Chris Holtmann, Clark Kellogg Support NCAA's Name, Image, Likeness Movement

Ohio State Basketball Head Coach Chris Holtmann and Buckeye Alum Clark Kellogg spoke in a webinar Monday supporting student-athletes push for capitalizing on their brands.

There has been so much talk over the past few years of players benefiting financially off their own name, image and likeness that rules were bound to be changed. Over the last few months, California, Colorado and Florida have all written state legislation allowing for college athletes to promote and capitalize on their personal brands. While the NCAA hasn't yet passed a blanket rule covering schools across the country, Ohio State Basketball head coach Chris Holtmann is in favor of a change in the landscape.

Holtmann and former Buckeye/current TV analyst Clark Kellogg spoke about emerging NIL rights' laws on Monday as part of a webinar series .

“When you look at the general economy of college athletics in this day and age, I think it certainly warrants this opportunity for players to benefit off their name, image and likeness,” Holtmann said. “I think it’s going to have a significant impact (on our sport).”

“I think this is clearly the right direction to go in consideration of the landscape we’re in with the economy of college athletics, to give the student-athlete an opportunity to do what any student would have the chance to do if in fact he or she had some marketability or some name, image and likeness potential,” Kellogg said. “It shouldn’t be a hindrance because you’re on scholarship. That shouldn’t be something that’s taken away from you as a student.”

Even though the rules are changing, it's hard to believe that this whole process won't be heavily regulated. Considering all of the rules violations across college basketball in particular the last several years, these changes will almost certainly affect the recruiting process. Could players potentially miss practices or scheduled workouts because they signed a contract to attend an event for which they are being compensated? There are as many questions about how this would be implemented and governed as there are debates about whether it should happen in the first place. 

“There are things I think of that I don’t know if they’re legitimate concerns or not because it’s such a fluid situation in terms of what it’s all going to look like,” Holtmann said.

According to Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch, the Buckeyes have already began discussing potential NIL benefits with recruits in their recruiting process. Jardy reports that those presentations aren't much different than previous visits with recruits, but now gives some additional information on how a student-athlete could make money for playing at Ohio State, breaking down a scholarship vs. a stipend provided by the university.

Clark Kellogg thinks this whole shift in the amateur athletics landscape is both a growing reality for players and a healthy thoughts exercise.

“This is another opportunity to grow in real-life skills that are necessary,” Kellogg said. “The level might be different, but each one of us has a personal brand and there are some universal things that go into making that brand a good one. This should be part of the education for these student-athletes.”