Barry Hinson, Brand Squad have Oklahoma State's NIL rising: 'Haven’t even started to climb yet'
Jacob UnruhOklahoman
STILLWATER — Barry Hinson sat in the back corner of McAlister’s Deli absolutely convinced he was being fired.
Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg stepped into the restaurant. So did Brandon Meyer, the athletic department’s legal counsel.
Hinson’s face went white.
“This is ‘The Godfather’ stuff,” he thought. “They’re going to fire me in a public place.”
Immediately, Weiberg assured Hinson his job as a men’s basketball analyst was safe. Well, kind of.
They had a new idea for Hinson’s storied career.
He was already a candidate for the alumni association presidency. But Weiberg had another option: Hinson could lead the university’s name, image and likeness team. Help the Cowboys remain ahead in the ever-changing landscape for student-athletes.
“I think, if I’m not mistaken, I didn’t say no,” Hinson said. “I said hell no.”
Weiberg had a brilliant, measured response.
The job meant promoting OSU and its student-athletes, not fundraising. It included educating the public on NIL.
Hinson, a veteran basketball coach of 40 years, eventually relented. His tune changed.
And the next step in OSU’s master NIL plan took shape.
“I’m on board,” Hinson said. “I’ll go back to my days at Oral (Roberts). I’m Oral. I’m trying to do tent revivals. Wherever I can go, wherever I can speak, whatever group I can be in front of and I can tell this story, I’m going to try to do my best.”
Nearly a month into the second school year of the NIL era, OSU’s venture into this new world has expanded. The Cowboys have a new NIL director and a group of business students navigating student-athletes in an unprecedented program.
From Hinson to the Brand Squad to a non-profit collective known as Pokes with a Purpose, those involved with NIL around Stillwater are all tied together with a common goal.
They want to aid all OSU student-athletes. It just has to be done the right way.
And that means a quiet, unified approach. OSU has innovated and adapted, placing itself in a rare position for the NIL era through a grassroots approach.
“I’m not worried about Oklahoma State keeping up with anybody in the current Big 12 or the new Big 12 or whatever conference we land,” Hinson said. “So far, I can tell you I’m not worried. I’m pretty happy with how people are responding to this, and we’re at the bottom of the mountain.
“We haven’t even started to climb yet.”
The Brand squad:
From logical to innovative
OSU professor Maribeth Kuzmeski was convinced she was almost certain to fail.More than a year ago, she had been tasked by the athletic department with developing a class to teach student-athletes about NIL. Maybe mix in some entrepreneurship and personal branding.
There was no textbook, so she wrote one. There was no model for a class, so she designed that.
But Kuzmeski worried that might not be enough.
What if the athletes weren’t getting enough NIL deals? She believed that would reflect poorly on her.
Kuzmeski needed help.
“I just did the most logical thing,” she said.
She sought student volunteers. As the adviser of the marketing club, she made the inquiry. Fifty hands raised to help.
Mark that down as the moment OSU’s NIL trajectory changed.
The Brand Squad — a group of marketing and sports management students who aid OSU student-athletes in the NIL world — was formed.
The program is unprecedented across the country.
“I just did it because it was a logical decision,” Kuzmeski said. “It’s not that great of an idea. It’s just that it’s never been done before. And it’s so logical for a university.”
Two or three Brand Squad students are teamed with a student-athlete who joins the program. Those students help the athlete find NIL deals. They create a brand for the athlete. They clean social media accounts, set up new ones and teach the athletes how to better utilize their accounts.
Each Brand Squad student is interviewed and trained before being paired with an athlete.
“It’s almost like we’re an agency,” Kuzmeski said, “but we don’t get paid, we don’t take money from the university. We sort of just operate on our own for the benefit of the student-athletes.”
The organization has rapidly grown.
Kuzmeski sells her textbooks. She’s even started selling a training course on designing the program. Stanford was the first to purchase it.
A podcast was formed, with an athlete featured in each episode. An autograph signing event was held in the spring.
Last month, more than 100 students applied to work for the Brand Squad. There are now nearly 60 members, all paired with 100 student-athletes.
The goal is to work with every student-athlete on campus.
So far, even though the number of athletes is limited, they have benefited. From football to softball to equestrian to track and field, lots of deals have been made.
And it’s been beneficial for the students in the Brand Squad.
“It turned into 10 times more than what I thought it could be,” said Brand Squad president Haneen Rashwan. “And it’s taken me places and put me in rooms that I would have never stepped foot into otherwise.
