Matt Banker

With experience at the institution, conference and NCAA level, Louisville’s Associate Athletic Director for Compliance is well versed in the complexities of collegiate compliance. While each level is to advocate for the health and well being of the student athletes, they each have their own ways of doing so. Matt takes us through some of the hot topics facing collegiate athletics and how they’ll be navigated going forward. 

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A huge topic facing the nation in college athletics is the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) rules and how the policies will move forward. Right now states are weighing in, the NCAA is trying to keep up, and institutions are playing the waiting game. 

Because many of the NCAAs policies were instituted prior to social media, they’re trying to catch up to the ever changing landscape, and to the credit of the NCAA, they’re making efforts to rectify those outdated policies. But policy change takes time. And policy change also needs to consider what some of the unintended consequences might be. 

In addition to the NIL, Matt takes us through a few of the Top 5 issues consistently coming up in compliance circles. Those issues include mental health (which is a campus and nation wide issue, not just athletics); E-sports and whether they have a place in college athletics; and how there will likely never be consensus when it comes to transfer dynamics. 

All in all, compliance is about advocacy and support of student athletes, and there is a LOT going right in college athletics. It’s the bad stuff that makes headlines, but the often thankless job of compliance professionals has worked and is working to better the experience for student athletes.