South Dakota State and University of South Dakota athletic directors discuss NIL, conference realignment

South Dakota State athletic director Justin Sell and the University of South Dakota senior athletic director of facilities and operations Corey Jenkins took part in a panel discussion led by the Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary that touched on a variety of topics including fall football, conference realignment and their approach to helping student-athletes earn money using their name, image and likeness.

SDSU and USD's approach with NIL

Recruitment at USD and SDSU focuses on the full experience of what a full scholarship at their institution would mean. They like to focus on the more holistic view.

“We're selling the whole experience,” Jenkins said. “It's not just the competition aspect, it’s come get a great education. Come be in a place where the fan base and the staff and the university community in the city are going to support you every single day and, in a place, where you're going to have an opportunity to compete at the highest level and show what you got. I think that sells really well with the vast majority of student-athletes.”

They know they can’t offer the NIL money that Power 5 schools can and so far, it hasn't really come into play for either school. Sell said the conversation around NIL has become too focused on what Power 5 schools are offering. Most student-athletes aren’t making close to $50,000 a year, yet you can see a list of the top NIL earners online and think all college athletes are making that much.

“We've forgotten about the value of scholarships, the opportunity to play sports in the facilities that we have, the fact we pay for you to travel,” Sell said. “You can go all over the country, and you get a degree that's going to be extremely meaningful to you for the rest of your life.”

When SDSU student-athletes have had NIL opportunities, Sell said he’s seen them use their money to benefit others. He mentioned Myah Selland and Tori Nelson as two athletes who used their NIL money to create Her Turn, a non-profit organization that sends middle school girls to sports camps free of charge.

USD’s athletics website now features a portal called “The Den” where you can pay for autographs, social media posts or make custom requests.

Between the two ADs, they could only recall one instance when NIL may have caused them to lose a player to the transfer portal, but poaching is always a concern.

Thoughts on conference realignment

The decision to move conferences is not one either AD takes lightly. Jenkins said each institution has to evaluate what’s best for them and there are a variety of factors they weigh including geography, the media rights deals and of course competitive balance.

Sell said it’s difficult enough just to be good within the conference you’re already in without thinking about the possibility of moving conferences.

“Hopefully you're in a spot that you're playing with schools with similar goals like enrollments, other measuring pieces, good competition, and the Summit League has provided that for us,” Sell said. “I'm trying to make sure we're really good at what we do, and then you’ve got your plan A and your plan B and your C as you work through that. I say often patience is a choice, and it's really difficult to be patient these days. Everyone wants to chase something or wants to get into something or wants to move to something, and I think you have to be really careful. You can make some mistakes doing that.”

At the end of the day, athletic directors have to choose the conference that gives their student-athletes the best experience possible, Jenkins said.

Western Illinois made the decision to leave the Summit League, the conference that SDSU and USD non-football sports compete in, back in May. Jenkins said that now gives the League and all its partners a chance to step back and evaluate the conference as a whole, as well as look for partners who will keep all the teams best positioned for success.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFERN3

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SDSU, USD athletics discuss NIL, conference realignment