The Gen Z American Dream: How Eli Ellis turned hoops clips into a business

Hello!

Have fun watching college basketball this weekend. The Big Ten and Big East tournament should provide drama in classic baskeball cities, and mid-major leagues always deliver compelling championship games. But before all the exctiement, please read today’s NIL Wire dispatch, which has a college basketball flavor. We will have more college basketball-centric stories the next couple weeks as we get into the thick of the NCAA tournament.

On Tuesday, we’ll have details on the Extra Points Bracket Challenge presented by Short Courts. Come back next week for some exclusive content!

— Kyle

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THE BIG 3

Eli Ellis is winning the NIL Game

USA Today recently profiled Eli Ellis. Who, you ask? Oh, you’re not familiar with Ellis, a bench player on 13-win South Carolina?

The freshman guard averaged 8.6 points per game for the Gamecocks. Off the court, he’s in a different stratosphere. Ellis has 2.1 million social media followers (1.4 million on TikTok, 690,000 on Instagram and 6,400 on X), the fifth-most among Division I men’s basketball players, according to Opendorse.

How did he do it? Good old-fashioned hoopin’. Highlight reels of Ellis cooking defenders started making the rounds when he was in ninth grade. A couple thousand followers slowly turned into tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and eventually a couple million. It all traces back to a high school game clip that caught the attention of Kevin Durant.

Then the money started flowing in the form of marketing deals with Dr Pepper, Fortnite and Under Armour. A car dealership even handed him the keys to an SUV. But it’s not just the follower count that makes Ellis valuable — it’s the engagement. Ninety-five of his TikTok videos have at least a million views. One random clip of his brothers eating ice cream got nine million!

That’s the kind of audience that lets Ellis charge $189 to help people improve both their basketball game and their social media presence. And he hasn’t kept the success entirely to himself, sharing some of the spoils with teammates by gifting headphones and handing out gift cards.

“He actually could retire now,” his father, Jeremy Ellis, told USA Today. 

That’s probably hyperbole, but these are the NIL stories I enjoy the most. They feel like the modern American dream. It’s very Gen Z – part athlete, part creator, part entrepreneur. But it’s hard not to respect the hustle. Ellis had a skill, built a brand around it and turned the whole thing into a goldmine.

That’s America, baby!

Kansas bill granting universities more autonomy raises private equity concerns

The Kansas Board of Regents voted unanimously this week to oppose a Kansas House bill that would give the state’s three largest public universities — Kansas, Kansas State and Wichita State — unprecedented autonomy in purchasing, construction, licensing, bidding and property ownership.

So what does that have to do with college sports? Quite a bit, actually!

Several members of the nine-member board warned the proposal could weaken public accountability, create potential conflicts of interest and open the door for private equity firms to gain a foothold in college athletic departments. The bill would also significantly limit the Board of Regents’ oversight of how universities spend money and manage major projects.

That’s no small shift. The regents currently plays a major role in approving large contracts, facilities projects and other significant financial decisions across the state’s university system.

Across the country, athletic departments are increasingly exploring outside investment as they search for new revenue streams in the rapidly evolving NIL era. During the discussion, regents pointed to the University of Utah’s recent private equity deal as a cautionary example of how quickly outside capital could enter college sports.

“Private equity is trying to get their mitts into colleges or universities,” Regent Matt Crocker said. “This bill as drafted would allow that to occur without Kansas Board of Regents oversight?”

“Potentially, yes,” replied John Yeary, the regents’ general counsel.

Kansas State President Richard Linton then said the quiet part out loud: public universities in Kansas could pursue a similar private equity arrangement even if the House bill never passes. That’s what makes the regents’ concerns feel less hypothetical and more like a preview of what’s coming. As college athletics continues its march toward a more professional, revenue-driven model, universities are going to face increasing pressure to operate like businesses.

The question for Kansas lawmakers isn’t whether those pressures exist. It’s how much oversight the public should still have when public universities start acting like private enterprises.

Bobby Hurley and Arizona State just did one of the most unusual things in college sports

One of the rarest outcomes in major college sports played out this week. Bobby Hurley will finish out the final months of his contract at Arizona State without a renewal. When his deal expires in July, his tenure with the Sun Devils will end — no firing, no buyout, no negotiated exit.

In today’s coaching market, contracts rarely expire naturally. Schools typically fire coaches and pay significant buyouts, while coaches push for extensions well before a deal gets close to expiring. Both sides usually want certainty. Schools want stability, and coaches want protection.

There’s also the optics problem. Coaches entering the final year (or two years) of a deal face negative recruiting. For that reason alone, athletic departments often extend coaches just to remove the perception of instability.

As analyzed by Daniel Libit of Sportico, the situation is the result of several converging factors: Hurley’s rollercoaster 11-year tenure, a historically apathetic fan base and the program’s new reality competing in the brutally deep Big 12. Finances also played a role. Arizona State has faced mounting budget pressures in recent years. Buying out Hurley would have added another significant expense.

During Hurley’s tenure, Arizona State reached back-to-back NCAA tournaments in 2018 and 2019, the program’s first consecutive appearances since 1980 and 1981. But the momentum faded after COVID. The program struggled to regain traction, and with Arizona State now navigating life in the Big 12, the path forward became increasingly challenging.

There are very few recent precedents for this kind of ending. One example Libit cited was Tom Davis at Iowa. In 1999, Davis coached out the final year of his contract, leading Iowa to an unexpected Sweet 16 run. His successor, Steve Alford, never replicated Davis’ success.

The modern NIL era may make endings like Hurley’s more common. With players transferring freely and roster turnover now the norm, the traditional value placed on long-term coaching stability isn’t what it once was.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

NCAA is bringing betting awareness to the airwaves

NCAA President Charlie Baker has made battling the evils of sports betting, namely prop bets, and prediction markets one of his top objectives. You couldn’t walk five feet at the NCAA convention without someone talking about betting. It was also top of mind for Baker, who had to deal with the fallout of the latest college basketball betting scandal.

Thus, the NCAA’s Draw the Line public service campaign, aimed at bringing awareness to the harassment that NCAA athletes face from bettors.

NIL BLITZ

♦️ South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster kept good on his promise to veto a proposal that would have kept NIL revenue-sharing payments from public view.

♦️ Former Michigan football assistant Chris Partridge is suing the university for wrongful termination, alleging that he was a scapegoat in the Connor Stalions scandal.

♦️ Queens men’s basketball coach Grant Leonard expressed his frustrations, accusing an SEC assistant coach of sitting near his team’s bench at this week’s Atlantic Sun tournament.

♦️ Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts signed a 6-year, $19.2-million extension.

♦️ After a dismal eight-win season, Western Kentucky women’s basketball coach Greg Collins is donating 10 percent of his salary to NIL, which has helped quadruple the program’s NIL efforts.

♦️ Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss has a new complaint: Eligibility woes cost him video game cover.

♦️ Sacramento State AD Mark Orr says the school’s investment in FBS football will pay off.

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

If the College Football Playoff expands, what should happen to bowl games?

• Integrate them into the playoff - 41%

• Reduce the number of bowl significantly - 35%

• Keep the current bowl system seperate from the playoff - 24%