OU AD Weighs In on College Athletic Changes

By Ylleana Berryhill, Oklahoma Voice

OKLAHOMA CITY — University of Oklahoma athletic leaders said Wednesday they are adapting to a new normal in a rapidly changing college sports environment.

Joe Castiglione, University of Oklahoma vice president and director of athletics, said athletes “are bigger, faster, stronger than ever before” and have multiple options even as the university works to recruit the best athletes to compete for championships. 

Castiglione and other OU leaders spoke about the evolving college athletic landscape and what will be needed to stay competitive in the new NIL era at the Oklahoma State Chamber’s annual meeting.

The shift in operations follows the 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which opened the door for college athletes to monetize and have authority over how their name, image and likeness, or NIL, is used.

“The NIL space, as we’ve known it up to this point, has been largely unrestricted, unstructured, so they have, in this sense, the short-term memory of how NIL has been,” Castiglione said. “We’re going to have to help educate them, whether it’s how they can build their brand, how they will get monetized.”

He said OU has begun to focus on college athletics as a business.

“Every time I used to use that word or refer to business, I would get shushed, you know, because we’re part of higher education, college athletics isn’t supposed to sound like a business but we operate very much like one,” Castiglione said.

He said the university will have to pay attention to how it grows and manages expenses. Expenses are growing much more rapidly than the rate of new revenue. 

“We have to be a force multiplier in how we partner with people,” he said.

Castiglione said OU athletics will have a $225 million budget that is totally built on generating its own revenue. 

“We live by a scoreboard for many people in our world so that’s how they measure whether or not we’re successful,” he said. “Culture is going to be the catalyst as a force multiplier, partnerships are going to be a catalyst.” 

He said it is important for the university to compete for championships. That is how they will leverage support. As it grows, athletes and coaches will continue to want to come. 

Castiglione said OU is positioning their program strategically and tactically. 

“I think in this period of disruption, communicating and being proactive in the space can help align our coaches with the right strategy and tactics to navigate what is still an undefined environment,” he said.