the same way. To remain effective, any solution must accommodate diverse practices and evolve to meet the shifting requirements of cap management, compliance, and other emerging dynamics.
Athlete-Centered Design: At the heart of college sports is the student-athlete. To ensure they can fully capitalize on opportunities during their collegiate careers, tools and processes should prioritize their development, starting with financial education and using transparent valuation metrics.
Clarity Through Data: In what remains a complex and often opaque landscape, data-driven decision-making is non-negotiable. Transparent and easily understandable analytic models enable stakeholders to make informed decisions, whether in terms of roster management or financial planning.
These principles aren’t just aspirational—they are a call to action for institutions navigating the challenges of the current landscape. By embracing these values, universities, and conferences can address immediate priorities while building a foundation for sustainable, long-term success.
Innovation is no longer a luxury but a necessity as college sports become more and more professional. Purpose-built solutions to manage total athlete earnings, including cap management, aren’t just about budgeting, they’re about building a sustainable model that honors student-athletes, ensures compliance, and fortifies the foundations of athletic programs nationwide.
Universities who adopt these thought-provoking strategies now have a better chance of succeeding in supporting student-athletes while upholding their dual commitment to academics and athletics. Athletic departments can survive and thrive in this transformative era by acknowledging the limitations of solutions developed for professional teams and investing in technology that is specifically designed for the complex nature of college sports.

It’s time to build something that lasts. Learn more about Teamworks.