The University of Virginia athletics department is partnering with Altius Sports Partners to provide strategic guidance in enhancing the school’s name, image and likeness program, the school announced Friday. The partnership will feature workshops for all student-athletes across 27 sports, coaches, and staff.
“Our partnership with Altius expands and enhances resources for students which will create more opportunities for them to maximize their NIL,” said UVA director of athletics Carla Williams. “In this ever-changing environment, our goal is to establish a substantive NIL program grounded in best practices and adds long-lasting value to the lives of our students.”
Altius also commented on the partnership with Virginia.
“Given its history of broad-based success and national leadership, it comes as no surprise that Virginia Athletics is taking a proactive and innovative approach to addressing this evolving era of college athletics,” said Andrew Donovan, VP, Collegiate Partnerships, Altius. “Through execution of a collaborative partnership that combines ASP’s industry-leading expertise with UVA’s renowned campus resources, Cavalier student-athletes will be equipped to thrive in the NIL era during their time in Charlottesville and beyond.”
Virginia football will have a new head coach in 2022 after they hired former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott. During his introduction at a Cavaliers basketball game in December, Elliott gave his reason for coming to the program.
“First of all, I’m truly honored and blessed to be the head football coach here," Elliott said. "As you heard in the video, I’m a patient person and I patiently waited for the right time and right university. And the time is now, and the place is Virginia.”
Elliott signed a six-year deal with Virginia, one that will start off at $4.1 million for the 2022 season, eventually moving as high as $4.55 million in 2027. And that does not account for several possible performance bonuses that he can acquire for everything from coach of the year honors, academic success or winning championships, reaching bowl games and achieving certain rankings in the AP or Coaches Polls.
For instance, a year where Elliott wins ACC Coach of the Year ($75,000), sees his team put up a full-year GPA at or above 3.0 ($100,000) helps Virginia to a New Year’s Six bowl game ($100,000) and achieves a ranking between Nos. 11-15 ($100,000) would see a pretty significant bump. A College Football Playoff appearance is worth $500,000, a national championship $1 million, and a ranking between Nos. 1-5 is $150,000.
Elliott’s buyout starts at $8 million and will drop to $6 million in 2023, falling an additional $2 million each year afterward.