It might be a little more complex than naive desires to do things the right way. It might be the very real fear of letting people like Zach Smith, the Smails kid or an ex-coach with a grudge get real leverage and power over the program and athletic department.
Then they need to work behind the scenes with someone to set up a real partnership with a capable NIL outfit. Or spread the risk around by not having just one dominant partner. This is blocking and tackling level stuff for Gene to be doing while Day coaches and Pantoni tells someone(s) who he wants and what the market price seems to be. Doing nothing out of fear that some bad actor might get leverage over the athletic program would be mind-numbingly incompetent on Smiths part.
Also, they keep dropping the "do the right thing" phrase every chance they get so you have to give it some value, especially given Gene's career long relationship with the NCAA and the infamous 2011 reading of those particular tea leaves.
At the end of the day, there is no excuse for a program with the base that OSU has to be behind in the NIL game.
Upvote
0