NIL 'changes so rapidly.' This new class at IU is trying to keep up.

BLOOMINGTON – There was no rubric for the class Les Morris pitched IU’s Media School last year. Required reading changes regularly. The entire groundwork for Morris’ course shifts even just in the space of one semester.

And that, in itself, is part of the point. Morris teaches NIL Media Branding — officially designated MSCH-B360 — a class designed to familiarize students and then immerse them in the rapidly evolving marketing field surrounding name, image and likeness policy in college athletics.

Morris taught the class to 64 students across the academic year now winding down, 32 each in the spring and fall. It is a course believed to be among the first of its kind, an academic embrace not of NIL for athletes themselves, but for the purpose of training people who might eventually support them in the space. And, like everyone else involved in NIL, Morris has found the toughest part sometimes is just keeping up with an industry innovating almost daily.

“It’s so challenging, because it changes so rapidly,” said Morris, an adjunct professor with IU. “Things are flying at you all the time. Part of it is just keeping up with current events in the space, and being topical and timely.”

Marketing and communications are familiar fields for Morris, who has spent much of his career working in public relations, most notably for Simon Property Group. As NIL became official NCAA policy in summer 2021, the idea began forming in Morris’ mind to build a course on the topic.

His reasoning was simple: Name, image and likeness reform opened a host of new opportunities in marketing spaces, some familiar but some specific to a field that in industry terms developed practically overnight. There would be demand for people trained to understand the top to bottom of that field, as NIL became an ever-larger figure in the landscape of college athletics.

So, Morris pitched his idea to the Media School, which began offering the course last fall.

The class begins with a history of athletes’ rights, going as far back as Curt Flood’s fight against the reserve clause in baseball, which eventually led to free agency. It covers relevant dates in the history of college athletics as well, like the 1984 Supreme Court antitrust ruling in NCAA vs. the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, which allowed schools and conferences to negotiate their own TV contracts, proved the beginning of taking away the NCAA's control of the key financial institutions of college athletics. And Morris tries to stay as current as possible on developments in NIL practice, of which there have been many.

Then, Morris layers in the technical aspects of the course, versing students in the ways marketing and communications professionals can advise and assist athletes or partners in the NIL space. He’s brought in a variety of guest speakers, from heads of collectives, to branding experts, to compliance and NIL strategy staff with Big Ten universities. IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson sat with the class in February.

“The other part of the course that’s significant, in addition to current events, is just the idea of branding and working with student-athletes on capturing their voices and having them be authentic to themselves as a way to present themselves to potential sponsors,” Morris said. “The services our students can offer in this industry, I just think there are going to be so many opportunities, whether it’s with a third-party provider or an athletic department.”

By the spring semester, the class also took on real-life experience.

Following the lead of the Chicago White Sox, who activated NIL deals with eight local athletes last August, the Indianapolis Indians began exploring similar opportunities.

As a semester-long project for Morris’ class, students vetted profiles for the Indians, who were interested in including athletes from a range of nearby schools. Students analyzed potential NIL partners’ brand strength via factors like notoriety and social media influence, eventually handing the organization a detailed list of potential partners.

“Three groups of 7-8 students per group presented athletes they thought make sense,” said Cheyne Reiter, Indians' director of communications. “Are they active volunteers? Are they tied to a charity they’re passionate about? … (The class delivered) 20 athletes in total that we’ll dive into.”

The Indians’ full first class is set to be finalized in the coming weeks. In the meantime, their partnership with Morris’ class already produced one connection.

On April 30, the Indians hosted IU women’s basketball player and former Hamilton Southeastern star Sydney Parrish as part of an NIL arrangement. The plan to have Parrish throw out the first pitch was scuppered by rain, but Parrish spent more than an hour signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.

Morris’ class did not directly arrange for the deal. As an employee of the university, Morris can’t be directly involved in NIL arrangements at that level. Rather, Parrish’s appearance was the first in a series of partnerships with the Indians vetted and presented by Morris’ class, and selected by the organization.

It won’t be the last. The class will evolve as NIL does.

Morris stays current on the wide variety of possible evolutions around not just NIL, but the wider ideas of athletes’ rights and compensation. He keeps tabs on pending litigation that might affect the landscape. He sees collectives becoming even more prominent in the NIL space.

“That space is just completely different than a year ago,” Morris said. “It’s sort of interesting how we’re not even two years into this and this industry’s really developing.”

Morris’ course is part of that development.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU class about NIL branding, media among first of its kind