TAMPA — When asked about his program’s name, image and likeness collective that launched last week, USF coach Jeff Scott responded with a laudatory statement that evolved into a soliloquy.
Spanning more than seven minutes. Yep, the third-year Bulls coach finds the Fowler Avenue Collective that critical to the Bulls’ long-term success — if not survival.
“The No. 1 factor on your future success on bringing in talented players and retaining talented players, the very No. 1 factor is going to be your NIL ability, bottom line,” Scott said Tuesday following his team’s first workout in full pads.
“I can’t stress that enough, it will be the No. 1 factor in recruiting and retaining talent over the next two or three years. And the schools that are able to do that well will move up. The ones that won’t will move down. And I’m not sure if you don’t make that jump ... I’m not sure in our lifetime that you’ll be able to make that up.”
The Fowler Avenue Collective, a third-party organization that went live Friday morning at fowleravenue.com, bills itself as a “private fan club” to support players. For monthly membership fees between $10 and $200, USF fans gain access to in-person and virtual gatherings with current players.
Those players are then paid through the collective.
Former Bulls quarterback Matt Grothe — still one of the most popular players in program history — serves as host and emcee for the collective’s virtual events. Former Bulls student manager Corey Staniscia is external affairs director of the Orlando-based firm that launched the collective, as well as similar ones at UCF and Georgia Tech.
Bulls quarterback Gerry Bohanon, a Baylor transfer vying for the starting job this preseason, has signed up as the collective’s first ambassador.
“We had two young men that we recruited this spring that chose to go to schools that were one conference below us,” Scott said.
“And it was because of what they were going to get; they were going to get $2,000 a month from the collective. And that was a conference below us, and we lost them here.
“So now for us to have our own collective that our fans and donors can give money to that can help support, I mean, for me it’s all about RDR — it’s recruit, develop, retain. And NIL is going to have a direct impact on recruiting.”
Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.
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