Hey there,

Today’s interview is with Brenden Hill, an NIL industry veteran who currently serves as San Diego State’s NIL coordinator. If you’re trying to remember why that name sounds so familiar, you’re probably a college football fan. Hill made a massive impact at Virginia Tech in the early 2000s — he’s a true college sports lifer, which gives him pretty unique perspectives on what’s going on with NIL right now.

From his work with Triumph to his current role with SDSU, this interview covers all the bases. We don’t think you’ll want to miss it.

Check out his LinkedIn here!

— Cole, Justin and Collin

Interview with Brenden Hill

You’ve operated in two very different roles within the same industry. Can you briefly describe your roles with Triumph NIL and as San Diego State’s current NIL coordinator?

My role with Triumph was to start that collective and strategically lay the foundation for the NIL ecosystem at Virginia Tech. When we launched Triumph there were 4 or 5 aspiring collectives, and by the time I left, there was only one… Triumph. I’m really proud of that entire project and what we accomplished during my time there. We were a team full of volunteers who dug in and created one of the country’s top NIL marketing agencies/collectives. Virginia Tech didn’t have an internal role, and I think the strength of the team at Triumph has helped offset the need for that role there.

Triumph helped me acclimate to my role with San Diego State well. I understood what needed to be done and the type of alignment it would take from not only our collectives but also the institution to operate at a high level. When I stepped in at SDSU, my role had been vacant for six months, during which time our men’s basketball team made the national title game and our softball team made the super-regional. I had a ton of catching up to do. In my current role, I focus on connecting our student-athletes with the resources they need to help support a positive student-athlete experience. That could be financial resources or trade/in-kind opportunities. If it is NIL-related and adjacent to SDSU, it’s under my purview.

2. You’re a former college football team captain for Virginia Tech. How has NIL altered the college sports landscape from when you were competing? Do you feel like players’ attitudes, goals, and mindsets have shifted since you were suiting up? 

That’s a tough question, in a way. The guys I played with were definitely driven to make money to support their families, and most of them were able to accomplish that through the NFL. I think this generation is ironically a little more polished. They grew up with social media and technology that has put the world and information at their fingertips at an early age. I think people see the dollar amounts that are thrown out there, but fundamentally, I think the money has impacted the families and their approach to college athletics more than the student-athletes.

The student-athletes I have the pleasure to meet and work with are some of the most genuine and great people you could meet. I believe NIL opportunities are really about peace of mind and not having to stress about finances and I think by eliminating that stress, you get a student-athlete who has better mental health and can focus on achieving their goals. I think it is a net positive. 

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Let's talk about Triumph – what piece of the NIL puzzle is Triumph NIL trying to solve? What holes were there in the marketplace before y'all came along, and how are you trying to fix them?

As I said, Triumph was at the early phase of NIL in college athletics. We built a team of lawyers, entrepreneurs, designers, and operators with professional sports and creative agency experience. Our goal was to help provide peace of mind for the administration, coaches, and families to do NIL the Hokie way. We took a lot of pride in providing quality experiences through NIL; it wasn't transactional. We ended up launching a media platform (think Cameo meets Netflix) and felt like content would be the path to building sustainable funding.

That's the thing about NIL: you can fund it with big donations to get it off the ground, but if you're a collective and not working to create sustainable funding and revenue streams, you're going to burn out. Content is cool because, as I mentioned, whether it is the student-athlete or fans, they're accustomed to content, and it is a tangible product you can put on display. It's not like, "Hey, we're going to pay you to go to dinner with a donor". It's we're going to help you build your brand through media and let the fan base behind the curtain. 

Now, let's talk about San Diego State, where you're coordinating NIL efforts. With all of the recent legal upheaval, what new challenges have popped up? What problems are schools across the country trying to solve in the NIL world?

I wouldn't know where to start related to this question. We're really trying to anticipate what the future looks like while also working in the present. I'd be lying if I said that was easy to do. I think there are certain people and companies who, if you watch how they move or what they're discussing, you can anticipate what is coming.

For example, Opendorse and Inflcr spoke publicly regarding institutional involvement and having a product solution for that before the recent bylaw was passed. If you're connected and pay attention, you can anticipate what is coming. The trouble is when it arrives, it's here, and you better have a plan in place.

I'm most excited about removing the restrictions at the institutional level in terms of what NIL support services look like for our student-athletes. My goal is to unlock Southern California for our student-athletes and make sure we cultivate an audience through our collectives so they can support all our programs that may need financial assistance in the NIL space.

You've worked on high-profile marketing projects before. If you were to give one piece of marketing advice to a student-athlete trying to embrace their NIL potential, what would it be? 

My first piece of advice for our student-athletes is always to keep the main thing the main thing. None of this stuff matters if you're not a good human, student, teammate, etc. Brands like to work with great people despite talent levels.

I would encourage student-athletes to understand their personal brand and people they admire who have strong brands and then try to reverse engineer those people to build their unique version. I remember someone saying to copy the right cat. I tell our student-athletes to find their inspiration, and that is the beauty of this generation; all the great athletes in the world are on display through social media. There are so many great athlete and influencer profiles on the internet. I'm excited to see student-athletes build their own brands in today's NIL era.