URI's NIL Collective Makes Major Changes - Malachowski

URI's NIL Collective Makes Major Changes - Malachowski

Rhody Excellence, the entity that raises and funnels money to URI athletes, has made major changes. It is now overseen by the same entity that handles the Providence College collective.

Coast to Coast Promotional Products, based in Cranston, has been handling the PC Collective since its inception, shortly after paying athletes became legal two years ago. Michael Ferranti is the owner and President of Coast to Coast, which sells branded apparel and promotional products to a wide range of clients.

 

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New Executive Director hired

The other change is that Stone Freeman, a lifelong Rhode Islander, URI grad, play-by-play announcer for URI football broadcasts, and adjunct professor at URI, has been brought in to be the Executive Director of the URI Collective. He previously served as Manager of Business Development for Learfield, a collegiate sports marketing company.

 

 

Rhody Excellence moved to Rhode Island from Kansas City

The name of the collective has been tweaked, changing from Rhode To Excellence to Rhody Excellence. This may have been done for legal reasons connected to the change. The collective was previously run by an entity that handles collectives for several schools and is based in Kansas City. 

 

 

URI and PC using the same service provider

When asked about the changes, Tom Ryan, who serves on the collective advisory committee, said, “Coast to Coast is a well-run, professional organization with quality people. They are local and experienced with NIL and running a collective.” He continued, “They provide a service that includes handling the back-end systems. It is not unusual for competitors to use the same service provider.”

URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn wholeheartedly supports the move to Coast to Coast. When asked about sharing a service provider with a rival, he said, “Collectives are driven by fan basis, and the fan bases are different, so I have zero concern from my end.”

 

 

New Executive Director

Ryan said of Stone Freeman, “Stone bleeds Rhody blue. He is a talented young man whose connections with URI and experience in development make him a perfect fit for the collective.”

In an interview, Freeman said, “I could not be more excited about this important opportunity. I look forward to working with everyone who cares deeply about URI.” He continued, “My initial goal is to get the word out about NIL and the collective, educate fans, and raise money for the collective.”

 

 

Importance of NIL money and collectives

Collectives have become critically important to a successful program. Paying players and raising the money to do so has become one of the most significant factors in college basketball. Teams that do not pay their players the ever-increasing market rates will not be able to attract the level of talent needed to compete.

The URI collective initially raised $400,000 for the current basketball season. It needs to more than double that amount for next year. The top programs in the A-10 will have player NIL payrolls in excess of $1 million next season. Freeman, Ryan, and Rhody Excellence have their work cut out.