WSW: Attaboy, Rickey

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Today, you’ll have to indulge me as I tell one of my favorite stories. It involves my favorite all-time football player, Saints Hall of Fame LB Rickey Jackson, and my mentor in football, John Paul Young.

In 1981, John Paul had just arrived in New Orleans as part of Bum Phillips staff with the Saints. Bum, John Paul and the new staff had been brought in to try to capture the energy and excitement Phillips had created in Houston as part of the ‘Luv Ya Blue’ crew that always challenged the Steelers for AFC supremacy during Pittsburgh’s series of Super Bowl wins in the 70s. The Saints made a bold move in the 1981 draft, passing up North Carolina’s Lawrence Taylor for South Carolina’s George Rogers with the No. 1 overall pick. As the narrative has developed, in that draft, this was just another Saints blunder in an early team history chock full of them. What people don’t realize is that the Saints could take their ‘new Earl Campbell‘ with the top pick because they hoped another elite linebacker would be available in the second round. That player was Jackson, whom they took with the 51st pick.

From there, as the Saints’ linebackers coach, it was John Paul’s job to groom him and get him ready to be an impact player. However, things got off to a bumpy start. As a new member of the team and someone learning a new defense, Jackson was not yet instinctive in his first couple practices. During film sessions, John Paul consistently corrected him, in a teaching manner but firmly and directly. This seemed to embarrass Rickey, who was clearly down in the dumps after one such session. Eager not to lose his star pupil, John Paul took him aside to encourage him.

“What’s the matter, Rickey?” he asked a visibly pouting Jackson. “Nothing, coach,” the ‘backer replied.

“Come on, Rickey, what’s the matter?” he prodded.

“You’re always on me, coach,” Jackson responded.

Concerned that Jackson would be so easily hurt, John Paul expressed concern.

“Well, Rickey, when you were at Pittsburgh playing for Coach (Jackie) Sherrill, didn’t they have to fuss at you sometimes?”

“Nope, coach, never.”

“Really, Rickey? Well, what would they say to you?”

“All they ever said to me was, ‘Attaboy, Rickey!'”

Under John Paul’s tutelage, Jackson made fast adjustments to the NFL talent level, speed of game and styles of defense. In short order, he was one of the few consistent Saints play-makers and after a long career, he went to the Hall of Fame in 1997. This is why I suggested to my wife that we name our first-born son Rickey Jackson Stratton. She quickly dismissed the idea. I still believe she thinks I was joking.

A Summer of Sizzle

29 Tuesday Jul 2014

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Normally, the period from after the draft until camps start is the ‘low time’ for NFL news. Off the field, however, this is normally a time when major developments take place on the business side, from hiring and firing scouts to movements among NFL agencies. This has been the busiest summer in years for the latter of the two. Meanwhile, we’re seeing major investments with agents who have limited experience levels. Why is this? What are the factors accounting for such transition?

  • The agent business is poorly understood: Few people in other businesses understand the intricacies of the sports representation model. The upfront costs (travel for recruiting, licensing and NFLPA registration, combine training, marketing guarantees and/or signing bonuses) are formidable and it takes a long time to get a return on investment. That’s complicated by the fact that until a contract is signed, the player has virtually all the power.  The agent takes on all the risk. This makes for a treacherous career path.
  • It’s expected that success in this business requires major backing: Businessmen that I’ve encountered seem to accept that they’ll have to pour lots of money into its NFL ventures while not seeing any immediate returns. Once, when I was approaching agencies on behalf of a private equity firm, an agent I spoke to discussed the ‘multiple’ that comes with investing in his company. His message: this business has cache, and its barrier to entry is very high, and the failure rate is even higher, so the pure dollars and cents of the business aren’t the determinant for the investment level he’d need to give up a piece of ownership.
  • It’s a young man’s game: I’m of the opinion that there’s a greater chasm between older and younger generations today than there ever has been, for a number of reasons. This really manifests itself in the agent world. In this industry, you find that agents in their 40s and 50s have less success connecting with today’s athlete. While contract expertise is valuable, it has no value if you don’t have an ace recruiter. Younger agents who were once happy to bide their time with big firms, bringing them top players and accepting what was left over as compensation, aren’t happy with that anymore.
  • This business is really hard, so you want control of your own destiny: The biggest disconnect I’ve seen between the football fan and the football business member is a misunderstanding of the player mindset. There’s a perception that agents and their active NFL clients are always ‘palling’ around, hanging out, and otherwise enjoying a relationship built on mutual respect and fondness. It’s the Jerry Maguire model, and it’s usually not accurate. Typically, the higher the player gets drafted, the less he feels the agent was central to the process, and the more he expects his agent to be out there finding him marketing dollars and otherwise justifying his existence. There’s a sense of entitlement that can be confounding. When you have to deal with that on a day-to-day basis, you want to make sure you’re being compensated at the highest rate possible.

 

NFLPA exam feedback

28 Monday Jul 2014

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After a few interesting days in Washington, D.C., last week, shaking hands and meeting the people hoping to be members of the 2014 agent class, I got to talking to several people about the test. I’ve compiled a few texts from the test-takers to give you an idea of what to expect if you’re one of those folks hoping to sit for the exam someday.

“It was no joke. . . I was prepared, it was just harder and worded much more difficult than the practice test. LOL my mind is mushhhhh.” — The first part of this sequence (“It was no joke”) was the first response I got from any of the test-takers (I’ve worked with several of them in the run-up to the test) and was completely unsolicited. This is when I first started to understand that this year’s exam was quite a challenge.

“If I have to do it again, I will do it from memory. Open book slowed me down. And I didn’t need to have to look on all of them. Some yes.” — This is a pretty classic response. Having a chance to refer to source materials tends to lessen people’s intensity when it comes to studying. If you don’t have the answer when a tough question comes along, you have a tendency to look it up, which is natural. Where it really trips you up, however, is when you don’t know an answer (or aren’t sure) on a medium or even easy question. You wind up using time you don’t have. Three hours goes quickly.

“It’s tricky definitely. Thank God I double checked and double checked.” — This is a luxury you don’t have if your strategy is to leaf through the source materials and try to find the answers. Review is key but only if you have time left after you finished Question 60.

“I think it went OK. I don’t want to be too confident . . . lol. It took mostly everyone the entire 3 hrs to take it.” — This response came from one of the most prepared test-takers in the room this year, based on what I know. This tells me the test may have been a little tougher than last year. Each year actual certified agents make up questions for the test. Maybe this year they came with a little hotter stuff.

“The questions are worded very uniquely. . . exam was hard to understand. A lot of unnecessary wording.” — Once again, this tells me they made this year’s exam a little harder than previous tests. The wording is always the part that makes things confusing, but it seems the questions this year were layered with more ‘goop’ than usual.

 

The SIF Interview: Renee Farrell

25 Friday Jul 2014

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For today’s interview, we chose Renee Farrell, whose son, Dillon, signed with the 49ers as an undrafted free agent this spring. He’s already shown his versatility with the team as he’s also gotten plenty of time at tackle in the early going.

The Farrell family experience at the University of New Mexico is quite a departure from the experience of last week’s interviewee, Gina Swanson, whose son was drafted out of Arkansas this spring. Gina was effusive in her praise for Arkansas’ efforts to prepare parents for NFL possibilities. That was not the case for the Farrells, who entered the 2013 season with plenty of unanswered questions.

Did it concern you that Dillon was going into his senior season with a team that had struggled and that wasn’t in a major media market? Did you feel that would hamper his NFL chances?

“Absolutely, yes. That was one of our main concerns. I just thought that perhaps it was because they were struggling in the win-loss column. I didn’t know much about the University of New Mexico when he committed, so I just thought, coming from the SEC area, they were also that crazy about football, but it didn’t really turn out that way. I just didn’t know about it; none of us did, so we just thought, when the struggles started happening, that it was a bad omen that things wouldn’t look good, though in Dillon’s wildest dreams I don’t think he ever thought he’d have a chance at the NFL. He had people over the years in high school say ‘I’m going to see you playing on Sundays someday,’ but as a young kid. He’s a pretty humble guy, and he would kind of shake it off. He was just trying to get that college offer.”

What kind of guidance did Coach Davie and/or his staff provide regarding agents?

“I’m not sure how much. I guess that would be a question for Dillon. For us in particular, I don’t remember hearing anything. We knew about some of the after-season all-star games but I would not say we were contacted by the coaching staff about those games. As far as how much it was talked about, that would be something Dillon would know more about than us. Going into the season, we were contacted by the coaching staff, and they told us he had a chance to play pro ball. It was maybe thrown around, but we didn’t really think anything about it. We had a meeting for senior parents with the coaching staff, but it was after the season, there at the end, and they kind of talked about what would happen, how the pro day thing would work, and they would do whatever they could, and work with the guys, but we didn’t know what to expect. We just thought, that’s good, you know? They actually did have (a meeting for parents), but not in the spring (before his senior season). It was more toward the end of the season. Their last couple of games were (on the road), and I know I wasn’t at those games, but it could have been the senior game when we were all in there (and had the parents meeting). The last couple games were away games.”

Going into his senior season, what was your perception of where Dillon would go in the draft? Where did you get that information?

“We didn’t know really much about it. The only info we had about the NFL is when we started getting the (ITL) newsletters. We thought, maybe this is something he can shoot for, and we’ll support (him) in anything (he wants) to do, and that’s why the newsletters were eye-opening for us. I think it would have been awesome to have done those in the spring, only because just in case, I hate to call New Mexico a small school, but maybe the under-the-radar players would benefit from it. I think he was maybe a little afraid to even hope for it. Just having the knowledge of what it was all about and what the process was was invaluable to us. But we didn’t even, I mean, myself, I didn’t even know a lot about the process. You’re thinking, golly, of course he’s gonna go in the draft, and go high. He’s my child! But you just don’t know, and if you don’t know about he process, there’s no way to understand where they might would go. Then by the time we did (sign with) Casey (Muir of CRM Sports Management) and started working out, and the projections were late round or free agent, you just kinda went, ‘OK,’ and it was actually accurate. But we didn’t really have an idea about that.”

For more from Renee on Dillon’s expectation level and how they found the answers they sought, visit Inside the League.

 

NFLPA exam week thoughts

24 Thursday Jul 2014

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Here are a few thoughts gathered while standing outside the Ritz-Carlton, handing out ITL literature to aspiring contract advisors during their lunch break.

  • According to what NFLPA officials announced at the start of today’s session, there are close to 300 people taking the exam this year. That’s a second straight bumper crop. Last year’s total was in the 300 neighborhood as well, but that was chalked up to the fact that it was the first class post-‘runner rule.’ Many here this year are with big firms, but many are independent. It just goes to show the passion so many have for pursuing a career in sports representation. It remains a very attractive industry.
  • Based on the sample size that passed by me on the way to find lunch, applicants are about 50-50 white and black, about 80 percent male, and probably 75 percent 40 or younger. Probably 30-40 percent looked to be 30 or younger.
  • I think I spoke to 6-8 people re-taking the test after failing last year.
  • It’s a young man’s game, on and off the field. There is at least one 22-year-old and one 23-year-old taking the test this year. So far, it looks like the oldest person taking the exam this year is in his early 50s, and there may be 3-4 more in that age range, but no more.
  • I’m told there’s at least one couple taking the exam.
  • It’s interesting to watch how the various aspiring agents carry themselves and how they dress. There are a handful in shorts and T-shirts as if they’re attending a cookout, but far more in coat and tie or a similar look. The lion’s share are in slacks and business shirts.
  • It’s not all about football here at the Ritz this week. The alt-rock band Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds made its way through the hotel bar last night after a local performance. Give them a listen (I did). They kinda suck.
  • Activities wrap up around 4:30-5 this afternoon, then the applicants return tomorrow for a morning session before the test is administered Friday afternoon.

We’ll have more from the scene tonight at the Ritz and its surroundings in Friday’s post.

 

WSW: All Wet in Washington

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Johnstown, Pa.-based Casey Muir of CRM Sports Management is a longtime ITL client who was certified in 2010. Brick by brick, he’s carved out a niche in the business despite launching his agent career without significant financial backing or affiliation with an established firm.

Though Casey has found his way in the business, it wasn’t always such a smooth ride. Take his experience on Exam Day 2010. Here’s his story, in his own words:

“So this was the agent exam of 2010, the last one before the lockout, and it was pouring, an absolute monsoon in D.C. the day of the agent exam.

“I was staying at a friend’s place outside of D.C. and took the Metro in, and when I left my friend’s place, it was not raining. So I get on the Metro, get off the Metro, and it was an absolute monsoon, just a complete downpour. The Metro let me off about four blocks away from the Four Seasons, which is where they gave the test back then.

“I walk through the doors and it looked like I had just jumped into a swimming pool. I was dressed business casual, and my slacks, shoes, socks, shirt, everything was soaking wet. I had my bag and study materials, which were also soaking wet. So I said to the girl at the receptionist’s desk, ‘Do you have a dryer?’ And she’s just looking at me dripping a puddle in the hotel lobby, and she said, ‘Hold on, I’ll be right back, let me get a manager.’

“So I’m standing there and people are coming in with their umbrellas, and everyone’s just looking at me. That’s before I had an iphone, so I had no weather app. We’ll blame it on that.

“But anyway, they’re like, ‘Listen, go in the bathroom and take off what you want us to dry,’ and I take off everything. I think I still had my boxers on. So this dude from the hotel comes in and gives me a robe and slippers, and I’m like, ‘All right, here we go,’ and I’m about to go in and take the test.

“So while I’m putting this robe on, other people are coming in and going out of the bathroom. Another guy looks at me and he’s soaking wet, too, and so he did the same thing. So there’s two of us who walk into the exam wearing a robe and slippers. I have to go through registration in my robe and my Four Seasons slippers. I took the test, and sometime during the test, they brought me my clothes. It was a nightmare, and you talk about embarrassing. . . .

“That’s how I started my career as a sports agent. In a robe and slippers. And now look at me, you know. So no matter what anyone does on that test this weekend, they’re not going to start out any worse than I did, and I turned out OK. I took a selfie in the bathroom of me in my robe. It might have been my first selfie. It was an interesting experience for sure.”

Some exam week notes

22 Tuesday Jul 2014

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On Monday, we touched on the makeup of the people who’ll be taking the NFLPA exam this week. Today, a few thoughts about the week itself.

  •  The area around the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown is a little barren for pubs and in-and-out restaurants, making quick lunch trips tricky and late-night beverage runs even trickier. That means most folks hunker down at the Ritz and make it their ‘island home’ for the 72 hours or so that they’re in town. At $400-plus/night and around $10 for a beer, that makes for some pretty pricey accommodations. And if you stay over ’til Saturday, make sure not to miss the $45 Yoga brunch! (Just kidding. I have no idea how you combine ‘yoga’ and ‘brunch.)
  • If you’re wondering, no, I won’t be staying there this week. I’m a ‘budget’ traveler. Actually, my wife and kids say I’m a ‘budget’ everything.
  • The relative ‘remoteness’ of the Ritz makes for some interesting stories. After the 2012 NFLPA exam, for instance, a big name in the football business — and this name is instantly recognizable to anyone who follows the industry — was re-taking the exam, and nearly got into a fight with another test-taker shortly after the exam finished that Friday afternoon.
  • If you’re around the Ritz this week, you won’t just be rubbing elbows with future contract negotiation heavyweights. There’s also a former amateur boxer of some note who lives there. Or does he?
  • On a more serious note, the masses huddling in one spot makes for some interesting relationships forming. Many times, the unsuspecting attorney in town to learn the ropes and make a few colleagues meets up with a former runner looking to take the test and find someone with deep pockets, and in short order, (financial) disaster ensues. This is a key lesson to learn in the industry. It’s kinda like the old joke: What’s the best way to make a small fortune in football? Start with a large fortune.
  • Make sure you come back tomorrow for War Story Wednesday. I’ve got the funniest story about the NFLPA exam in the history of funny stories about the NFLPA agent exam.

A big week ahead

21 Monday Jul 2014

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This week is a big one for about 250 people aspiring to enter the football business. The NFLPA holds its annual exam for prospective contract advisors in Washington, D.C. on Friday after a seminar that runs all day Thursday and Friday morning (the test is Friday afternoon). It’s the only time all year that the players association administers the test, so it’s now-or-never time for all the would-be agents looking to get a piece of the NFL action.

Friday’s exam will be open-book, made up of 60 questions with a three-hour time limit. The test gets curved, and though it’s all multiple choice and true-false, it takes almost two months for the NFLPA to get results of the test to participants. Attorneys seem to do well on it; it’s written by lawyers, and tends to favor legal-speak, making it a little easier for those who’ve taken the bar. That’s one reason why there’s a reasonably high pass rate. The lion’s share of test-takers are attorneys or people with legal backgrounds.

What kinds of attorneys tend to register for the test? They come from a wide spectrum. Every year, I talk to a young person who took the bar a month before taking the NFLPA exam. Sometimes, they’re taking it just days after taking the agent test; lots of young people go to law school expressly to become agents, so the bar exam almost becomes secondary. Often, it’s an attorney who gets interested in the profession after doing work with a company that is peripherally involved with the NFL. Maybe it’s a legal professional who has a family friend who’s a hot prospect for the next NFL draft. Very often, it’s an established attorney with a thriving practice who’s just bored.

Probably 10 percent of the people taking the test will be from established agencies; Relativity Sports, CAA, Rosenhaus Sports, Impact Sports and Roc Nation are big-name firms that will be sending representatives to sit for the exam this week. There will also be a generous number of recruiters — also known as runners — who have worked with such firms but who are now going it on their own. Often, when this latter group mixes with a green, unknowing (and well-funded) attorney, partnerships develop. We’ll address this later in the week.

We touch down in D.C. Wednesday. It should be a fun and interesting week with plenty of good stuff to talk about. Stay tuned.

The SIF Interview: Gina Swanson

18 Friday Jul 2014

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Travis Swanson was selected by the Lions in the third round (76 overall) out of Arkansas last May after entering the season as a good bet to go somewhere in the middle rounds as one of the top o-line prospects in the ’14 draft. We had a conversation with his mother, Gina, recently, and excerpts follow (the entire conversation is over at our sister site, Inside the League).

Did it concern you that Travis was going into his senior season with a team that had struggled and a coach who was in his 1st year? Did you feel that would hamper his NFL chances?

“Not in the least bit. Not in the least bit. In fact, when (former Arkansas head coach) John L. Smith came in as the interim two years previous, he really stepped up to the plate and told us everything was going to be fine, and being part of a team is picking people up and standing by the brotherhood they have. They struggled that year and had their challenges last year, but Coach (Bielema) was awesome and we never had a doubt in our mind. We knew he was going to be just fine.”

What kind of guidance did Coach Bielema and/or his staff provide regarding agents?

“It was fantastic. For us as parents, having never been through anything like this before, when they had their spring game last year, Coach (Bielema) and his staff put together a meeting of parents of seniors, almost like a little training seminar, and it was fantastic and gave us a lot of good info, things to expect, watch for, and plan for, and it was exceptional. We felt blessed to be a part of that and be more educated about the process.”

Did Coach Bielema bring in any agents to speak to y’all?

“No, no agents came in to speak.”

Did Coach Petrino’s staff help in the agent education process at all before he left? How about coach smith?

“I’m not aware because that was in Travis’ early years. I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, whether he did or not, and with the difficult transition with John L coming in there, there was nothing brought to the forefront for us personally, and that’s why we were so incredibly thankful for what coach b did, when we really needed it.”

Going into his senior season, what was your perception of where Travis would go in the draft? Where did you get that information from?

(Laughs) “You know what? I’m completely honest when I say this: we had no idea where he would go. We could get online and read a lot of things, but it didn’t matter to us in the least bit. We just wanted the opportunity for him to get drafted. There are a lot of opinions out there, and for every Google search you do, there’s an opinion, and that’s OK. We were just thankful he was being considered a part of that process. He had done everything up to that point that he’d wanted to accomplish in his life, and toward the end, we just turned ourselves off to what the opinions were. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen.”

That must have taken a lot of discipline, to avoid the Internet and Google.

“There have been days, but i think we made a decision as a family, that some days were good days and some were bad days, depending on what you read, but if somebody wanted Travis, he would be picked, and for our own sanity, that would take us through the process. It was actually kind of fun.”

For more on the role Arkansas compliance played in Travis’ education on the draft process, the family’s timeline on agent selection, the role the family played in the process, whether any untoward agents offered anything illegal, and other details, check out the full interview here.

A note about agent violations

17 Thursday Jul 2014

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I just wanted to weigh in briefly on an agent incident that’s gotten a lot of play lately.

It involves Justin Bingman, an agent based in Pacific, Mo., who’s entering his second year as a contract advisor. Justin’s a client and a friend, and while I won’t defend what he did in this story — and neither would he — I think it’s really important we give this story a little perspective.

When prospective NFLPA contract advisors are pursuing certification, they take a written test at the end of July, then find out whether or not they passed the test in late September/early October. That means they’re essentially trying to board a fast-moving car if they want to jump into recruiting that year. This is one reason it’s so hard for first-year agents to sign a solid prospect in their first year certified. At the same time, all agents are facing a three-year clock for getting a player on an NFL roster, or that agent has his certification pulled. If he wants to keep going, he has to pay the initiation fee of almost $3,000 again as well as taking the exam again. The clock starts the moment the agent gets word that he has passed the exam, so most of the time, Year 1 is a wash, making it a two-year proposition to get a player signed to an NFL deal.

For this reason, when the following spring arrives, most agents are excited to apply all the lessons they’ve learned in their first six months as registered agents. It’s their first chance to really get in on the ground floor with legitimate prospects. It was in this spirit that Justin reached out to a few University of Texas prospects this spring.

I don’t remember exactly how our conversation was initiated, but somehow last spring, we discussed the fact that he had dined with a a few Longhorns in a recruiting capacity. In the course of speaking, it became obvious he had covered the costs of their meals. Even as a rookie agent, it’s something he should have known, no doubt. Still, I’m sure Justin approached this the same way he would approach any business meetup involving a light meal. At any rate, the way I remember things, I made it clear he had made a misstep, and he got off the phone in short order. I presumed he was excusing himself to set things right immediately. I still believe that.

I realize there’s a great misconception among fans regarding the agent industry. Many feel that any contact between agents and players results in immediate loss of eligibility. That’s not true. The only mistake Justin made was covering the costs of the meals. It’s a mistake I doubt Justin will ever make again.

Once again, I’m not defending Justin, and he wouldn’t expect me to, anyway. But there’s a certain level of hyperbole that comes with any minor mistakes by NFLPA contract advisors, and it’s important to separate the minor mistakes from the big, intentional ones that take down programs.

College football has a number of systemic problems with the mega-agencies that won’t be solved easily. They include coaches who funnel players to their agents; payments and other accommodations made with the parents or advisors of top players; financial advisors, workout trainers, and others who work as de facto runners for agents; and compliance departments who are afraid to stand up to the powers-that-be in the name of transparency and education.

Justin will most likely face some kind of sanctions from the NFLPA over this, and may have his registration with the Secretary of State of Texas pulled. He’ll also get hammered mercilessly on social media because he made a rookie agent mistake. My guess is that the players will have to make restitution and may have to sit out an early-season game.

At any rate, my point is not to excuse what Justin did. Instead, it’s this: if we want to be honest about really regulating the industry and rooting out the exploitation of student-athletes, we can’t treat incidents such as these as if they were treasonous, punish the bad actor mercilessly, and then act as if a dragon has been slayed. If we really want to fix these  kinds of problems, we’ve got a long way to go.