What is Louisville athletics' role in preparing athletes for the NIL executive order?
Hailey Van Lith has 742,383 followers between her Twitter and Instagram accounts. Louisville wide receiver Jordan Watkins, who Opendorse reported to The Courier Journal had the highest reach on the football team in November, has 30,736 followers across both platforms. Quarterback Malik Cunningham has 22,416 followers over both platforms. All three, along with every athlete at the University of Louisville, can now make money off their name, image and likeness, and their social media following is likely going to play a big role in that. Though there's still a discussion going on regarding NIL legislation  and it hasn't been passed in every state or finalized by the NCAA  in Kentucky, there are rules set after Thursday's executive order from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. That, in some ways, was the easy part. Now the work begins for athletic departments across the Commonwealth to begin not only finalizing their policies by July 1, when the order goes into effect, but educating and protecting the student-athletes as well. Louisville has been thinking about the NIL debate for years now and took one step toward it with its Opendorse Elevate plan it announced in September. That partnership, as the Courier Journal reported in November, gives Louisville the opportunity to help athletes build their social media brands while enrolled at Louisville. Beshear:Kentucky college athletes can now profit off their own endorsements  But there's more to NIL than just social media, and Louisville announced on Friday more plans it has to educate and help its athletes. Throughout the month of June, Louisville has offered NIL education to aid athletes in understanding the NIL opportunities that were inevitably coming. In addition to the June sessions, Louisville has various other initiatives for the athletes like a NIL law clinic that is available to all Louisville students, including athletes, that need guidance on NIL opportunities. Louisville has a sports administration elective class on the NIL being offered in the fall semester. There are life skills classes through the Beyond the Buzzer and Cardinal Select programs, the creation of a NIL advisory board  which will include athletics, faculty and university staff members  that will give guidance on how to navigate the NIL landscape. Louisville plans to partner with The College Licensing Company & Game Plan for their Compass resources, which include online NIL education, NIL disclosure and reporting platforms and career services. "Weve been a proponent, and I've been outspoken that I think this is the right road to go down, with guard rails. Those are being put in place," Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra said during Fridays press conference. "They can have professional representation, which will be important. I think when I was in my playing day had I known what to do with a legal contract, that will be important to help them. We will help them on the financial side, giving them advice related to that whether it be tax or whatever they want to discuss. We are happy to see them take advantage and make money." : What is included in Gov. Sullivan:How the NIL executive order from Gov. Andy Beshear ensures Kentucky athletes aren't behind  The university will also offer one-on-one consultations and NIL education outreach for the athletes, their parents and guardians. That will be an important one, and a fine line the university walks, as the NIL legislation from the NCAA continues to be drawn out. Matt Banker, Louisville's associate athletic director of compliance, said the NCAA could limit how much assistance the university can give to an athlete. But he believes that will be to make sure the university isn't helping athletes find companies. "That has more to do with getting the deals versus having to do with helping them manage the deals," he said. "So we will be in a place to help, whether thats looking at a contract through our law clinic or looking at, 'Hey I want to hire one of these marketing agents any thought on this?' We can give them feedback, but at the end of the day its going to be their decision." Louisville can also vet companies, if the athlete and his or her family asks, but it can't make a decision for them. All decisions will need to be made by the athlete, their agent or family. The agent, though, can be a parent or family member. Banker said there are athletes at Louisville he expects will use family members to represent them or help them make decisions. A crucial part of the NIL process will be disclosure by the athletes. Louisville, along with the many other initiatives it has planned for NIL, has been meeting with its coaches and student athletes to break down the disclosure process. Every student-athlete must report a contract to the university. "We want to see them have the ability to make money, but we want to disclose what that is," Tyra said. "Certainly don't need to inadvertently cross the line and do something they shouldn't be doing with an individual and the way they set up their own deals.  More:Why transfer Kenderick Duncan's success with U of L football is something you can bet on  Tyra said he could see that becoming one of the early problems until people get comfortable with the process. "These are kids that will leave their baseball glove at home before they go to the College World Series, or helmet, cleats or whatever," Tyra said. "So we need to help them as best we can to know how can they track the financial aspect of what's happening and turn that in as well." Banker noted that the university isn't trying to be overbearing with the reporting process, but more so trying to protect the athlete. "Its not trying to be a gotcha moment, but we are trying to help protect, be transparent and fill our obligations too," he said. "Theres going to be a lot of guidance and direction like, 'Hey you may want to think about this or think about that when looking at these parties.' There are big ramifications to things they may be looking, at so we're going to do the best we can to educate them but not go too far that the rules of the game are being set for us." Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague;