New Miami AD Dan Radakovich breaks down his thoughts on NIL

Miami has been at the forefront of NIL as year one comes and goes. That’s what Dan Radakovich is walking into, and he looked at how the Hurricanes adjusted to the new landscape over the last 12 months.

One of the biggest names synonymous with Miami and NIL is John H. Ruiz, a Miami alumnus and prominent lawyer. He’s helped Miami athletes such as Isaiah Wong and Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack are among the athletes to sign agreements with LifeWallet, and has become one of the more influential people in the NIL world.

Radakovich said Ruiz isn’t the only businessperson interested in helping Miami with NIL, though. He said others have reached out, as well — and that’s because Miami’s in a good location to capitalize on opportunities.

“I think that we have some great benefactors here at the University of Miami,” Radakovich said on the ESPN College Football Podcast. “Folks like John Ruiz. John has obviously been in the news and done a lot of really good things. Trying to keep John’s name out of anything is just impossible. It’s there and he does a great job. But I’ve had the opportunity to have a chance to meet him a couple of times and he’s a very, very good businessman, a wonderful lawyer and a great fan of the University of Miami.

“There are others, as well, that we’ve been able to meet who are businesspeople looking to expand their product horizons and utilizing the opportunity to have student-athletes do that with their companies. So we have very fertile ground here in South Florida and in the Miami area for name, image and likeness opportunities and I think some of our student-athletes are starting to take advantage of those.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Miami with NIL, though. Wong reportedly issued an ultimatum to the Hurricanes to increase his NIL income and Ruiz is reportedly planning to work with him on more NIL opportunities.

However, Ruiz also might be in hot water. His company is under investigation after its share price dropped 86% in the first week after going public.