Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Texas G Rori Harmon

Posted on October 6, 2022 by Jon Teitel

We are still a month away from the tip-off of the college basketball season this fall, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Texas G Rori Harmon, who talked about making the Elite 8 last March and her expectations for this season.

In 2021 you were named a McDonald’s All-American: how frustrating was it to not actually play in the game because it was canceled due to COVID? It was pretty frustrating because the world was starting to hold basketball events again. I was still honored to receive the award but I wish that I could have experienced playing in the game, which did not happen. They made sure to fill in the gap though.

You were born/raised in Houston: what made you choose Hook ‘Em (Texas) over Sic ‘Em (Baylor)? It does not have anything to do with my geography because Waco is a lot closer. A Texas education will help me throughout my life and I built a great relationship with the coaching staff. They care about me as a person, not just as a basketball player, which is what any parent wants for their child.

Your nickname is “Fetus” due to your youth/size: who gave you the nickname, and how do you like it? It is not really used any more because the person who gave it to me is not here any more. I think my hairstyle made me look younger and she thought that I appeared to be a little child. It was a little weird but some other people on the team started using it. I was okay with it and it brought us closer together.

You play for Coach Vic Schaefer: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? Any great coach is able to win games he is not expected to win. When he looks at us in practice he makes sure we do not take shortcuts because he knows what it takes to win. He tells me that the most important job of a PG is to win the game, rather than having a lot of AST or how well you play. If we did not win then I did not do my job so it pushes me every day.

In the 2nd game of your college career you scored a team-high 21 PTS in a 5-PT road win at defending national champ Stanford: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I have a lot of confidence in myself and know what I am capable of. I know what the team needs at certain times so I try to set the tone and ride with that.

In the 2022 Big 12 tourney title game you scored 20 PTS/8-10 FG in a 9-PT win over Baylor en route to being named conference tourney MVP: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? Yes. We had not beaten Baylor in a long time so looking at the faces of our seniors and feeling their vibe I could tell that winning was very important. It was not just another game: it was personal and we were focused on getting the job done. Every shot I took felt good, even the ones I missed.

Last March you made it to the Elite 8 before a 9-PT loss to Stanford: what did you learn from your postseason run that you think will help you this year? We just have to do “1 more something”.

You were also named conference ROY/honorable mention All-American: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? As a freshman it felt so good and I felt so honored because I had watched other players on TV win those awards. To be in the same limelight as them is something that any little girl who wants to play D-1 basketball wishes they could do.

You led the conference with 86 STL and also broke Terri Mackey’s school record for most AST by a freshman with 180: what is the secret to being a great PG? You have to set your teammates up for success and put them in positions to do so. You also have to be a leader: what can you do for yourself to help your teammates? That is basically my motto and what I think about everyday during practice. When everyone is successful then that is the best accomplishment.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? The goal is to win the national championship, which is also the expectation for every single 1 of us. We fell short last year and it put a chip on my shoulder. It burns inside you because we had such a good team and knew what we were capable of. Everyone’s goal is to win it all…and that is what we are going to do.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Texas G Rori Harmon

Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Brenden Hill of the Triumph NIL collective

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Jon Teitel

The marketplace for college athletes to engage in Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) deals was created last year after the NCAA v. Alston case and now it seems like every college is ready to start spreading the wealth. There are already more than 100 “collectives” either in operation or being formed. They allow alumni/fans/whoever to donate money to assist a specific school in creating opportunities for student-athletes to make some money off of their celebrity. We have reached out to many collectives and will try to interview representatives from as many of them as possible to see how each of them operates. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Brenden Hill of the Triumph NIL collective, who discussed what his group is about and what it has accomplished so far.

Your group founded an NIL collective called “Triumph NIL” in April: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? It is an interesting dynamic. We view ourselves as a marketing agency who has stepped into the college sports marketplace. It was not too complicated: we have an experienced group including Kevin Jones (who runs an award-winning agency that has worked with Facebook) and Jim Cowan (a partner in a local law firm). We just wanted to help Virginia Tech due to our ties to the university/area: Jim reached out to me in January because I played football at Virginia Tech and he had some local business clients interested in the space.

How much of your focus is on basketball compared to football? We have about 60 athletes so far in a variety of sports. Football is a big percentage of what we do due to the sheer size of the roster, but our focus is on working with all of the top athletes so that every program can thrive. We had a great baseball run last spring and our wrestlers have been extremely successful as well. We want to help the student-athletes across all sports and the momentum that our basketball team created off of its ACC Tournament championship last March has been awesome.

Your role is “strategy”: what does that involve? I primarily coordinate with our other team members to direct us in what are we trying to accomplish, the road map to executing it, etc. There is a lot of idea development across different sectors: business development, internal strategies, etc. Kevin is in charge of the creative side so I work with him a lot to see how we can execute our collective vision.

What kind of connection (if any) does your group have with people like Coach Mike Young/Athletic Director Whit Babcock? There are “connections” but due to NCAA rules it is informal: anyone considered a donor has certain restrictions but we have a great relationship with Mike/Whit. There are also no “directives” from the athletic department: we just want to figure out how to facilitate things while remaining in compliance.

What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? Justyn Mutts has a housing deal through CMG Leasing: he performs some marketing opportunities on behalf of Triumph and receives housing in return. He also got a car lease in exchange for using his NIL. We have also facilitated deals with CMG Leasing for Sean Pedulla/Darius Maddox as well as a similar housing deal with some of our women’s basketball players.

People are obviously free to do whatever they want with their hard-earned money…but do you ever have any second thoughts about whether you should be encouraging your donors to do something else like fight cancer/reduce homelessness? It is free will so the person spending the money has the final decision. If it does something good for the community or for a good cause that is awesome, but NIL has gotten a bad rap because it is under the microscope. The ultimate goal is to help people leverage their brand for financial gain, which is no different than someone on Tik Tok/YouTube who does not have any restrictions. Whether that includes endorsing a charity/cause is not as big a deal: I do not get into the weeds about how the exchanges are executed.

Your motto is “Recruit/Retain/Reward”: what does that mean? Recruit is about competitiveness in the marketplace so if an athlete/family has questions about what is compliant then we can help them find answers. Virginia Tech has a group that is active in that space so we just make high school athletes aware that the playing field is even when evaluating their choices at the next level. As far as Retain, our partnership is not as official as the one at South Carolina but we believe that stability is great for both the university and its athletes: we cannot induce anyone to stay. Reward shows athletes how they can leverage their brand due to their blood/sweat/tears and how they can monetize that using NIL.

When you played football at Virginia Tech you were a starter for the #1-ranked defense in the nation: how would your life have been different if there were NIL opportunities back in the day (if at all)? That is a hard 1. I was on full scholarship but still had student loans because my scholarship did not cover things like my cell phone bill or getting my transmission replaced. A lot of athletes in non-revenue sports are still on the hook for cost-of-living. You see the headlines about the best players getting millions of dollars but a lot of athletes still need help with cost-of-living expenses. My student loan debt is equivalent to what most athletes are getting each semester in NIL money. I am happy that it is here but we realize that we have do to everything in compliance otherwise it will go away.

Last month former top high school prospect Emoni Bates was arrested after sheriff’s deputies found a gun in a car he was driving: how concerned are you about entering contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? That risk in inherent for anyone on scholarship: it is the cost of doing business in a way but it does not discourage us. We try to vet everyone we work with but if the school feels comfortable giving them a scholarship then we feel comfortable giving them a deal.

What kind of cool stuff do people get if they became 1 of your top donors? Different groups set up their collectives differently. We have not tapped into the subscription model yet but it might be an opportunity down the line. I joke a lot about how some SEC schools were doing NIL under the table before NIL was legal! The “Michael Vick Effect” happened back in 1999 so a big part of what we want to do is to teach our fan base about how NIL works specifically at Virginia Tech and the needs of our athletes. We are living in a period of high inflation, which we do not take lightly, so we just want to facilitate things for donors and be considerate of the impact the current economy has on a family’s monthly bills.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Brenden Hill of the Triumph NIL collective

Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Drake coach Darian DeVries

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Jon Teitel

We are still a month away from the tip-off of the college basketball season this fall, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Drake coach Darian DeVries, who talked about making the CBI last March and his expectations for this season.

You played basketball at Northern Iowa: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you get into coaching? I was just an okay player but loved the experience. I always thought that I would be a high school coach/teacher but later decided that I wanted to get a job in college.

You spent almost 2 decades working for Dana Altman/Greg McDermott at Creighton: what was the most important thing that you ever learned from either of them? The biggest thing from both of them was their consistency and how they approached their day-to-day. They were never too high/low and just stayed the course.

You were hired as head coach at Drake in 2018: why did you take the job? I had tried to get it a couple of times before. I grew up in Iowa and knew the Des Moines area and the value of a Drake education. I thought that it was a great fit for me and I had a clear vision of what we could do here.

You were named conference COY twice in the past 4 years: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? You win those awards when your program is doing well, which is the fulfillment/recognition that I got from those awards. It filters down to your staff/players/administration because they are group awards.

In 2020 you became the 1st coach to lead a #8-seed to a win over a #1-seed in the MVC tourney: how were you able to pull off the upset against your alma mater? We made shots, which always helps! We finished the regular season against them at our place and got beat badly in front of a sold-out crowd. That is the beauty of sports: you just have to go out and play.

The following season you started 18–0, then lost 2 of your best players to injury, then led Drake to its 1st NCAA tourney win in 50 years by beating Wichita State: where does that win rank among the highlights of your career? It is probably #1. Not only did we overcome injuries but everyone had to go through COVID with testing/lockdowns. I was really proud of our group and their resiliency to stick together despite everything that was thrown at them.

Last March as the #1 seed in the CBI you had a win over Purdue Fort Wayne and then a 1-PT loss to eventual champion UNCW: what did your team learn from that run that you think will help them this year? It was disappointing to miss out on the NCAA/NIT but we wanted to give our seniors a chance to play in the postseason. We were actually up by 20 PTS against UNCW with 10 minutes left. It left a bit of a sour taste but the guys are excited to go back out there and make the NCAA tourney this season.

You have a great returning backcourt in Roman Penn/Garrett Sturtz: how crucial will they be to your team’s success this season? They will be critical, in addition to our other returning starters. I am excited about their familiarity with what we are trying to do: it does not always equate to wins but we have a great group of guys who play hard/play together.

Your son Tucker was named MVC ROY last year, your brother Jared played 12 years in the NFL, your brother Dusty played football at Iowa, your brother Jay played college football, and your sister Jodi played volleyball at Northern Iowa: who is the best athlete in the family? I know that it is not me!

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? Everyone in the Valley has the same goal of winning the conference title and making the NCAA tourney. We focus on the day-to-day: getting better, staying hungry, not getting complacent. The big picture is to try to make a run but in the immediate future it is about refining all of the little things.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Drake coach Darian DeVries

Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Tony DeSorbo & Mike Bristol of the 315 Foundation NIL collective

Posted on October 3, 2022 by Jon Teitel

The marketplace for college athletes to engage in Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) deals was created last year after the NCAA v. Alston case and now it seems like every college is ready to start spreading the wealth. There are already more than 100 “collectives” either in operation or being formed. They allow alumni/fans/whoever to donate money to assist a specific school in creating opportunities for student-athletes to make some money off of their celebrity. We have reached out to many collectives and will try to interview representatives from as many of them as possible to see how each of them operates. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Tony DeSorbo & Mike Bristol of the 315 Foundation NIL collective, who discussed what their group is about and what it has accomplished so far.

You 2 founded an NIL collective called “315 Foundation” with a website that went live in August: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? We are a 501(c)(3) so being a philanthropic organization does make it a little complicated. The basic NIL rule is “no pay for play,” so a quid pro quo needs to occur where the athlete does something in exchange for money…but the IRS rule is the exact opposite. It took us a little while to figure out how to compensate athletes for working with other 501(c)(3) organizations while staying within IRS rules. With the help of some attorneys/accountants we were able to get it done. What makes us feel good is that everyone around the country seemed to figure it out the same way. You cannot really be competitive unless you have a foundation or a collective: it is as simple as that. The unique part is that we took a step back and thought that a charitable aspect would make sense. We wanted to make it a win for everyone: the community/athlete/fans.

How much of your focus is on basketball compared to football? The foundation was formed to help all of the athletes at Syracuse whether they play revenue or non-revenue sports. If there are donors who like women’s tennis then that would be great to have their support but we have been more basketball-focused out of the gate. We are primarily considered a basketball school and Coach Jim Boeheim has mentioned us in numerous interviews, which has helped get us off the ground. We are also very happy that the football team has started 5-0, which should help bring in donations for them.

What kind of connection (if any) will your group have with former players and/or Athletic Director John Wildhack? Mike is a sports marketing agent who has worked with a lot of legendary former athletes and is tied in to the Orange Alumni Network. We have a close working relationship with the Syracuse athletic department and clear everything with their compliance office. John supports the things that we are doing and Mike has worked with many of the current coaches as well. Our goal with the foundation is to create a sustainable fund. What is widely reported around the country is a few wealthy people making large donations, but the Syracuse community is extremely tied into the university for both academics/athletics. The power we are trying to harness is our massive fanbase even though we are not a huge city. If we can get a lot of small donations from numerous fans, then we can fund the program and do a lot of good work in the community. We wanted to build a value-add: people can get a tax deduction for supporting charitable work but also personally influence Syracuse winning. When our teams are winning then our local economy benefits and our civic pride soars.

What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? We are so new that we have taken in some assets but are still in the process of doing our 1st deals, such as an upcoming charity event.

People are obviously free to do whatever they want with their hard-earned money…but do you ever have any second thoughts about whether you should be encouraging your donors to do something else like fight cancer/reduce homelessness? This is why we built a not-for-profit. Tony’s wife is on the board of an organization that medically treats people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Syracuse. We would love to have our athletes get involved with that kind of philanthropic work. They will learn the power of doing good for others. These athletes’ NIL and celebrity status is a powerful influence. We think that it can help a child with cancer feel better if they show up to give them a boost of hope in the hospital. We want to teach the impact of philanthropy and make a real difference in the lives of young athletes.

In August Coach Jim Boeheim said, “My hope would be that if we did get this going, all the players would get treated equally”: do you feel that the focus should be on helping 1-2 high-profile student-athletes or all student-athletes, and why? We feel that an athlete in a non-revenue sport is working extremely hard to be great while also going to school, just as much as the athletes who are on TV all of the time. Significant donors can tell us which sport they want their money to go to, and we can also have donors give money to athletes connected to a specific charity. I think Coach Boeheim wants all of his players (not just the stars) to get treated equally so our focus is on taking care of our current athletes.

You were quoted as saying, “We have absolutely nothing to do with recruiting and obviously want to be crystal clear about that”: why is that the case, and is it possible that might change in the future? Recruiting is the coaches’ role: we are just trying to build sustainability. Unless the NCAA rules change, we do not see that as our role. If you read what is publicly available, then it sounds like some other collectives might be more aggressive than we are. That is ok with us. We are conservative and do not want to run afoul of any NCAA rules.

Last month former top high school prospect Emoni Bates was arrested after sheriff’s deputies found a gun in a car he was driving: how concerned are you about entering contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? It is important for the coaches to recruit good-character kids, especially now. What we have seen in working on some deals so far is that the parents are very involved, which is great. We also have a morality clause and expect the kids to act in a responsible manner. They are learning what it means to give back and help others. We are trying to look at NIL holistically and be a positive influence. If we are taking up the time of young people with good things and providing them some guidance and teaching them the power of planning today, hopefully there will be less time for them to get into trouble. Syracuse has a good reputation for high-character kids and we want to be a part of that.

What kind of cool stuff do people get if they became 1 of your top donors? Our model is not built like that: we are being as straightforward and above board as possible to remain within IRS guidelines. We are trying to do this the right way. Our donors should receive a nice tax deduction and the benefit of knowing they personally helped Syracuse’s teams win, while helping the community in general. We might do charity galas/golf tourneys in the future but for now we will stay within the guardrails of the IRS and the NCAA.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Tony DeSorbo & Mike Bristol of the 315 Foundation NIL collective

Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Delaware F Jyare Davis

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Jon Teitel

We are still a month away from the tip-off of the college basketball season this fall, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Delaware F Jyare Davis, who talked about making the NCAA tourney last March and his expectations for this season.

In 2018 you teamed up with Dudley Blackwell/Patrick McCaffery/Carson McCorkle to win the USA Basketball 3×3 U18 National Championship: could you have ever imagined that 4 years later you/Patrick had made the NCAA tourney while Dudley/Carson were playing at big-time schools like Iowa State/Virginia? For sure! We were all highly-recruited guys and had a lot of fun playing together. It is cool to see all of us living out our dreams now at the college level.

You began playing on the varsity at the Sanford School as an 8th grader and became the 1st player in Delaware high school history to be named 1st-team All-State 4 times: how were you able to dominate throughout your high school career, and what made you choose Providence? I enjoyed my time at Sanford. I had always played up against better/older competition and it was pretty cool to make some history . I thought that Providence would be a great fit for me.

After suffering a concussion you never played for the Friars: how serious was your injury, and why did you decide to transfer to Delaware? It was pretty serious and I was out for a while. If I did not have the concussion then I probably would not be at Delaware, but coming here was the best decision that I have ever made.

You play for Coach Martin Ingelsby: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He believes in his players: you can feel when your staff has confidence in you and we feel comfortable out on the court.

Last year you were #6 in the conference with 60.1 FG% en route to being named conference ROY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? Going into every season you always have personal/team goals. My personal goal was to be ROY and our team goal was to make the NCAA tourney so it was great to achieve both of those things.

Take me through the 2022 postseason:
In the CAA tourney title game you scored 18 PTS in a 4-PT win over UNCW en route to being named tourney MVP: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? I put a lot of work in and believed in myself. Whatever is going to happen will happen so I just tried to take a step back and not get too emotionally-involved. To celebrate in the locker room was a lot of fun.

In the NCAA tourney you scored 17 PTS/7-10 FG in a loss to Villanova: what did you learn from that loss that will help you this year? It showed me that we can play with anybody. We had a couple of mishaps here and there but it increased my belief in myself and my teammates.

You lost several starters from last year including Ryan Allen/Kevin Anderson/Andrew Carr/Dylan Painter: how will you try to replace all of that offense/experience? Those are all my guys and it will be different without them but I believe in the guys we have now.

1 of your new additions is grad transfer LJ Owens, who has 115 games under his belt as a player at William & Mary/UMBC: what does he bring to the table? He is fitting in well and will be a great scoring option because he can really shoot it and get to the basket. He is a complete guard and will have a big impact for us throughout the season.

Your non-conference schedule includes a game at Duke in November: is it just another game on your schedule or are you excited about the chance to face 1 of the best teams in the nation? Anybody who says it is just another game is kidding themselves! However, every game is an opportunity for us to get better as a team because it is a long season.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? I want to repeat as CAA champs and get back to the NCAA tourney and then win some games this time around.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Season preview: HoopsHD interviews Delaware F Jyare Davis

Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Steve Cicciarelli of the Home of the Brave NIL collective

Posted on October 1, 2022 by Jon Teitel

The marketplace for college athletes to engage in Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) deals was created last year after the NCAA v. Alston case and now it seems like every college is ready to start spreading the wealth. There are already more than 100 “collectives” either in operation or being formed. They allow alumni/fans/whoever to donate money to assist a specific school in creating opportunities for student-athletes to make some money off of their celebrity. We have reached out to many collectives and will try to interview representatives from as many of them as possible to see how each of them operates. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Steve Cicciarelli of the Home of the Brave NIL collective, who discussed what his group is about and what it has accomplished so far.

You are 1 of the co-founders of an NIL collective called “Home of the Brave” that was formed last June: how complicated was it to create (if at all), and why did you do it? It was not so much “complicated” but did involve a fair amount of work. Bradley basketball is part of the social fabric of the city where I live (Peoria, IL). I am a Notre Dame alum so I joined an NIL collective called Irish Players Club, and later realized that there were plenty of people in Peoria who wanted to keep Bradley relevant in the MVC.

Your entire focus is on basketball: how/why would you decide to open it up to other sports? We picked the men’s basketball program because that is what is important to Peoria. We will consider helping other sports but our group was formed solely for basketball: we want to crawl before we walk and then jog/run. We did not want to bite off too big a piece of the apple, but if we gain more traction and there is not another NIL formed to help athletes in other sports then we will consider doing that in a couple of years.

What kind of connection does your group have with former players like Hersey Hawkins/current Coach Brian Wardle/Athletic Director Chris Reynolds (chairman of the D-1 Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2022-23 season)? We have contacts with all of them. I have known Coach Wardle since he came to town and remember watching Chris back when he was playing high school basketball! We have 50 influential donors and reached out to legends like Hersey/Jim Les because we wanted their support and to use their information to draw interest.

What kind of deals have you been able to work out so far? We brought in people from auto dealerships/construction companies and had the basketball players sign annual contracts. They also participate in several events/year such as a golf tourney and a chance for donors to attend practice.

People are obviously free to do whatever they want with their hard-earned money…but do you ever have any second thoughts about whether you should be encouraging your donors to do something else like fight cancer/reduce homelessness? Part of our program is to have events where half of the money goes to non-profit organizations. Participation in our NIL will not affect people’s donations to other causes.

Do you think the NIL model will be as effective at an MVC school, and what is the biggest difference between your collective and those at high-major schools (if any)? The biggest difference is the size of the money. The Irish Players Club is a Notre Dame NIL that supports only the football program by doing things such as selling leprechaun NFTs! The MVC is not a Power 5 football conference and we will never be able to compete at that level, but we feel that we have enough support to do what we need to do to keep Bradley relevant.

Your website appears to allow NIL deals with every member of the basketball team: why did you choose to focus on the entire team rather than just 1-2 high-profile student-athletes? Our intention is to do it the right way: we are not allowed to use it to recruit people. The key to a mid-major is to keep players at your program by giving them some money when they are freshmen, so if another school later offers them $25,000 and they are already getting $18,000 from us we think they will stick around due to the connections that we have made. However, if another school offers them $500,000 then that is another story! We have to “play old” with juniors and seniors.

You also have an FAQ regarding athletes who leave the program: how can you compete with other schools who might offer deals that are less limited in time/scope? We had a player last year named Terry Roberts who led our team in scoring before transferring to Georgia: if we had an NIL then he probably would have stayed here. If we have a player who is being offered more money by another school then we can do a “capital call” and try to raise some money to close the gap: we just hope it does not spiral out of control.

Last month former top high school prospect Emoni Bates was arrested after sheriff’s deputies found a gun in a car he was driving: how concerned are you about entering contractual relationships with teenagers who might end up behaving badly? There is a concern but it is no different than the concern of a coach when recruiting players. We tend to recruit high-quality kids so it has not been a problem so far.

You are not accepting 1-time donations but only annual donations: why did you decide to do things that way, and what kind of “priority access” will members receive? We do annual donations with a payment at the beginning of the year. We had or 1st meeting and limited it to 50 people…and it sold out the very 1st night! Going forward, we will develop our membership to include corporate donors to help expand the money base.

Posted in Interviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Name, Image, and Lots of money: HoopsHD interviews Steve Cicciarelli of the Home of the Brave NIL collective