How Travis Diener is helping Marquette basketball players earn money through service-based NIL collective

The Briggs and Al's Run & Walk returns Saturday morning, with participants streaming down Wisconsin Avenue on the 5-mile route from Marquette University's campus to the Summerfest grounds.

The popular event benefiting Children's Wisconsin was started by legendary former MU men's basketball coach Al McGuire in 1978 and is back on Milwaukee's streets after being disrupted by the pandemic for two years.

As usual, players from the Golden Eagles' men's and women's hoops teams will be hanging out around the starting line. They'll be shooting baskets with kids, cheering on runners, chatting with Children's patients and signing autographs. 

Except this year, those college athletes will be getting paid for being there thanks to a collective that creates name, image and likeness opportunities for MU basketball players. 

Be The Difference NIL was created in May and is headed by several prominent MU alumni. Most schools participating in big-time college sports have similar groups, but MU wanted its collective to be focused on community appearances for non-profits.

The NIL landscape has been constantly evolving since the NCAA allowed athletes to seek out opportunities in 2021. Travis Diener, a former MU basketball standout and member of the team that reached the 2003 Final Four, is the executive director of Be The Difference NIL and this week he talked about how the collective works.

Who is involved in Marquette's NIL collective?

Diener said he was brought into the collective by influential MU alumni Chuck Swoboda and Darren Jackson.

"They wanted somebody that they could kind of trust," Diener said. "That could really be on the relationship-side with the players. That the players could trust because I’ve obviously played and been through that.

"I think they wanted somebody that they knew and that they could trust and that would carry out the vision of the fund. Which is not as typical as some funds around the country, it’s totally centric around community work and compensating these players for doing some good on-campus and off-campus, with non-profit organizations."

Diener is joined on Be The Difference NIL's leadership team by former MU men's players Steve Novak, Rob Jackson and Cam Marotta and former women's player Kiesha Oliver-Hayes.

"I think it keeps everyone at ease," Diener said. "Because Marquette means so much to myself, to Rob, Steve, Kiesha, Cam. Because we’ve all worn the jersey and we’ve gone through that experience.

"So, at the end of the day, is it nice players are getting compensated for their work? Yes. But more so, we want Marquette and this fund to do it the right way and to be represented in a positive light.”

Be The Difference NIL strictly deals with MU basketball players and the collective has signed every scholarship player.

"We ran (a presentation) initially with all the players, men and women, just explaining what the fund was," Diener said. "That it’s non-exclusive, that if you want to be a part of it, this is kind of what it entails. We’re going to be doing all these events with these non-profits.

"Then, after the initial meeting, just going down and individually meeting the players and putting a contract in front of them and going through the contract and explaining again what it is. You don’t have to sign, it’s your own free will, but if you do sign this is the requirement.”

What do the players have to do to get paid?

Every MU men's and women's player showed up in August for an event at the Mary Ryan Boys & Girls Club, where they handed out school supplies and hung out with kids. A few men's players played hoops in September with a group of kids from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. 

There's Al's Run on Saturday and upcoming events with the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer and Sharp Literacy. Some will include all players, others will be with small groups depending on the athletes' jam-packed schedules.

“We’re never going to be short of opportunities because it’s great for the non-profits to have our players," Diener said. "To have the Marquette players in there, it doesn’t cost them anything.

"The fund is providing the players with the experience. The players just have to go there and be themselves, represent themselves, represent Marquette’s uniform. And just build relationships and networks throughout their four years here.”

Athletes can still seek out other NIL deals on their own. MU women's player Chloe Marotta ran a camp with her brother Cam in Mequon and men's player Olivier-Maxence Prosper also put together a clinic in his hometown of Montreal.

MU announced several initiatives last year for all of its athletes to seek out and learn about NIL deals.

Diener also said players can come to the NIL collective for guidance on other deals.

"I told the players, you might be presented with other people some opportunities, just come to me and we’ll tell you whether it’s a good thing or not," he said. "Because we don’t want anybody signing a bad contract where they’re giving away their rights without anybody knowing. Because there are people out there that will probably take advantage of them."

Where does the money come from?

Most NIL funds have prominent boosters donating money. Some have monthly subscriptions for fans that give them access to events. 

“We’re still trying to build out maybe a membership-style funding," Diener said. "But initially it was a handful of big-time donors put in a big chunk. So right now we’re funded pretty well, but as you go on you’re going to keep needing raising money. That’s another thing, just fundraising, because this isn’t going away.”

That also raises the big-money question: How much exactly are the MU basketball players getting paid? Nobody involved in Be The Difference NIL is giving out estimates, and it probably will fluctuate from year-to-year based on donations.

"The sole focus still needs to be getting your degree and what you do on the court," Diener said. "If you’re wasting all your time worrying about this, it’s not going to end well.

"You might make a few bucks here and there, but four or five years from now your experience at Marquette as a student and an athlete will be very diminished by you worrying about, ‘Oh, I went and did this appearance for two hours when I should have been studying or on the basketball court trying to get better.’ "

What do the coaches think about NIL?

With NIL and immediate eligibility for transfers, college basketball coaches have a growing list of stressors. They have to worry about another school attracting better players – or even their players – with the promise of robust NIL deals. The headline-grabbing example in the spring was Nijel Pack transferring from Kansas State to Miami after reportedly getting offered a two-year, $800,000 deal with LifeWallet, which is run by a Hurricanes booster.

"Technically the rule is you're not allowed to use NIL as a recruiting inducement," MU men's coach Shaka Smart said in August. "But I think we all know that is going on.

"To me here at Marquette – and not to be critical of anyone else's ways – the last thing we would want to do is prioritize some guy coming in here over our current, existing players."

But Smart knows this is the new reality for college coaches.

"We have guys on our team that are starting to benefit from NIL," he said. "I think it’s great. I’m grateful to be at a place where guys can do that.

“But we’ve told our guys from the very beginning: our job is to make sure that we support you all around, 360 degrees. If NIL is part of that, absolutely we’ll do everything from our end under the rules to support that. But the most important priorities for your long term are your growth as a person and your academic and your basketball success."

Diener thinks that having former MU players guide Be The Difference NIL eases the minds of Smart and women's coach Megan Duffy.

"I committed to Marquette to try to win championships," Diener said. "To go to the Final Four. To get better. And you can’t lose that.

"If you lose that, you’re going to have a very underwhelming experience as a Marquette player. And then ultimately you’re not going to be happy and you’re not going to play and you’re not going to get better. And then what? Then you’re probably not going to end up graduating here and you’re going to end up transferring.

"You commit to Marquette, you’re here to wear the jersey. You’re here to represent yourself on court and in the classroom and this is kind of an extra caveat that’s presented itself over the last 9-12 months. And it’s going to grow and we’re going to continue with our fund to do it the way we see fit for the Marquette athlete.”

Contact Ben Steele at (414) 224-2676 or bmsteele@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenSteeleMJS or Instagram at @bensteele_mjs