Author: bryanpaulbedford

The Recruit Route & Bedford Agency collectively make up a college sports recruiting company, and are once again hiring summer interns for 2024! The Bedford Agency provides actionable insight and expertise for student-athletes and families navigating the College Sports Recruiting and Name, Image and Likeness process! We are uniquely positioned to offer expertise, educational content and technology to transform the college recruiting process like never before via our Recruit Route brands. Our rich foundation includes a history around college recruiting, camps, consulting and events. In 2021 we also launched our first set of brands Recruit Route, Recruit Route Elite, Transfer Route. In 2022, we launched Teams Route a turnkey offering to help high school and club coaches and their entire programs managed & become educated on recruiting and NIL. Our summer intern program is designed to take all of our products and services listed above to the next level!

What You’ll do as an Intern:

Our interns will be working on Business to Consumer and Business to Business projects in the world of Sports, Recruiting and NIL. You aren’t coming here to fetch Starbucks coffee. You will be doing real work. Each intern will work in a virtual group setting and have individual project responsibility in a variety of areas interest including Graphic Design, Social Media, Customer Success, Business Development, Product Design, Marketing and more. In previous years our interns have gone on to work at places like Walt Disney Inc, OKC Thunder, and Sinclair Broadcast to name a couple.

“My time working with the Bedford Agency taught me leadership qualities, independence, professionalism, and communication skills. Bryan helped me grow a network in the sports business industry, and was a great role model as both a boss, coworker and friend. He instilled in me a growth mindset for both work and everyday life. I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to intern with the Bedford Agency in 2021.”

-Emma Hennessey, 2021 Bedford Agency Intern

Who You are and What Skills You Need?

You are self-motivated, highly ambitious and have the desire to challenge the status quo. You are excited both by the high-level strategic thinking, as well as in-the-trenches execution. You take comfort with structuring ambiguity, turning it into a strategy, a business case and an execution plan.

You have strong written and verbal communication, strong presence in front of senior executives, strong analytical capability (e.g., Excel skills), strong PowerPoint capability, the ability to collaborate across functional groups, including engineering, sales, services, marketing, HR, finance, operations. 

The ability to manage and execute multiple tasks at the same time, prioritize them and manage time, teammates, peers effectively and are highly organized, strong project management and follow-through skills.

Strong desire to work in the Sports Business Industry a plus.

Application process:

Areas of internships: Graphic Design, Social Media, Customer Success, Business Development, Product Design, Marketing

Each Intern must submit a resume’, cover letter (include the area of interest per above) and letter of recommendation from an employer or professor. Application is due by is April 1 at 5pm central. Please send application to bryanpaulbedford@gmail.com C/o Bryan Bedford, CEO of the Bedford Agency.

Each prospective intern will then be scheduled for a screening interview following the submission of there application, with selection following shortly thereafter.

Should we select you:

Bedford Agency internships are unpaid and will begin on May 28th, 2024 and run through August 8, 2024. Expectation is each Bedford Agency intern will work between 10-15 hours per week in a virtual setting with world class collaboration technology.

Recently (Jan. 2024) we had a chance to join Athletic Department and staff of Norman, OK Public Schools (NPS) to discuss Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and the impact on High School and College Athletics. NPS as a district has 15,786 students, competes in 6A Athletics and includes 17 elementary, four middle schools and 2 high schools, plus over 1,100 staffers! In this session we hosted over 40 coaches and athletic staff and shared best practices, insights in the industry, trends, differences between High School and College NIL and went in-depth into the recommendations and mandates around NIL Disclosures.

“Thank you to Bryan Bedford and the Bedford Agency for providing NPS head coaches valuable NIL training. This partnership will provide our coaches, student-athletes and their families valuable information that pertains to NIL” – TD O’hara Norman Public Schools District Athletic Director.

Norman Public Schools Name Image and Likeness Training Jan. 2024

The types of trainings are becoming much more common place. Why? Because the NCAA is evolving its disclosure and transparency rules which WILL impact high school athletes starting in August 2024!

Is NIL or Recruiting a topic your school needs help with? Check out the links below or contact us at thebedfordagency@gmail.com

NIL Education & Disclosure Overview for Schools

Recruiting, NIL and Academic Eligibility Managed Service for Schools

Earlier this year our CEO Bryan Bedford was interviewed for an in-depth look at the changing landscape of college sports recruiting, transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness. Check out this great story by Brittany Zion

Since the landmark Supreme Court decision that ushered in a new era in collegiate and high school athletics, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) has dominated headlines.

While it’s true that NIL altered the landscape and changed the game of college recruiting, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

“The disruption in college football, particularly, is not all NIL-specific,” said Bryan Bedford, CEO of the Bedford Agency and Recruit Route.

“During the pandemic, there was no outbound recruiting. Then, there was a major update to the Transfer Portal and the addition of the one-time transfer exception. NIL came in on top of that.

“It became the most transformative period in college athletics not only because of NIL but because all three things happened around the same time.”

The result significantly impacted college recruiting, and it started with limited outbound recruitment.

Before the pandemic, coaches would meet with families and recruits in their homes, building a comprehensive picture of the athlete on and off the field. High school coaches also benefited from those recruitment visits, receiving valuable information from college coaches.

Both parties felt the effect of COVID-19 restrictions. For nearly two years, athletes could not properly visit the campuses of schools they were interested in playing for, and face-to-face interactions with coaches or staff were severely limited. Athletes lost opportunities for increased exposure, and recruiters missed out on the critical eye test, limiting the ability to understand all aspects of a player fully.

The pandemic alone would have been disruptive enough but then came a significant rule change to the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Since 2018, the Transfer Portal has been an integral part of the recruitment process, impacting collegiate and current high school athletes hoping to compete at the next level. Many have likened it to free agency in professional sports, and competition is no longer relegated to peer athletes of the same graduation year but current college athletes as well.

It became a major talking point again in September 2022 due to an official rule change that allowed all student-athletes who were transferring for the first time – and who were in good academic standing from their current school – to have immediate transfer eligibility.

Prior to that revision, student-athletes who transferred were required to sit out a full season before they had an opportunity to compete with the new program. With the rule change, they have more freedom to find their best fit without missing out on a year of competition.

In August 2022, another revision was made. A D1 athlete can enter the NCAA Transfer Portal only during specified time windows. They are as follows:

“There is also no limit to how many official visits a student-athlete can make,” said Bedford. “So schools are bringing in more athletes on official visits because they know they’ll likely enter the transfer portal down the line. They’re recruiting a lot more kids.

“They changed restrictions to how you can overhaul your class (look at schools like Colorado or Texas State), and the portal and player management has basically been deregulated,” he continued.

“Many coaches are budgeting 25% coming in and out of the roster on the portal. It used to be mostly high school kids, but now personnel departments look like the pro model – it’s transfers and high school kids. And that’s what the numbers are telling us, too.”

When the college football transfer portal’s 2022-23 cycle ended, stats showed athletes again used the portal at record highs.

Between August 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, 8,699 NCAA football players entered the portal, per ESPN. It was a 5.5% increase over last year’s then-record number (8,242) and more than double that of the inaugural 2018-19 cycle (4,076).

As Bedford alluded, no team used the portal quite like Colorado, which had a record 71 players enter during this past cycle alone, 61 of which entered the portal after Sanders’ introduction as head coach in December 2022.

Interestingly, the transfer portal and NIL have crossover, too, and not always for the top recruits or student-athletes who dominate the headlines.

“As we know, NIL doesn’t impact just the highest-performing kids,” Bedford explained. “Now that we have legalized collectives, you might have a good athlete, maybe not a top recruit, but a talented athlete, and he goes to play at the University of North Texas (UNT).

“But maybe you tell that kid to walk on at the University of Texas, and you’ll pay him $30,000 to make up the difference in scholarships or other benefits he would have gotten. Then, maybe three years later, he uses the one-time transfer exception to go back to UNT. That’s how NIL and the portal can really impact programs and recruiting.”

It is worth noting that not all athletes who enter the portal are picked up. About 40% go into the portal and stay there, never playing for another team. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but if a student-athlete enters, they should assume they’re off their current team. It’s a definite risk.

Bedford, himself a former college football coach in Texas, said he would recommend high school coaches consider these four tips:

– Understand the implications of the NCAA Transfer Portal and windows. Athletes now playing at the collegiate level will likely look to their former high school coaches for advice or influence, so understanding the ins and outs of the portal is essential.

– Follow federal legislation and monitor bills being put forth. The media isn’t always the most reliable source, but reading and tracking current legislation will keep coaches and staff informed on proposed changes. NIL Education for Coaches can be found here!

– Seek counsel from an attorney or professional to protect player eligibility. Whether it’s a high school kid with NIL potential or a high-profile recruit, due diligence is critical. As with all things, there are people looking to help and people looking to benefit. If you see something, say something.

– Start planning for disclosure. It’s possible the federal government might ask for disclosure in the future as a best practice. Start planning how to protect the school, team, and players, and begin outlining an NIL disclosure strategy.

On the heels of the transfer portal and NIL, coaches can now build and develop rosters in a different way. Much has changed. Much will continue to. That’s why it’s critical for high school and college coaches to stay informed and educated.

NIL became the predominant topic of discussion in high school and collegiate athletics. However, the impact of limited outbound recruiting and amendments to the NCAA Transfer Portal contributed to the disruption, too. Education remains critical to successfully navigating the most transformative period in athletics history.

As more high school leaders nationwide consider allowing student-athletes to profit off their NIL, the ever-changing environment can be tough to navigate. The Bedford Agency and its partners at the Eccker Sports Group provides tools high school coaches, administrators, student-athletes, and their families can use to help them track the status of NIL in their state and understand the impact it will have on their students now and in the future. Visit thebedfordagency.com to learn more.

Watch and learn how we train coaches on Name, Image and Likeness in a session held by Bedford Agency CEO, Bryan Bedford at the 2023 Oklahoma Coaches Association Clinic.

As part of the Bedford Agency’s partnership with the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activity Association on Name Image and Likeness and Recruiting Education, Bedford Agency CEO, Bryan Bedford spoke at the 2023 Oklahoma State School Board Association August 25th, 2023 to kick off the 2023-2024 school year. The OSSBA session is an annual “training” each summer for State Board members in the State of Oklahoma and this year the Bedford Agency provided NIL education training at the annual event.

“It was great to speak to the OSSBA and introduce an important and dynamic topic such at NIL at the event. Its critical this group of stakeholders understands the changing landscape of youth and High School athletics and implications of Name, Image and Likeness and we were honored to be invited by Mr. David Jackson and the OSSAA staff to join forces in training this key group of board members“– Bryan Bedford, CEO of the Bedford Agency.

For more information on how the Bedford Agency is working with and supporting High Schools with NIL and College Sports Recruiting visit us at thebedfordagency.com