Can a collective help NC State compete in NIL game? Former hoop star heading new effort for Wolfpack

By Brian Murphy, WRAL sports investigative reporter

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina State University is the latest entrant into the name, image and likeness collective game – the newest off-field competition between NCAA schools seeking every possible edge in intercollegiate athletics and recruiting.

“We had a lot of pressure from a lot of different people to get this up and running,” said Scott Wood, a former Wolfpack men’s basketball standout and the executive director of Pack of Wolves NIL Collective, which publicly launched last week.

The collective, which is not run by the university or athletic department, came together in little more than two months, a speedy timeframe during which collectives – or groups of boosters coming together to support name, image and likeness payments or opportunities for student-athletes – became widespread across the NCAA. Reports of multi-million payments and tampering with potential transfers forced the NCAA to issue additional guidance about NIL payments this month.

How quickly has the college landscape changed? Wood, when he was a player, avoided shaking hands with prominent boosters on the team plane – lest anyone think improper NCAA benefits were being conveyed. Now, less than a decade later, he’s helping to facilitate perfectly legal meetings and working contracts between current N.C. State athletes and those same boosters, businesspeople and others in the Wolfpack community.

The NCAA last year changed its rules to allow athletes to benefit from their own name, image and likeness, just as some state laws were set to go into effect. It set off a dizzying change for athletes, coaches, athletic departments and supporters. Such benefits, including payments, were forbidden previously by the organization and could result in the loss of eligibility for athletes, forfeiture of games for programs and even postseason bans.

“For student-athletes, you want them to have better support and the ability to maybe navigate through this with people that they trust,” said Amanda Busick, an N.C. State graduate and FOX Sports motorsports reporter. She’s a member of Pack of Wolves’ advisory board and is helping athletes on media training and personal branding. “On our side, from an athletic standpoint and from N.C. State fans, you don’t want to get left behind on this kind of stuff. It’s just kind of what that environment is right now.”

Some collectives have been funded by a dozen or more well heeled boosters. Pack of Wolves is aiming for a broader base of support. The group is offering six levels of individual membership from the $25-per-month Alpha Wolf membership, which includes access to interviews, message boards, camps and clinics, to the $500-per-month 1887 Club, which includes equity and voting rights in the collective as well as access to members-only events. It also has three levels of business membership available and a customizable option. Membership in the 1887 Club – so named because that’s the year N.C. State was founded – requires a capital contribution to the collective, meant to fund the group’s operating expenses.

The other money collected will be used to fund payments to players for appearance fees, social media posts, podcast appearances or other events or marketing. Wood said he could envision a scenario in which alumni of a program give small recurring monthly payments to be used to benefit that athletic team.

Senior women’s basketball player Jada Boyd is one of 10 initial student-athlete “ambassadors” signed by the collective, helping spread the word about the new program. Boyd, whose team reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in March, previously signed an NIL deal with Wings Over Raleigh, a chicken restaurant with a location on Hillsborough Street. Her Instagram following rose to more than 8,000 users after the Wolfpack’s run in the tournament.

“The more followers you have, the easier you are to connect with, get deals with,” said Boyd, who said she is interested in getting involved with the skin care industry. “Hopefully with Pack of Wolves, I’ll build my platform, get some more followers and get more opportunities.”

In addition to media training and personal branding, the collective is also offering financial literacy, tax preparation and other educational resources for those who join. The collective isn’t exclusionary, so Boyd and others can sign agreements outside of the Pack of Wolves.

“We want people to be able to do other deals, and there are going to be other deals out there. We’d like to think that, after a while, we’ll gain the trust of these players so we can take a look at their contracts, take a look, make sure everything’s good,” Wood said. “We’re here for the student-athlete. We just want to help anyway we can.”

After decades of defending its version of amateurism in legal fights, the NCAA – fresh off a 9-0 loss at the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving education-related expenses, but with a decision that hinted at larger concerns about the NCAA’s model – has largely ceded this ground to state laws and its member schools. With rules still prohibiting the direct payment of athletes by schools, individual boosters, businesses with ties to the school or collectives are rushing to fill the gap.

Perhaps the federal government or NCAA will provide additional guardrails, but the broader concept of players profiting off their name, image and likeness is not going away.

“The NCAA just opened up a can of worms,” Wood said. “These collectives probably should have come out of the NCAA’s pockets, university’s pockets. But everybody knows that nobody’s messing with those pockets. And I also think they just got sick and tired of hiring lawyers and monitoring all these universities that were paying under the table. But long term, I think this is here to stay.”

In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order in July 2021 setting parameters around name, image and likeness in North Carolina. Under the order, payments are not allowed “as a direct inducement to enroll or continue enrollment … or as compensation for performance, participation or service in an intercollegiate sport.” Schools are not allowed to directly compensate athletes for use of their name, image and likeness, but they can implement guidelines or restrictions for athletes, including banning certain products or brands. The order is still in effect.

The NCAA issued new guidance on May 9 in an attempt to crack down on use of NIL payments as recruitment tools and said while it “may pursue the most outrageous violations that were clearly contrary to the interim policy adopted last summer, our focus is on the future.” The NCAA pointed out that boosters are already prohibited from recruiting or providing benefits to prospective student-athletes.

The NCAA’s guidance came after reports of agreements for more than $1 million and potential tampering with star players at other schools and amid calls from many in college athletics for more guidance.

Arrangements can run from in-kind promotion – a free meal for a social media post, for example – to deals in the tens of thousands of dollars, said Shakeel Rashad, a former University of North Carolina football player and the executive director of Heels4Life, a limited liability company created to help UNC football players with NIL opportunities. Rashad said his group has done deals with more than 20 Tar Heels, including podcast appearances, since it was formed last year.

“That’s the beauty of this being something that all college athletes are now eligible for,” Rashad told WRAL News. “When I was a true freshman playing 40 snaps a game, I don’t think I would have gotten the same NIL deals as [former UNC stars] Gio Bernard or Bryn Renner. No matter what kind of player you are, there’s something for all.”

Getting a sense of what that market is right now is difficult. The exact terms of the deals are not being made public by N.C. State or the University of North Carolina. At UNC, athletes are required to submit contracts for any NIL agreements to the school. The deals are then reviewed by the compliance department. The school has turned down several public record requests from WRAL and other media outlets for copies or the agreements.

“N.C. State does not possess copies of NIL agreements; they are made between the student-athlete and the company/sponsor,” N.C. State’s director of strategic communication Mick Kulikowski told WRAL in an email in January. “While some student-athletes have provided the university with information about their NIL agreements, N.C. State believes this information constitutes an education record under [the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act], since this information is maintained by the university to monitor compliance with North Carolina laws, NCAA regulations and athletic department policies.”

Questions have arisen about the value of a social media post to a brand or the true worth of an autograph or appearance at a car dealership. And how does it differ from market to market? As time goes on, everyone involved – businesses, athletes, athletic departments – may gain a better sense of market values, Wood said.

“In the meantime, I just think you’re gonna continue to see some crazy numbers out there,” Wood said. “Are they true or not? I don’t know. But over time it’s not realistic for these kids to get $1 million, $800,000.

“You could be a billionaire, and I don’t know if they’re comfortable with giving a million dollars to some of these kids to win a couple games. That just doesn’t make sense. That’s not our business model, but I just don’t see it being sustainable long term.”