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- He used to clean Ohio State’s football facility. Now, he runs the school’s NIL.
He used to clean Ohio State’s football facility. Now, he runs the school’s NIL.
Logan Hittle is recognized across college sports for his work in the NIL space. His path to that role has been unconventional, to say the least.
Kyle Rowland
February 05, 2026
Hey everyone,
Today’s newsletter is the second in our occasional series highlighting the people working behind the scenes in college sports, particularly in the world of NIL, money and revenue sharing. A few months ago, we highlighted Youngstown State’s travel specialist, whose job is … pretty fascinating! And today, we’re turning our sights on Ohio State, looking at a role that might seem straightforward. But the person who holds it got there from some truly humble beginnings!
Enjoy!
— Kyle
He used to clean Ohio State’s football facility. Now, he runs the school’s NIL.
There are unconventional career paths, and then there’s Logan Hittle’s.
If it were a script, Oscar-winning Ohio State superfan JK Simmons would fawn over it. “It does feel like a movie scene a lot of the time,” Hittle admitted.
The Central Ohio native grew up cheering for the Buckeyes, with visions of attending the university one day. That part of the dream came true, as Hittle turned down Division II and III football opportunities to enroll at Ohio State as a mechanical engineering major.
But sports had always been the theme of his life. So Hittle switched to a sport industry major and took a job as a janitor at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. He needed to pay for school, and his job choice was intentional. It brought him inside the ecosystem he wanted to be part of. Brief interactions mattered: passing coaches in hallways, emptying trash cans in offices, being visible without being intrusive.
Eron Hodges, then Ohio State’s assistant director of player personnel, took notice of Hittle and asked if he’d ever thought about walking on.
Of course he had. He’s from Ohio!
A few months later, Hittle tried out for the team during a work shift and made it. He spent two seasons as a walk-on linebacker, one under Urban Meyer and one under Ryan Day.
“The thought of playing for Ohio State was never a reality,” Hittle said. “That two-year window was probably the most transformational experience in my life.”
The person who walked into the WHAC in January of 2018 wasn’t the same one who left two years later. The discipline, humility and relentlessness required to survive as a walk-on rewired how Hittle approached everything. And that mindset followed him into his next step.
