Students from across the University of Iowa campus collaborate to put together name, image, and likeness plans for Hawkeye student-athlete “clients.”
Story: Emily Nelson
Photography: Justin Torner
Published: May 9, 2025
Hawkeye basketball player Drew Thelwell sat in front of a panel that included specialists in the fields of law, business, and sport and recreation management.
The group presented a name, image, and likeness (NIL) plan to the student-athlete that included, among other things, suggestions for potential brand partnerships, a social media strategy, a sample business plan, and legal best practices regarding contract review.
Thelwell chimed in at various points with questions and his own suggestions, which the panel answered and discussed with Thelwell.
The panel members, however, weren’t employees at an agency. They were students in a new class, NIL: Simulated Agency Experience, offered in spring 2025 through the University of Iowa’s Department of Sport and Recreation Management.
University of Iowa law student Blake Edwards hands Hawkeye basketball player Drew Thelwell a packet containing a social media strategy, sample business plan, and legal best practices regarding contract review during an NIL presentation for a new class, NIL: Simulated Agency Experience. Blake says he applied for the NIL simulated agency class in part because he hopes to one day work in sports law and represent athletes, but he also has a personal connection to NIL. His brother plays Division I football.
Dan Matheson, director of the sport and recreation management (SRM) program, SRM professor of instruction, and adjunct professor in the College of Law, says he had been thinking about the best ways to incorporate NIL into the curriculum since the NCAA legalized NIL policies in 2021.
“I wanted our students to get a feeling for what it’s like when you’re representing a client who is pursuing these types of activities,” Matheson says. “It’s easy to talk about NIL and read stories about it, but this is a slightly different angle. They’re still learning the information, but it gives them exposure to a different side of things.”
When he proposed the idea to Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz and Matt Henderson, deputy director of athletics for external relations, they were interested, along with creating a more traditional course surrounding NIL. Topics in Sport and Recreation Management (Name, Image, and Likeness in College Athletics) was first taught in fall 2024 by Joshua Lens, associate professor of instruction.
Students who wanted to join Matheson’s simulated NIL agency class were not required to take the fall class, but they did have to apply. Matheson was looking to replicate a mix of expertise you might find in an agency — the 24 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students chosen came from across campus, including the SRM program, University of Iowa College of Law, political science, finance, and enterprise leadership.
The students were put in teams and given a “client.” Those clients were actual Hawkeye student-athletes, and, along with Thelwell, included Kenzie Beckmann (dance/spirit squad), Kelli McGroarty (women’s soccer), Makayla Hughbanks (women’s swimming/diving), and Adeline Kenlin (women’s gymnastics). Each client heard a personalized NIL plan that focused on best practices in branding, contract drafting, social media marketing, intellectual property rights, and more.
“This has been a class like none other I’ve taken throughout undergrad or law school. In other classes, you may just be doing online simulations. But this class has fostered space for us to help our fellow students.”
Matheson says the student-athletes volunteered to participate and had a range of experience with NIL activities.
Thelwell started playing college basketball just as the NCAA approved an NIL policy and says there’s no other way to describe being in the middle of the NIL evolution besides being a “whirlwind.” He says he was happy to share with his fellow students what he has learned over the years. But he also was interested in learning more about NIL and seeing what ideas the students in the class had for him.
“It’s good to hear and learn about new perspectives and opportunities,” says Thelwell, who is from Orlando, Florida, and is getting a master’s degree in sport and recreation management. “You put 10 brains together and someone is going to come up with something I would never have thought of.”
His team’s suggestions regarding YouTube videos and podcasting were especially interesting to him, Thelwell says.
Thelwell’s days playing basketball in college may have come to an end, but he expects NIL to continue playing a role in his career. Once his basketball career ends, Thelwell hopes to eventually become a college athletics director, where he’s sure his personal NIL experience and everything he learns about it will be valuable.
Matheson encouraged the students to keep their minds open and to deeply explore the NIL space. But beyond just pitching a plan to their clients, he also wanted the students to use their unique knowledge to provide education.
“We’ve got law students who can say, ‘Here’s an example of what an exclusivity clause looks like in a contract, and if you see that, here’s why it could possibly be concerning,’” Matheson says. “Or another student could say, ‘You should be posting X number of times a week on social media and here are the platforms you should be on.’ I was looking for multifaceted final pitches.”
Future of NIL courses
Dan Matheson, director of the UI sport and recreation management (SRM) program, SRM professor of instruction, and adjunct professor in the College of Law, says he learned a lot during his first time teaching the NIL: Simulated Agency Experience course.
And he already has new ideas he wants to implement next year.
“One thing I would like to do is cross list this course with the law school,” Matheson says. “Of the 24 students in the class, eight are law students. And because of the strong interest I had from law students, I want to get a law designation to go along with the SRM.”
He’s also hoping to see more students from other disciplines across campus apply for the class.
“I would love to get a couple of graphic design majors and event management majors. There’s potential for things like sports camps and other forms of NIL activation that have a big event component to them,” Matheson says. “There are also other majors within the Tippie College of Business beyond marketing and finance that would be a nice fit as well.”
Matheson says there are NIL classes popping up at colleges and universities across the country, but as far as he knows, the simulated agency course at Iowa is unique, and he’s had colleagues from outside the state express interest in learning more.
“I’ve also been in communication with a colleague at Alabama who is putting together a group of like-minded faculty from around the country who are going deep in this space from both entrepreneurship programs and sport management programs,” Matheson says. “I think there's potential to get more involved with colleagues around the country who want to explore, ‘What does the future of education in this space look like? How can we exchange best practices? Are there different benchmarks or standards that education in this space should be hitting?’ Who knows where this could go, but I'm encouraged by some of the early conversations we’re having.”
Dan Matheson, director of the sport and recreation management (SRM) program, SRM professor of instruction, and adjunct professor in the College of Law, talks with Kenzie Beckmann, a member of the Hawkeye dance team. Beckmann participated in Matheson's new class, NIL: Simulated Agency Experience, as a "client" for the course's students.
Blake Edwards will graduate in spring 2025 with a law degree from Iowa. He applied for the NIL simulated agency class in part because he hopes to one day work in sports law and represent athletes, but he also has a personal connection to NIL. His brother plays Division I football.
“I want my brother to be able to benefit from NIL because I understand how much work it takes to be a student-athlete and how much time it takes away from the student experience,” says Edwards, who is from West Des Moines, Iowa. “I've been able to take what I've learned in class and from the different guest speakers and talk to him more about best practices, what you can and can't do, what to look for in different collectives, and things you should look out for with different NIL deals.”
Edwards says he has appreciated the real-world application that the class afforded. He says he enjoyed getting to know Thelwell, with whom his team worked, learning about Thelwell’s interests and what motivates him, and then spinning that knowledge to help him take better advantage of his name, image, and likeness.
“This has been a class like none other I’ve taken throughout undergrad or law school,” Edwards says. “In other classes, you may just be doing online simulations. But this class has fostered space for us to help our fellow students.”
“I've had a few job and internship interviews where I've been able to speak about my experience in this class and about the skills that I've developed from it. I think that's been impressive to recruiters and people whom I've spoken with. It’s definitely an experience that I'll carry with me throughout my professional career.”
Madison Hatfield agrees that the NIL simulated agency class has been unique in her college experience. The sport and recreation management master’s student from West Branch, Iowa, says it’s led her to think more as a professional than a student.
“We’re not just listening to a professor and writing down the information and being tested on it,” Hatfield says. “We're really putting ourselves into the industry and stepping into the role of somebody who would be working in that position.”
Hatfield says she had only a basic understanding of NIL before the class, but her passion for marketing, a field in which she got an undergraduate degree, led to her interest in the class.
“Knowing how much branding and marketing are intertwined in the sports world through NIL, I knew this would be a really great opportunity to learn more,” Hatfield says. “Whether I'm on the athlete representation side, the branding side, or within a college athletic department, NIL will definitely touch areas that I work in no matter what I do.”
She says the class is setting her up for professional success.
“I've had a few job and internship interviews where I've been able to speak about my experience in this class and about the skills that I've developed from it,” Hatfield says. “I think that's been impressive to recruiters and people whom I've spoken with. It’s definitely an experience that I'll carry with me throughout my professional career.”
Madison Hatfield, a sport and recreation management graduate student, delivers a final presentation during a new class, NIL: Simulated Agency Experience. Hatfield says her passion for marketing, a field in which she got an undergraduate degree, led to her interest in the class. “Whether I'm on the athlete representation side, the branding side, or within a college athletic department, NIL will definitely touch areas that I work in no matter what I do.”
The class also hosted guest speakers throughout the semester, including Hy-Vee sports marketing executives, a business and legal affairs executive who manages WME Sports’ NIL practice, and various Iowa Athletics officials, including Scott Brickman, general manager for Iowa NIL strategy/operations, and Dave Aspelmeier, associate director of compliance.
“It’s been really interesting to see how many areas NIL touches and hear from the people who are dealing with an area that’s evolving every single day,” Hatfield says.
Matheson says it’s interesting teaching a course about a subject that is constantly changing.
“I would joke with Josh Lens while he was teaching his course in the fall about whether he had to throw away his syllabus every week and start over,” Matheson says.
Even while Matheson’s class was ongoing, a U.S. District judge held hearings to finalize terms of a settlement of an NIL-related lawsuit filed against the NCAA and five conferences, and the NCAA Division I Board of Directors proposed deleting rules from its handbook to allow schools to share financial benefits directly with players.
“I’ve been focused on helping students understand where we’re at right now,” Matheson says. “I’ve been very transparent with them that there will be instances where I’m learning alongside them, and I’ve asked them to come along with me on this journey.”
“Every time I'm there, students across the classroom have been totally engaged, had a smile on their face, and are excited to do the work. It’s not like a regular class. I haven’t had this feeling about a class since I've been in college. It’s been fun.”
Students have contributed to the class in multiple ways, from developing real-time case studies as part of an assignment to noticing stories in the media or in academic journals and bringing them to class to discuss. Meanwhile, several students are currently or have been student-athletes or work in different capacities for Iowa Athletics.
“I’d be a fool as a professor not to lean on them from time to time and say, ‘Hey, tell us about your experience with this particular thing that we're talking about today,’” Matheson says. “I’m enjoying the opportunity to put some responsibility on their shoulders, and they’re all embracing the opportunity to contribute to the class in meaningful ways.”
Edwards says it’s been enjoyable to be in a class where everyone learns from everyone else.
“I have a legal background, so I have an advantage when it comes to contracts. But finance students or sport and rec management students have the advantage when we talk business plans or marketing strategies,” Edwards says. “We have a lot of great personalities in the class, and we’ve had great open discussions. I've never been in a class where there's so many people with different majors and in different class years. I've connected with more people than I thought I would have.”
One of Hatfield’s favorite parts of the class has been hearing other students’ perspectives on NIL topics — especially those of the law students.
“You don’t always think about all the behind-the-scenes things that go into contract negotiations and reviewing legal documents,” Hatfield says. “The law students have asked our guest speakers really thought-provoking questions. I've learned a ton from them about law and legal compliance topics.”
Matheson says the class exceeded all his expectations.
“The students have been so engaged,” Matheson says. “The subject matter really captured their interest and their creativity. They were all aspiring to outdo the others with their ideas. And the student-athletes gave them a lot to work with. They all have great accomplishments and personalities, and you heard that come through in the presentations. I’m over the moon with how everyone has done.”
Participating in the class will count as a highlight of his college career, Thelwell says.
“Every time I'm there, students across the classroom have been totally engaged, had a smile on their face, and are excited to do the work,” Thelwell says. “It’s not like a regular class. I haven’t had this feeling about a class since I've been in college. It’s been fun.”
