Orating with Oblinger: The Kentucky Effect, Building a Master Plan and NIL

The UNCW Athletic Director stopped by Talkin' to Takayo on Monday

Dec 13, 2023

Along with the usual hoops conversation during Monday’s episode of Talkin’ to Takayo, UNCW Athletic Director Mike Oblinger stepped in for a quick cameo on the mic.

His appearance was short, but he packed plenty of interest into his chat with play-by-play man Mike Vaccaro.

Before we get into that, just a reminder that we’ll have a new episode of Perchcast coming Thursday morning! Got a question, discussion point, or want us to bring on a particular guest? Drop a comment here, send a tweet or shoot us an email.

The response to last week’s chat with Brett Blizzard has been incredible, and you can listen via SoundCloud or any number of podcast platforms.

Turns out, Brett is a pretty popular podcast guest, because Vaccaro invited him on In the Front Row this week, and you can find that here and most places you find podcasts.

Here’s what Oblinger had to say on Monday afternoon:

On the victory at Kentucky and what has followed back in Wilmington…

It was something I always remember when I look back on my career when this is all over, but it was really cool to answer your question.
Yeah, it's kind of something we've coined the ‘Kentucky Effect’ within the department and we're still kind of collecting data as really ultimately what that meant to us from interactions from a website clicks if you will, but that 24-hour period after the game and into Sunday, we saw 27 times more activity through social media channels and whatnot than we normally do during that period of time.
So obviously, eyeballs were on us. I challenged our external staff, I challenged the folks on the university side, we need to capitalize on that and then be ready for those types of things. And I think we handled it really, really well. I thought we turned around so much content and so much video, really that 24-hour, 48-hour (period) … and we've been riding the wave ever since. It is been fun.

Chancellor Volety has called athletics the front porch of the University. Is this something that supports that?

Fact, 100 percent. You can look back at data and say ‘Why do people decide to come to school here?’
Athletics is a huge, huge component of the student experience, and so we are not the most important room in the house — I acknowledge that — but I do agree with the chancellor that we are the front porch and it's our job as a team, as a staff to make sure that front porch is painted, it's clean and ready to take people in when they want to come visit.

On this being instructive for the department on how to capitalize on a big moment…

That’s a great point, and we even saw this in the spring when baseball went to a regional, they were playing, I think it was a Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM on ESPN, right?
I mean there's the same exact same that happened there where again, we saw more media traffic, we saw more website traffic, just a general fan saying, ‘Huh, I'm interested about UNCW, let me click here and figure out.’
And again, we have to be ready for that. It's going to happen again.

On increased NIL activity and the OneSeahawk NIL Collective…

I think I've been very open about NIL since coming here, as it needs to be part of the student-athlete experience in the same way we talk about academic support, weight room, nutrition, mental health.
I mean, NIL is here and we have to embrace it and we have to be able to provide our student-athletes that opportunity to monetize their name, image and likeness. We've done some subtle things here like we've adjusted policies that before I got here you couldn't use marks and logos. If a student-athlete went out and did a camp or a clinic or did something, a service project in the community, they couldn't wear our logos and I didn't think that was appropriate, so now they can.
But we do have a collective, we’re asking our donors much the same way we ask you to support the Seahawk Club is to support the collective. And that's a vital way for us to recruit and retain our student-athletes at all of our sports.

NOTE: I’m a little biased, but I think OneSeahawk is doing great work and it’s something I’ve supported with my time and money. I’ve been fortunate to tag along and take photos at several community events, and it’s been awesome to see the joy on a kid’s face when they spend time around the UNCW basketball team.

It’s been just as neat seeing our guys fully engage, learn about people and use their platform for amazing causes like dancing along with kids who have Down Syndrome, packing Christmas gifts for Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program and handing out supplies to those in need downtown.

You can see photos from those events via Facebook and Instagram, and find out more about how to support OneSeahawk here!

OneSeahawk has only signed Men’s Basketball athletes to this point, but the hope is to keep expanding to every team and every athlete on campus. If you’d like, you can choose to direct your donation toward supporting athletes from a particular team.

On the learning curve around NIL and educating donors and fans on what is possible and what isn’t allowed…

We're all learning.

I mean it's been two-and-a-half years since it all kind of came on, and it came on quick.

So, at the time and it still holds true really, there's two things you can't do: you can't induce people to come to your institution because of it, and there has to be a quid pro quo — there has to be something done in exchange for the dollar amount given to the student-athletes.

So those are two things, but other than that, the things that we have seen is really in the donor education space because prior to this we've been telling people and our boosters, our donors, ‘Don't do this, don't do this,’ and ask questions of our compliance staff.

So now, we're doing the exact opposite and it is healthy to engage. We now have a platform called INFLCR where our fans, donors, marketers in the community can interact directly with our student-athletes. I mean, think about how much of a different of a sea change that is from two and a half years, and not only is it here, we're stressing the importance of it. So again, if you're in the community and you want to partner with our student-athletes, absolutely — we encourage it.

NOTE: The Seahawk Exchange is UNCW’s NIL marketplace, which allows individuals and businesses to engage directly with student-athletes on deals.

Want Trazarien White and Maleeck Hardne-Hayes to sign autographs at your shop one afternoon? Feel like Skylar Stockton and Mary Sobataka would be perfect to pitch your business on social media?

There are currently 198 UNCW athletes available to work with via the INFLCR marketplace, and you can initiate contact, negotiate and complete a transaction all right there in the exchange.

On the turnout for the Montreat game…

Yeah, Mike, I think Mother Nature didn't do us any favors. We were 164 sold tickets to being sold out, which I think is, we talked about the Kentucky Effect and obviously the momentum that this team has.
It was pretty cool. They came out in support of this team and I think we've looking at numbers and looking at when we get back in early January, once we get into a conference schedule, I would imagine we're going to be trending towards more sellouts as we go.

On the weight room renovation that recently got started…

We're in construction mode right now and we've got a little window right now between obviously the fall semester and when the kids come back.
That was something Mike, when I came and toured, I noticed that the weight room was a little tired and needed a little bit of help and there were some structural things … so I spoke to the Chancellor, and he gave the blessing to go ahead and do it, so we're ripping the thing out right now.
We're taking out the flooring, we're ripping out walls, we're moving some stuff, graphics, all new weights. We're spending roughly about ($500,000) in that space that touches almost every one of our student-athletes. So, out the gate I wanted to find things that we could get most bang for our buck, the biggest bang for our buck as it relates to touching as many of our student-athletes as we possibly can.
Another thing that I'm really, really excited about that goes hand in hand with the weight room is, because of our partnership with Wilmington Health and what they did here a few weeks ago, we're able to double the size of our nutrition budget. So another area where I thought we were a little bit behind is, ‘Hey, how are they lifting? How are they performing in that space? And obviously how are we fueling?’
So that's something that when the kids come back, hopefully, knock on wood, we'll get all the construction out of the way. Anything else when you open up an old house, we're finding some things that are slow us down a little bit, but I'm in there, I was in there this morning, we're pushing as hard as we can and it's going to be beautiful, and we'll obviously show that off whenever it's done.

On what he’s hearing about the fan experience tweaks at Trask this season…

I think we've seen some positive reviews.
I know we've seen positive reviews and I think it's partly because of the fans are coming out and so when you talk to fans it's obviously, ‘Where's my ticket?’ And then it becomes, ‘Where am I parking my car? ‘ And then it becomes, ‘What am I eating when I get in the ballgame?’
So, we're really intentional with that. I'm really observant on lines and how long people wait for things and whatnot. We added a team shop because again, another comment that I've heard from our fans is they couldn't buy any gear; access to that was really limited, so we partnered with the bookstore and brought them over and they've been super supportive of everything that we're doing as it relates to selling gear.
Again, I think initial reactions have been fantastic, but now like anything else, when people come out to the ballgame, we need to make sure that people have a great positive experience. We're asking 'em to spend their discretionary dollars and bring a family of four, whatever that may or may not be, so we've got to be really intentional. We want them to come back and visit us again.
So, very aware of the fan experience right now.

On lights at the tennis courts and where that stands in the overall review of facilities…

We need 'em; We definitely need 'em.
And you're right, we're currently working with a group called Populous, which really specializes in master planning for athletic facilities, and this was something that during the interview process I asked the Chancellor if this was something we could do the I got here, he gave the green light and helped us there.
We're probably about halfway through that process right now, Mike, they were on our campus here in the Fall, visited with our coaches and staff and even our student-athletes.
So, when they come back and show some initial this is where things could go and this is where things could fit; and then obviously it's not just athletics. We’ve got to talk to our people on campus and where things go, but definitely from a tennis standpoint, lights are definitely on the priority list. They have to be, right, for us to be competitive and it's definitely on the radar.

On the departure of Delaware from the CAA, conversation among the remaining membership and the big picture…

Obviously, conference membership is always flowing and fluid and there's been a lot of movement in a lot of different levels.
The one thing I'll say about Delaware is they were pretty transparent with me since I've gotten in the league in terms of what they were trying to do, and they obviously value football and wanting to move up from FCS to FBS. So, that's ultimately what they decided to do and that's their decision. And they'll have our 18 months with us within the league and then we'll wish 'em good luck.
I'll say about the CAA that I think it's a very strong league. We're very proud members of it.
I've had two other institutions, two athletic directors have reached out to me from other leagues saying, ‘Hey, what is it like being a member?’ And I was very canid with 'em, I said, ‘If you guys were offered an invitation to come to this league, would you do it?’ It was hands down they would.
I think that's just two examples, Mike. I think there's multiple examples of people wanting to be in this league, and they see the value of it. They see the high-quality education or academic components of this.
And listen, this is not an AD decision; I mean this is at the Chancellor and President-level and so they're looking at it from are these institutions from an academic standpoint, so there's more to it than just ultimately the competitiveness on the field or the court.