Faculty Expert
Every year, Homecoming at Penn GSE brings together alumni and friends with the shared intent to dive deeper into a current critical issue in education. Given that the world of college sports is in a moment of great flux, with student-athletes’ ability to earn money from their and Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) for the first time, this year’s panel focused on the institutional effects of these new policies.
Moderated by Penn GSE’s Adjunct Assistant Professor Karen Weaver, GRD’09—former All-American athlete, NCAA Division I and III coach, athletics administrator, and podcast host—the conversation included Wagner College President Jeff Doggett, GRD’18, and University of Maryland, Baltimore Provost and Executive Vice President Roger Ward, GRD’09.
“When I think of a typical school of education, I don’t think immediately of expertise in college athletics,” said Dean Katharine Strunk in her introduction to the panel. “However, as part of our commitment to preparing effective education leaders, in a rapidly changing landscape, this expertise is critical for many higher education leaders. Indeed, for many colleges and universities, shaping strategic decisions and athletic programs is crucial to institutional health, and in many cases, supports their ability to deliver on their mission to current and future students.”
Penn GSE’s ability to prepare higher ed leaders for issues in athletics is largely due to Weaver, a nationally renowned expert who has written an entire book for college presidents about the evolving world of athletics, Understanding College Athletics: What Campus Leaders Need to Know About College Sports, which is due out next year.
“As college athletics at the highest levels have turned into a billion-dollar-a-year enterprise, where coaches are being paid millions of dollars, most fans know the playing field has shifted, and for sure, the athletes have noticed that the money is coming to everyone but them,” she told the crowd during Homecoming. “This has had a profound impact not just on college, but high school athletics as well. As of today, over 30 states allow high school students to monetize their name, image, and likeness. So a few are coming to college already as millionaires because of their high school talents.”
The impact of these deals is widespread. Weaver said that, just since June of 2025, more than 12,000 NIL deals worth over $87.5 million dollars have been cleared by the NCIIS.
“Just think about that for a second,” she said. “It's almost $100 million dollars for those 12,000 athletes.”
Doggett and Ward, as university leaders, brought their own personal and professional insights to this topic. Wagner College is an NCAA Division I school not in one of the “Power Four” power conferences (the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference, and Big 12) that are rich in television contract money. Yet, athletics is still an important part of Doggett’s campus. Forty percent of the undergraduate student population at Wagner consists of student-athletes. Though some may be lured away in the middle of their college career by the prospect of making more money at a Power Four school.
“We have to start thinking, and I use this term often, nobody likes it when I do, but for some of our sports—certainly basketball, men’s and women’s, certainly football, lacrosse, and, I would argue, baseball as well—we’re running a junior college within a college,” said Doggett. “I don’t have a lot of expectation that the goal of every football player we’ve brought in is to go four years at our institution. I think that’s sad, it’s not what I want, it’s not what I grew up with. But my responsibility is to adjust to the market. And the market is that my outside linebacker is going to attempt to move on if they want to make some additional money.”
Ward, in addition to his role at UMB, is the parent of a college basketball player basketball playing daughter who has been navigating the world of the NIL and transfer portal with his family.
“Most athletes are going to go pro in something else other than the sport they are playing in college,” he said. “So as academic administrators, we have a responsibility to prepare them for what’s next. And I think this focus on NIL and athletics and the Power Four is taking our attention away from that.”
During the lively panel discussion, the three experts explored these tensions, discussing the financial and operational ripple effects of college athletics and how universities are balancing opportunity, compliance, and sustainability.
Watch the recording of the full event for more:
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