Reacting to the changing face of college athletics, Duquesne has named Jordon Rooney as a Personal Brand Coach for the men’s basketball team.

Rooney called the move a “positive institutional disruption”

Rooney, who is helping former Pitt safety Damar Hamlin launch his own digital trading cards, will work with Duquesne players on brand strategy, potential marketability, content creation, social activism and understanding the NCAA rules on name, image and likeness. He also will work with all teams and student-athletes through his program, Slash Athletes, via Duquesne’s PNC Leadership Academy.

A time to focus on wealth creation for college athletes who have been cut out of the equation by design. https://t.co/pxlQ3whB3J

— Dan Law (@DGLaw12) May 3, 2021

After guidelines and rules proposed by NCAA and members of Congress — among others — are finalized as expected, student-athletes will have opportunities to generate income by selling their NIL rights while competing in college. Rooney will help Duquesne student-athletes prepare to monetize and grow their personal brands with endorsements and compensation through business activities and the positive use of social media platforms.

“As the NIL landscape evolves, we will learn more about the rules and key issues that we will adapt to and execute,” Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper said in a statement. “In the meantime, it is critical our student-athletes learn the real drivers and that begins with their personal brands and positioning themselves for successful networking, profile building and accompanying frameworks to pursue jobs and market their person and skills.

“For those athletes that choose to pursue the NIL realm, this builds the foundation and basics for success. We are educators and teaching our students to be successful personal brand builders is complementary to the outstanding education they will receive at Duquesne.”

Men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot is the first to welcome a staff member to help with players’ personal brand.

“It is important to us to be at the forefront of the name, image and likeness and branding model and that is our motivation for making this move,” he said. “It is imperative that we educate our players about cultivating their brand and position them to capitalize on it if presented the opportunity.

“Investing in our players’ well-being — both on and off the court — has been, and will continue to be, a top priority of our program.”

“It shows tremendous foresight to be the first to create this role,” Rooney said. “It also shows the extent this program will go to so they can give their players the best chance to succeed. I believe this will start the trend of every D-1 program having a personal brand coach on staff.”

Through his platform as a speaker and content creator, Rooney has received more 20 million video views and more than 130,000 followers.

“The goal isn’t just monetization,” he said. “It’s access, influence and network.”

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