When Jordon Rooney signed on with Duquesne in May 2021, he became the first brand coach in NCAA history. An unprecedented role, he had a vision to help athletes formulate their own authentic brand.
A couple of months later, the NCAA installed its NIL interim policy. Much has changed since the early days of this new era, but Rooney still sees a pressing need for athletes to make sure they are participating in meaningful, narrative-driven deals.
He’s now running multiple companies. Jaster Athletes focuses on sports marketing for athletes, while Build Different works to help with brand transformations in the digital age.
All of it has prepared Rooney to sign on with West Virginia‘s Country Roads Trust collective. In the contracted role, he works closely with a variety of Mountaineer athletes. It’s one of the first documented moves by a collective to hire a brand builder.
“The idea was initially to go in and do what Duquesne was but more,” Rooney recently told On3. “Also just making a statement about the fact that helping athletes build their brand is much more than just a tech platform. Because it was very much the response that we saw from basically every university when NIL was launched. Those tech platforms are definitely needed, but it’s not enough.
“I think since then, you’ve seen a decent amount of athletic programs hire NIL-specific people. But the part that I think is still being missed out on is the brand-building piece.”
How Country Roads Trust envisions role
Country Roads Trust’s CEO and General Manager Stephen Ford previously worked as a Learfield rep at West Virginia. He’d heard about the oncoming wave of NIL for years. It was always more of a question of when it would happen, not if.
Ford took the role with Country Roads Trust this past January. And as the collective began to sign athletes, it became clear there was a major opportunity to help athletes beyond earning compensation.
“We’ve had a lot of kids reach out to him individually,” Ford said. “And look, what we want to start out doing is providing these kids with time blocks every month. We have an X amount of hours that we get from Jordon, and he’ll sit down, either in person, or via Zoom, or sit down with the whole team. And they kind of tell Jordon, ‘Hey, these are the things that get me going. These are the things that fire me up, the things I’m passionate about and want to learn more about.'”
Rooney is located in Pittsburgh, a little under 90 minutes away from Morgantown. He’s obviously living a busy life running multiple companies, so his position with Country Roads Trust takes a hybrid role. He won’t play a role in brokering deals.
Ford brought him in for August’s West Virginia NIL symposium as well. Rooney had the chance to meet with the women’s basketball and football programs to introduce himself and get the conversation started.
The role with Country Roads won’t be limited to any sports. Ford gives the example of the rifle team, where multiple members have competed at the Team USA level. It’s a perfect opportunity to help the shooters build their brand that will go on post-West Virginia.
“They have essentially just said, Jordon, we’re gonna cover your services,” Rooney said. “And we want you to work directly with athletes and just serve them the best way that you can. … I want to be able to best serve athletes. That’s the statement I’ve made since the beginning of NIL.”
Brand building remains focus
In the first year and change of NIL, many stakeholders have gone back to the clutch of calling the new era the “Wild, Wild West.”
Sure, there’s definitely been striking developments from recruiting to the Transfer Portal. It’s also an immature and undeveloped market. And for every deal that a Power Five quarterback signs, there’s another crop of non-revenue sport athletes trying to find a partnership to bring in some extra cash.
Rooney is a believer in this. More importantly, college student-athletes can financially alter their futures now. And that’s the idea behind his partnership with Country Roads Trust.
“Everyone’s saying, ‘Athletes need to be strategic with NIL. NIL can set them up for life,'” he said. “But no one’s actually giving them the resources. The largest issue here is agents and marketing reps, they’re not there to help athletes build their brand. They’re there to help take a percentage of their deals. So athletes are still not building brands that are going to help them generate significant income unless they’re a huge name already or unless they have already created content.
“So the idea with Country Roads Trust, and they were all bought in, we need to help teach our athletes how to build their brands.”
