The following is a presentation of Playfly Sports Properties in Michigan State Sports Properties.
Well pleasant, good evening, good people. It is Tuesday, May ninth,
twenty twenty three. I'm your host, Jason Strayhorn, along with my
co hosts Otis Wiley and Jayu Chew Chew All christ This is Sparta. You
know that was for you. That's for you. Yeah, yeah, get
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same. Have an idea for a future episode, let us know in the
comments section below, and now back to the show. So what's up,
fellas? You know how you guys doing after this weekend to looking like John
Travolt's up in here? Is it because I got the collar, the bigger
collar than I mean camelin? No, because you go grease on your face?
Why you look like the mob? You know, I think it's I
think it's just the lighting. It's the lighting, the lightnings dim here.
You know I do. I do moisturize my face. I moisturized my body
twice a day. Juices and berries in the hair. Yeah, absolutely,
but I moisturized. I moisturized my body twice that You never touch me with
ashy ankles, ashy elbows, ashy anything. So don't even try to say
like you did. Otis don't. Yeah, it was winter time, it
was it was probably a bad day. You never caught mem No, no,
no, no, no. You know what tells me I'm looking good?
Trevor is a hard critic. You know, if if Trevor said,
yeah, you're looking good right now? Man, I saw somebody else say
something about some soul glow. Is that Steve soul glow? Steve Steve from
You've got that soul glow? Speaking of it, we got a jam packed
show today, guys, We got We're gonna talk from n I L.
We got a special guest to really talk about. You know, what are
you guys speaking about. We're going to give you an answer, a way
to solve the issues that we have. And that's about n I L.
Also straight straight, Yeah, I hate to cut you off there, you
do you know you don't because the disclaimer he loves no no. But but
the thing is, you talk about that n I L. And and so
many times in our show we have people that are comments and how do we
help out? How do we do this? We do that. This is
the show that you can find out how you do that and how you help
out. That's right. I appreciate that. That's how to preface it.
There's an intro for you right there. Guys. You know you're talking about
you having ashcuse that probably dated back to his days in college. We guys,
we don't talk about graduation today. Some spartans got the capping gowns on.
Baby, let's talk about them. Oh yeah, you got what ty
little ty Walker did his thing, you know, coming out there walking.
Uh, it's always good to these guys. Uh, you know these are
student athletes who went to COVID, right, So you getting to walk your
you know walk. They probably even envision being able to walk based off of
what we had in the pandemic. But when you're walking and just the feeling
that you know, you got a year of eligibility, maybe even two years.
Sometimes some of these guys got three. And it's a good opportunity to
where you were able to leave here with two degrees, which is really not
known from a standpoint which is utilized as university to your good and your benefit
to were you leaving here with two degrees? Yeah, if I had two
degrees when I left, oh man, you couldn't tell me nothing. You
know. When I got that, I was the biggest thing. You know,
my biggest accomplished in my entire career was getting that degree because I finished
something. And I think that's the best part of the celebration of you left
your hometown and you've got the degree. And it was a good feeling to
see our student athletes walk across that stage. You're one hundred percent right,
Oh you know, that's such a good feeling, especially, you know,
because my biggest thing is you know, people realizing that athletes are more than
a number running down the field, down the core, down the track and
everything like that. And these guys had an opportunity to walk, you know,
in the Bresent Center and collect a degree. Why the reason why they
came to Michigan State, especially in today's day and age, with nil and
all those different things. You get to come in and you you graduate from
such a great institution like Michigan State University, there's nothing like it. Uh,
congratulations to all those student athletes that don't and hell bigger congratulations to the
guys that still have eligibility left right, I think that might yes, thass
underwater? Under underwater? You don't like, you can't, you can't tell
nothing. You got a degree already and you you're on campus, still getting
it done. You're playing football at Michigan State University. You're playing a sport
at Michigan State University with a degree in your back pocket. Nothing like it.
I like it in the world. We love it. I mean,
guys, that's that's great news for all the graduates. Congratulations to the graduates.
Talking about people maybe leaving campus, let's talk NBA combine list that just
got put out. Guys, I'm scouring the list of there's two names I
don't see Otis Chew. Yeah. Look, look I ain't got a laser
vision, you know, zooming in you see it, you don't see it.
Uh. You know one thing, we had a tour this morning with
uh we had Buick and General Motors team on site. We love General,
we do, We definitely do. Uh. You know, I won't say
anything about that truck that to you guy, but it is what it is.
But that got what truck? What truck that I get? You got
that dodge round? You know, it's like, what's all good? You
know it's good. Anywhore we are in the facility of men's basketball, Coach
Iszo comes, Coach Tucker comes to talk to them because you know they're driving
those vehicles around. But we did a tour and we were we we went
through the locker room and you know how quickly like when you're done, Yeah,
you took your graphic off your locker and it's like blank. Now you
got all the squad and so like just to give us hope, just to
give spartanation hope. You still got aj you still got Jayden's picture up there,
right, but like you got your boy Joe Joey's is gone, like
it's gone script is gone. How's is gone? Right? And so you
think about it, that gives you some hope too. But this list is
the list you want to be on if you're truly going to make the decision
to declare. And that just gives us hope that you know what if we
get those two guys back, oh my goodness, it is absolutely and uh
and you know, let me just go back, let me just go back
real quick here to you know, like to the list. Let's talk about
graduation list. There a lot of the guys that people don't realize spartanation,
don't realize this a guy like Rocky Lombardi who transferred from Michigan State, uh
to or the one they could come back and get their degree from Michigan State.
You know, just so people know that like a lot of the transfer
come back. Because I saw somebody in the comment there, a Michigan State
degree carries a lot of weight because people that transfer out of Michigan State and
go to somewhere for a year, they transfer their credits back to East Lanson
to Michigan State and get and graduate with a degree from Michigan State. So
I just wanted to throw that out there. Yeah. I mean, you're
right, and I think that you're talking about Trevor. Trevor Thompson again,
he said the MSU degree carries more weight than a degree from Auburn. I
don't quite know what he means by that, but we might have a hunch
that I'm gonna talk about that, Trevor. We are, you know,
moving in the same thing as the NBA comment. Let's talk about NBA owners.
Michigan State's owned. Matt Ishie gets into it a little bit with yacket.
How about it. Listen the joker, the joker barely touched it,
like that's a beautiful fly, a beautiful fly. He's block. That's a
block. It's not he ripped out of his hand. He ripped it out
of his hand because he yanked it out of it's his hand. You see
that. W w E. You're right, Steve oh Man, look I
like how like hey, first, like, I'm not gonna lie, man,
you kind of deserve that you put your hand in there and slap the
ball off like you kind of he was. Yeah, see the video showing
Yeah, he reached before this, before this, before this, he took
the ball out of it's his hand because it was holding. It was his
hole and he just took it away. Then it should poked it out.
I love it. Hey man, let's playoffs maybe come on? You know
you don't want our owners ass any day? You know what I wanted.
I want to point out there right, so you see the guy in the
guy in the blue that comes up on the right there, that's Isaiah And
he didn't do anything, Isiah. That's that's no, no, no,
not Isaiah Thomas where right there right the blue to the right comes in late
here he's like, hey, man, didn't do anything and defend the boy.
Man, Hey, Isaiah, Isaiah's bad boy days are behind him.
He is. He is like, I donet had enough of fighting the bulls,
bro, come on, I'm good right, and took a lot of
shots to that, but we did cover what he came out with saying I
don't want I don't want the joker to get a fine or get suspended for
games, Like, yeah, he got fined five thousand dollars, but he
said, like it's twenty five thousand. He got enough. That's nothing.
That's like it's world and n B in NFL back to back an the league.
Yeah, NBA money that's that's that's that's another topsies you would you know
there we go only too in Nashville, Tennessee. You guys are off the
train right now. Look moving on, gentlemen, you want to change clearly
listen amber ryin Stein, this is this with a heavy heart. We say
she is now moving on. Fellas, Hey, this is i't know this.
This is a big loss, like I mean to for someone like Amber
that's in our program, Like you don't understand how much she leads green.
Uh, you know, adapted or adopted us. Uh. And when you're
having to feed these guys and put meal plans together to get them to their
maximum nutrition state, and you got to keep on them. I mean it's
like back at home, your mom is like, you know, each your
vegetables, each of eat this, each of protein, and she has these
guys down to a science. And uh, it was one it was one
story during the spring practice where Malik left practice or it was inded practice,
but he didn't grab the meal or the food that he needed to eat.
So you can go for the rest of the Malik Spencer. Okay, so
Malik, because you like Malik, call you right, Malik Spencer and she
called him by his full name, middle name and everything, and like that
relationship standpoint is it's going to be missed. And one she's going to North
Carolina. You know she was obviously there before. But you know, one,
congratulations Amber. Obviously we're going to miss you, but you always apart
for life and obviously come back. She's trying to put weight on Chuck,
you know, like you saw Chuck come out with a social post like I
love you Amber, Like you know, Amber is truly uh you know,
she's she's behind the scenes. She's like a kin manny of when she's with
those guys for all the time. So it's good good for her for to
get another job in another program. Yeah, you know, absolutely right.
And I got to give a shout out to Amber because you guys might not
know this, but doing Sideline, you know this year oldest brought me back
to East Lanson to do Sideline along with Jason and the Booth doing color and
George doing play by play. She should get home on the sidelines. Now
I go to it to Miss Amber, I'm like, hey, you know
you got anything from shore. We give me Bruanola bar, you give me
like a yogurt parfait and something like that on the side of the keep the
energy going there. So you know, kudos to her and a lot of
the kids you don't really appreciate her, they really appreciates, you know,
the respect that they have for her, you know that she has for them
as players, and how they really want to cultivate that relationship, how they
feel that she makes them a better athlete. She's putting everything into them,
So that is something that's really cool, and you know, congratulations to her.
We really wish, you know, she would stay, but you know,
like at the end of the day, you got to You've got to
always level up. You got to figure out a way, you know,
what it's best for your career. Never forget when she first arrived on campus
and then there was those body transformation photos that came out. Guys you remember
that, Yeah, yeah, I mean, and you know so that that
was dramatic in of itself, and then for them to go down to Miami
this is the twenty twenty one season when it was extremely hot. You know,
there's no way to mimic those conditions, especially in East Landsey, and
they were able to go down there and they had a plan. It was
the nutrition team at by Amberg combined with strength conditioning and the coaching staff that
put together a plan that had Michigan State pulling away from Miami in their own
house, which was incredible. You know. So, you know, hats
off to her and thank thanking her for all that she's done, and wishing
her the most success. Sad to see her go, but happy to see
her continue on her path and her dreams for success for her family and her
future. Guys. You know, moving on with there's some transfer portal news
that came about that I wasn't aware of, but maybe you guys know Cade
McDonald pops up wearing you know, the red down in Miami, Ohio.
Yeah, you know, congratulations to kid. You know that was one of
those things that was a quiet transfer and now he you know, popped back
up and Miama, Ohio is no slouch. You know they had you know,
Big Ben was there, you know back Otis when you and I were
in college, our offensive coordinator there. Uh he turned to be the head
coach at Miami of Ohio. There don treadwell. Uh So you know that's
a that's an assure you Now, I can assure you, I can assure
you that's his thing. Yeah, I can assure you. But you know,
coach Treadwoll is a really good dude. And you know, he was
a head coach of Miami, Ohio for a few years there. So I
think he's gonna have a really good career Miami of part. I think that's
a really really good landing spot for him. I think he's that type of
player and I think he's gonna have some success at that level. Yeah,
you saw the story like one I just found out that you know obviously wasn't
following as closely, but played on that same team with Peyton and Jay Reed
back at you know, in Illinois, and so is this yeah, so
just from standporio, Yeah, the trio and you know he did his part.
Man, he waited as long as possible and you know, drinking lad
green and White, and it's now like, let's go out there and truly
put some stuff on the field. And I think that's a great spot for
him because the MAC is not not a slots conference. You know, they
got some some programs in there that have truly pushed the needle in and had
success. And so looking forward to support him and like I said, once
a Spartan dog, always a Spartan dog. And uh to to to point
earlier, he'll be back, you know for short and supporting. But good,
good, good job of getting to the next landing page, which there's
a lot of transfers out there that have not landed, and for him to
get landing a spot is a success. It's absolutely huge. You're right,
Oh yeah, multifaceted a guy, great talent, you know, kick returner,
pump returner. Uh people to obviously play that slot position and shorthanded made
made a lot of plays for michign say when you really needed them. And
that that is the end of the era for the Naperville boys. You know,
you had Jayden Reed, had Peyton Thorne and also came down to all
Naperville guys that kind of grew up together to come to East lands in and
now we got to get back to recruit in the Chicago area. What do
you think boys moving on Stuart Keon Stewart is a transfer from tcut TCU National
Championship Game TCU cornerback is now a Spartan I mean, listen, I talked
to you guys about this like that that that result in that championship game one.
Yeah, we watched that together. Then we did and uh, I
just from a standpoint of like I honestly, I thought we were deep in
our room from a corner standpoint, but it's just gonna add, you know,
some volume into the compete, competitive competition in that room. You know,
I looked at the stats and then it's it's I say, minor,
it's not as major from a standpoint of stats from where he was at with
TCU. I let's just hope that he comes in and you know, has
a fresh page on on on the life and the career that you know he
can produce for us. But looking to see what he could do in our
system. But you know, he's a physical corner if you can see in
that picture. But obviously looking at some highlights as I did some research,
physical corner playing in that league, you know conference, So let's see that
he can make a transition up to here, because you know, you got
to hit too, man, you got to knock some people out and being
at the secondary of Michigan State defense but in the big team period. So
let's hope he has success with us. You know, I don't want to
lose one keon and gain another keon. I want two kons on the Spartan.
Yeah, talking about that's what I want. I don't want, yeah,
yeah, but no, I want that keon as well, because like
against otis Is, I know Otis played the position and everything like that,
but I like this kid. I think he's a great ad. I think
he is a value add to the Spartan secondary. He's going to give those
guys a push because at the end of the day, you got to look
at this, You got to look at this guys like this guy played in
the national title game, he played in a big twelve tidle game, you
know, all those different things, and he knows what it takes to win.
He's going to push these guys to find success. You know, he's
gonna push the Tatums, He's gonna push the Chuck Brantley's. He's going to
push all those guys in that secondary room to you know, to a higher
level. And anytime that you can bring a transfer like that because what it
does, what it does, it tells your team the grass is not always
greener somewhere else. Yes, it does. Well said to like, are
you looking at me like that? Because I've heard. I've heard different stances
from you to two a different things. This transfer right, Like from a
standpoint of we already have a guy in a mere Speed that played on that
national championship team come over Georgia, right, And I think from a standpoint
we have guys coming in in this recruiting class that are in that position.
I get it from a experience standpoint, but it's like, why are you
leaving that program where you can go into Like that's those are the questions I'm
thinking from going to be I get that question. And don't get me wrong,
I'm not saying he's annoying as starter. No, I'm saying, oh
he can be. He can be there and say, hey, this is
the culture we had as a team that played in the national title game.
This is the culture that we that took us to that next level. I
want someone that comes in and teach that culture. Don't get wrong, I
have faith in the guys that are there right now. I just think it's
a value add to the position group. That's what I think it is.
I have faith in the guy there. I still have faith that he knows
how to be that team beat that team in a row now, which is
good, exactly exactly, yes, yeah, what's wrong with that? Bless
me? Maybe he's a very good evaluator of a team's potential, because who
was thinking about TCU a year ago going to the national championship game. Must
let old Us is the only person because he's a Texas guy. How you
do how you do it? Oh, it's the it's the foreign frogs.
It's like horn horn horn. Okay, you got the hook him and then
you got the pony up. It's like that too. It's not it's not
as horn as that. That's pony up. Yeah, Oldest is the only
one that had any horn in him. This is true. This is true.
But you know, maybe Key I can understand like what a team looks
like before they're on the edge, when they're on the edge of breaking us.
So TCU loses Max Duggan, we lose Peyton Thorn. But he sees
something, guy, that's what I'm saying. He's championship pedigree. He sees
something in East Lansing that he wants to be a part of. Maybe I
don't think I'm transferring to the bench. Silly, Come on now, like
this man, go to shit. The bitch especially in the nil day.
That's a tax free state. We don't talk about that. We are it's
all taxations novel to fivele once everything after this message from our friends over at
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we just got to bring on the doctor. We got to bring on doctor
Tom Theater from Charitable Gift America. Did I say that correct? Time?
There? You got it all right? Well, and you have the collective
happens to have a beautiful name, and you could tell everybody yourself time.
So this is spurt of fun. I mean, that's awesome. Yeah out
there, you see me, I'm back there. I'm back there. So
say look at my arms. Yeah, I remember, I remember Tom Tom
sent me this picture was like, hey, you know, I forgot what
you would tell me? Jay who said that? I didn't say it.
I said, I need to get in the weight room if I'm going to
hang around with these guys. Can we go back to that picture? Oh
my goodness, look look look at look at my arms? Who just saying
just saying? I'm not saying, I'm just saying. So they're asking me
where where was I at? You know, I was? I was.
I did the intro, Tom, Jason and Ju and I had to go
to Detroit. We had ucking worrigots. Yes, yeah, you had other
stuff going on right that then more important things you just dropped us off with.
You know, a doc though, who is single handily putting together some
very very cool stuff, especially for the folks in east Land scene. In
time, we want to talk to you about Charitable Gift America and like what
that is, where did it start? And then what do you do?
Well, I'll try to be brief. I've been in the gift planning business
for thirty years and twelve years ago, i think eleven years ago, twenty
twelve, we started this is I'm sorry, Chitable Gift America and we worked
with hundreds of charitable organizations around the country with their life income plans, their
charitable life income plans, specifically charitable gift annuities and variable payment programs. We
allow them to private label these types of gifts through Charitable Gift America. It's
usually because they haven't had these programs, or maybe they don't have the wherewithal,
whatever the reason is, they need an outside source. So we built
our business around that. And I took that same concept of allowing organizations to
private label their gift planning operation and applied it to NIL and created a fund
within Charitable Gift America. And you know, we are probably the four most
unimaginative guys on the planet because we lifted our name from a movie. So
I came up with you up for our fund. Really that simple, you
know when you talk about the name, I mean when we started this,
uh you know, we had a couple of different names and we started out
and then we ended up we did what else do we have? You know,
we had a bunch of different that and we said about this part MSU
yeah, And then we realized as we did like a trademark like searching around
and like somebody said, we we don't want to get flagged by anyone that
there was a fund or there was a name that was obviously overseas that we
could have got flagged, which I don't think that would have happened. But
and then we find out. I kept hearing this is Sparta when Alan would
talk or anybody else, like Dary would say something Darren her As that is,
And I was like, I'm looking like, did we did we do
something? I already like this is before we did like work with Ihav and
Ko, you know, did his n il deals with student athletes? And
then lo and behold, I find out, well it's Tom Deaters and this
is Sparta with Charitable Gift of America. And I kept seeing Charitable Gift of
America or Terrible Gift America with our gymnastics team, talk about how that fully
started, because I feel like that was that first team that you went fully
you know, the entire team, and then just talking about how that worked
out with coach Rowe as you discussed what to do to support them. Yeah,
they really were our first team. You know. I started this two
Decembers ago, when Nil kind of was just starting. I was driving from
Miami back home up here to pontivid Beach listening to some sports talk show,
and I heard some guys wanted to start a nonprofit organization at the University of
Texas to pay their linemen. And that's where I thought, well, I
already have a nonprofit. I can do it myself. And so that was
in December, and I just figured I call people. I know. I
mean, I've been around Michigan State for my whole life, and I'm just
going to get a whole bunch of money and pay football players. Honestly,
that's what I thought. Wasn't the best idea I've ever had. Say what
happened. What happened when I had a little bit of money, not very
much, not very much. And so I had a meeting with the administrators
there in the athletic department in June last summer, and we were just talking.
Back then rules were a little tighter than they are now, but what
people can say and what they couldn't say. But I got the distinct impression
that helping the women's gymnastics team would be a great place to start. So
I walked out of that meeting and I thought, well, I got twenty
five thousand dollars, I can contract with five gymnasts for five thousand each.
And I didn't know what to do at that point, because how do you
get five gymnasts off a roster? I had no clue, but I called
the coach and he asked if we could do the whole roster for one thousand
dollars each. And I didn't really like that because I wanted to make more
of impact for these women, and so I said, give me a couple
of weeks, and I called some people back that had said no to me
before, and called a couple foundations that we work with and donor advise funds.
And it was right then that I realized people really liked what we were
doing. We were doing things the right way. We were going to contract
with a whole roster, and within two weeks I had enough money to do
all nineteen women on that team for five thousand dollars each. So the coach
and the team back, they were needless to say, they were happy,
but but ohis you're right? That was our That was our first step into
this, and we got a lot of publicity for it. They're wonderful to
work with. Of course, they went on to win the Big Ten,
and I think it's because of our anile stuff. But you know, I'm
not taking care well resources resources. So that's that that team is where that
is, where we started. It is so there. They've been a great
partner for us, and they've they've launched us into other teams too, like
for example, the women's soccer team who again Big ten champions. Is that
a coincidence? I don't know. I don't know. The thing is,
Tom, And to answer Doug's question, yeah, the three students weren't taken
because two of your friends had that copywritten already. But so Tom, you
don't like. The thing is this, I I really appreciate you know,
what you you do and what you've done and from where you've started, you
know, like putting that you know, emphasis and everything because at the end
of the day, you know, football, basketball, they're the ones that
get you know, all the attention and everything like that. And as the
father of a daughter, otis the father of two girls, Jason, you
have a girl as well, and uh, you know that is something like
really huge that these girls get an opportunity you know, to you know,
not one just showcase the talent, but you know, you have something to
show for that as well, you know, so like what was the thought
process behind, Like, you know, hey, we're gonna appreciate the women's
sports, and you know start with that. Well, I think I already
answered how we started with gymnastics. But we are one donor driven. Okay,
whatever a donor wants to do is what we're gonna do, all right.
So so if somebody contributes to our fund, they can they can designate
it to a particular sports. So we don't make the decision on who gets
the money. Okay, we collect it, but we don't just have women's
teams. We don't just have dymnastics in soccer. We have football players,
we have baseball players, we have men's tennis players. We have last year
seventy five contracts we wrote for Michigan State University athletes alone. This fall already
we already know and I fully anticipate this number to grow. We will have
written one hundred and fifty nine contracts for Spartan athletes. And that does include
incredible, it does include baseball. So we don't make that decision. We're
totally donor driven. We like to be that way because we feel like we're
going to collect more money if we do what the donor wants to do.
Yeah, Tom, you talked about, you know, one the one hundred
and fifty nine contracts from Michigan State, you know, a few weeks ago,
obviously last week or just this past month. You know, Michigan State
was getting a lot of pushback from you know, fan base, and like,
you know, when our guys hit the portal, it automatically turned to
Okay, we're not we're not doing our part with an nil, which is
you know one that's that's false too. We've had you doing these things behind
the scenes, and you've done it without really wanting the notoriety or just the
publicity. Uh. And you quickly in amount of a day and a half,
you know, signed up Chuck Braandley, which we did celebrate last week.
You know, talk about that with with Chuck and you know he was
obviously one of the guys hit the portal, but then we were able to
have a conversation with and say, hey, let's let's break it down and
let's build something out. But tell us how that went, and you know,
how was how was the conversation with Chuck? Truly? I was like,
it's it's always fun having a conversation with the student athlete. Okay,
they're always happy, right, and I haven't I haven't contacted one student athlete
who didn't want to hear from me. Okay, So yeah, he's been
fantastic. How did that come about? I don't want to say that,
and I don't think it would be accurate to say that. You know,
we paid Chuck so he came back. I don't think that's accurate at all.
He wants to be at Michigan State. That's fine, that's great.
I think that's where his mind is. I believe he seems like a really
good kid, and we had a donor that was was for whatever his reasons
were, it doesn't make any difference to me. But he really wanted to
do things to help Chuck, not just pay Chuck that that doesn't work.
We don't do that with anybody, Okay. So he has some responsibilities in
the contract that I think will be very, very beneficial for him, and
that's what the donor wanted to do. So that's what we did. But
it just I don't want to say as a coincidence, but you know,
we had the right person at the right time who was interested in him and
I think Chuck probably needed a little bit of that to make that decision.
But really I think I think I think Chuck just really wanted to be at
Michigan State. I'm not speaking for him, but I think that is the
case. Oh no, that's correct. Yeah. Yeah. We had the
pleasure of speaking with him and seeing him recently and he expressed that like it
was you know, and he came on the show and talked a lot about
that too, So you know, Chuck is a phenomenal guy. It's to
the question about Nil and Tom. You can really speak to this because I
know that we've we've ourselves myself has said miscuse, they needs to step up
more. Now, I know that you've been doing things behind this, and
there's other groups trying to do things, and you've done it at a level
that I haven't really seen as far as the amount of players and athletes that
you've been able to hit. You're talk about one hundred and ffty nine coming
up in this fall. Now, you also, with Charitable Gift America have
collectives in other schools. Correct, correct? Okay, so when you get
to go I mean you get your masters from Miami, so you know what's
going on down there, and they're like crazy down in Miami right now,
right, But you have seen giving from a lot of different universities across the
country. How does Michigan State rank as far as the amounts per athlete from
what you see in other places? Oh, I think Michigan State is right
there with with just about anybody. You might see some really large contracts at
some places that maybe in Michigan State doesn't have. But I will say this,
the structure of the cooperation between the collective you know, us and the
athletic department is critical and we have a great relationship there. Michigan State has
in my estimation, and you're right, we do work with several other schools
where we run that we don't run their collective, they run it, but
we have their funds, so I work with them all the time. But
with our fund I can tell you MSU has the cleanest, uh most efficient
and above board ANIL program that you can possibly have, and that includes the
name this has spired I. We we looked into it and it's in the
public domain so we can use it. But the perfect perfect but now we
made sure we work with the compliance office before we even wrote one contract We're
very heavy into making sure we're doing all things correctly and it's because of that
that not only have we have we acquired assets to pay for some of these
pay for all the contracts. But that is what has led to our growth
with other schools wanting to work with us in our and creating a fund with
us. Most notably, we're the only one that I'm aware of, and
I talk to a lot and I get a lot of home, but we
have the capability of writing contracts for international student athletes. And the numbers which
I wrote down in front of me here when I said we'd have one hundred
and fifty nine contracts. Currently that's going to grow, but currently that's what
we'll have written in the fall. Twenty three of those, or fourteen percent
of them, are international student athletes. That's just at Michigan State. But
these other schools stumble across international kids, and they do happen in football.
We have one at Michigan State. It happens more often than you think,
and that's why they come to me, and then they see how well run
the service they're getting here with the contracting and the ten ninety nine work.
At the end of the year and then they kind of fold everything into us
because it's hard to be sustainable, and we create that vessel for them to
be sustainable. Yeah, Tom, and Tom, you have one of our
very own who works with me and my team obviously with the too, with
MJ Andrews from women's soccer. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah,
yep. So she does work with us, and it is internally to get
experienced because she is a marketing advertising major, so it's part of her degree
to get a co op internship in the field. And she is a great,
great add in for us from a value standpoint, and she's very persistent
and she can sell like she's one of those those those you know, student
athletes who you know gets it. Yeah, but she's not doing it for
all the money. She's like, I just want to you have something to
fall on when I'm out of you know, out of the sports. So
well, you know MJ. You know, she's a really good example of
what we're doing, and that is Okay, we're gonna do thirty two women
on the soccer team. Now I get all over Jeff about herring is such
a big roster because he's killing me. But that's okay, right, but
then you had MJ the one international kid on that team, and I'm like,
I'm not leaving one kid out, okay. And so what we did
was we hired an international law firm, immigration law firm in Miami to research
this and come up and draft a contract specific for international student athletes that produces
the type of income that they are allowed to get. And we have a
legal opinion from them. So we're very very well covered for these kids.
And so a woman like MJ it was able to participate along with half the
women's golf team. Let's see the couple. I've got a tennis player men's
tennis from a guy from Greece, and then we have half what was it?
Volleyball has a couple, and women's basketball has a couple. Yeah,
I remember them all. But yeah, we didn't want to leave anybody out.
You know. You know that's that's really good. And so Tom,
I got to ask, you know, I know you went to Michigan State.
Michigan State is a passion of yours. You went to Miami for your
masters. I have a buddy that's a former teammate of mine with the New
York Jets and now his son's being recruited. And you know something that's really
cool that you hit on is you said, Michigan State's doing it right with
the nil and the collectives and everything like that. And I'm getting so like,
Miami's recruiting his kid hard, really hard. They're they're making these promises
and everything like that, and he's like, I don't know if I have
that trust factor in that, because you see from different organizations like Texas A
and m people are transferring out because they're they're people that went there for the
reason that they went there aren't getting what they're getting, you know. So
like, how do parents you know that are listening to this be like,
oh, you know, this is a you know, good place to go,
Like not just even even if then I go to MSU, but like,
how do parents like be like, Okay, this is what's promised to
my kid and I can believe it and trust it. That's a really good
question, Jay who And I'll go back to how we run our fund and
we will not make an offer to any student athlete unless we have the money
in the bank. Cash in the bank. That's it. I mean,
I can't speak to what's going on at Miami. I think it's not a
secret. I mean it's just in the newspapers or wherever. But clearly,
when you have one person that's funding NIL contracts, just one and it seems
like that's what they have there, and it looks I mean, I just
read this like you do. It sounds like that company has has some issues
on valuations things like that. Are they going to be able to make those
payments? You know? I think if I was being recruited or I had
a child that was being recruited by a school and they're being offered an NIL
contract, whether it's Miami, Texas and AM or Michigan State, I would
want to know who's running that collective. And if it's not a collective,
what company are you talking about? Because that's what we're talking about at Miami.
And you know, do you trust them not? Unlike do you trust
the coach when when coach is recruiting you. But yeah, there's there's there
does seem to be some some issues with with payments in that UM. But
I hope not. I hope the kids get everything that they were promised.
Yeah, And so you said, you know you look into that. I
know through ms U people can you know the people that are on here?
You know, from listening to you can figure out how to know, like
Michigan say this, how does a parent look into it and find out if
what the collective is and what the collective is about? Oh, I get
phone calls, yet, I got parents, I got agents, you name
it, I get, I get. Some of them are really good.
Most of them are really good phone calls, Tom, licensed agents or the
unlicensed agent? You know, I don't know. Response came about everyone wanted
to become everyone wanted to become an agent. Everyone's like I have. But
yeah, yeah, but you know that that's one of the things Tom,
That's one of the things that you know, people need to realize is you
know, there are people that are out there in it for themselves and but
you have very good organizations like the organization that you have, you know,
that are in it for the kids and the athletes. You know. And
that's what I wanted, you know, want to know and want you to
push out there, is how these kids you know, can get a hold
of you and your organization and everything like that, you know, because they're
getting the actual true facts, it's vetted. Is everything's great. You know,
five to one, C three, all that different stuff. If you're
a donor, if you're a parent and everything, how can they get a
hold of, you know, Tom, Well, you can go to uh
the charity was it? C g A America? There you go right there,
cg Aamerica dot org slash this hyphen is another hyphen sparta. That's it,
And and my name and phone number email is all over it. They
can call me anytime they want. They can also go right on that same
same site and click the uh little button there and make a contribution to very
easy, super easy. Everybody hear that. It's the call to action.
If you're any of those fundraisers out there, you go, yeah, yeah,
you know, but Jail, You're right. There's there's a lot of
people out there that maybe you don't want to deal with. I've certainly met
too many of them. Uh I. I try to weed them out of
my life the best I can. But you know, sometimes when I get
calls from people looking for something from it when they shouldn't be, you know,
I'd rather I would much rather walk away from people like that then then
get involved with them, because if I did it once, I would get
a lot more phone calls and probably be the end of what we're doing.
So we got to just gotta be careful, right P and the guys,
if you guys don't mind dropping that in the chat so everyone can if they
want to click on that website. You know, that's good. I saw
someone in there say drop it in the chat, So if you guys can
drop that on the chat there, that'd be great. And don't forget to
hit that clicking subscribe button that like inside button too. Why you guys are
at it? You know, we want to talk a little bit about some
of the guys who did into the portal. And I don't know if this
is necessarily inn il reasons, but Peyton Thorn update now who we do now
know that he has signed with Auburn. Yeah, you know, Peyton signed
with Auburn, and you know, good good on him for that. And
when he signed with Auburn, I reached out a mentor of mine when I
was out with the New York Jets, Tony Richardson, and he played for
University of Auburn, and through him, I got connected with the director of
player Engagement for University of Auburn and I sent her and him a message.
I was like, hey, one of our guys, just transfer there.
Take care of him. And their respond back was, you know, hey,
we're very lucky and fortunate to have him. You know, it's a
part of our team. And I told him, you're you're exactly right.
Peyton's a good guy. He's going to be, you know, a good
fit for you for that organization. Their congratulations to Peyton thorn Uh for you
know, finding the land and spot in Auburn, finding somewhere that makes him
happy. And you know, we're as Spartan's we're all happy for that because
at the end of the day, we all want the best for everybody that
donned that green and white, no matter where their career takes them. At
the end of the day. I mean, well said, you know,
best of luck to Peyton as he's down in Auburn. You know, a
war eagle, Spartan nation, the war eagle today. Look, I mean
he's always in Spartan, like you said, you know, Before we move
on to the next subject, I want to ask in your opinion, well,
why do people donate and what what motivates them to do that? In
your experience, well, I've heard a lot of different reasons. For the
most part, for the people that have that I've worked with that support our
fund and MSU student athletes, they just want to help the kids and they
want to they want to make a contribution that they know is going directly to
the student athlete and nowhere else. Sometimes they're uh, you know, maybe
they're they think sometimes they make contributions and it doesn't get to the area that
they actually wanted to get to, but they know when they give to us,
it's going directly to the student athlete. I should also add Terrible Gift
America does not charge any fee whatsoever for doing this. We're doing it entirely
to help the university, help these kids and help move move all of the
programs forward. So it's usually they want to they want to help, they
want to help the kids directly. But like I mentioned before, we get
a lot of contributions from people that have absolutely no relationship with that. You
can say because because I asked them, that is great, Tom, like,
really appreciate what you do and what you bring to university. Tom,
And uh, you know, Jason and I have to have the privilege of
you know, hanging out with you out of practice and just having some greats.
Look at look at you know the picture that my arms are like massive
in that picture. But really really appreciate, really appreciate you, really appreciate
you, Tom and what you do for university and what you do for these
student athletes. And one of the best things about it is it's all all
the athletic brands all through you know, the university. It doesn't matter men's,
women's, all that stuff. You bring it together for those student athletes.
Really appreciate it. Well, it's a pleasure. We have a lot
of fun with it. It was a lot of work to start it,
and I didn't know at one point why I was even doing it until we
started contracting with the kids and started getting feedback from them. We do have
a clause in all of our contracts because we are a philanthrop but organization.
We'd like to teach kids about philanthropy. We empower them to learn about philanthropy,
and we do that by every contract we have has a clause that says
they must give five percent of their contract to a charity of their choice,
not our choice, but their choice. So they got to look up what
happened maybe to their family or friends or what's impacted their life and what organization
would they want to help and they love that part. And so we've created
this huge ripple effect literally around the world with contributions to these two. Gosh,
I don't even know how many chairs, however many kids we have,
is how many charities we've been able to impact just because we have an NIL
program. That's a good tom and listen, this is this is what we
needed, you know, from a standpoint of education, you know, but
it's valuable because you have the results and then proof in the putting for everyone
here in Michigan State and then, like you said, we'll post this and
people are gonna start giving. So I would love to see how you know,
the traction is as we continuously do stuff within our partnership because the universe
has aligned with our naming, and now we're going to get to work and
putting some things to action for activations and getting our student athletes exposure out showing
our show because there will be more that you'll be signing up and we're going
to celebrate them, just as we celebrate our past. And well, I
really appreciate you guys doing that and to help with that, uh to sustain
this over a long period of time and really make it right. There has
to be a seamless relationship between our fund, the athletic Department, and the
Spartan Fund, the Athletic fundraising arm, and we're working on that. And
Alan has been a great, great leader in this area. He's like,
I've been working with the universities for thirty years. I know things don't happen
overnight, but it is moving. It's moving, and I give Alan a
lot of credit for taking all the right steps to make sure. If we're
going to move, it's got to be done in the right way and do
it well. And if we can accomplish all that, AMASH is going to
have more money in there in their coffers, both in the Spartan Fund and
in NIL than probably anybody in the country, and that should help all of
our programs, including obviously football and basketball. Absolutely. Yeah, we can't
wait to put a lot of the athletes and kind of celebrate them as they
get those deals, because you know, you know, look, it's cool
to like get the money and all that, but I know how this generation
is they like that, you know, they want some you know, want
the infant gratification. Yeah, you know, we got to give them a
little love, you know, things that money a little further, right guy.
Yeah, well, well we are planning on Thursday, I think it
is Thursday, August thirty first, if that's the day before the first football
game, which I think is the thirty first, We're going to have a
signing day where all of the kids that we have under contract will pretend like
they're signing a contract. There'll be a great photo op and get them a
lot of publicity, and we'll celebrate how many how many student athletes at Michigan
State that that this is Sparta we'll have under contract for for the next academic
year. That'll be fun, dynamite you guys. Yeah, absolutely absolutely,
We already we are discussing like live show, I show on site. Yes,
it will be in our office building that's Downtowny's Lands, and we got
to we got some things cooking behind. Yeah for sure. Before you you
go, like, there's a lot of comments that are asking about possible merging
with the Spartan Fund donations in order for people to give or choose n I
L within that type of giving. Can you expand on that our talk speak
to that I sure can, and I'm glad you asked. That's what I
was talking about earlier about the corporation. What what has to happen for sustainability?
All right, and this is well within the rules for the n C
double A Okay. There. We need to have a relationship where people can
give to what they've normally given to, whether it's facilities or whatever sport they
give to or ni L and the points need to be meshed together so you
can get points for giving to this fund. We're working on that. It's
not going to happen overnight, but if I had my way, it would.
But I will say we have all the right parties involved, okay to
make this happen, and I'm optimistic that we can pull it off. And
if we can do that, then we're not going to have to go back
to the same individuals every single year when we need a bunch of an eye
all money. Can you give us money? Again? That is not sustainable,
Okay, what I'm doing is probably not sustainable. But we need all
of the Spartan fans to have the opportunity to give. But we understand they
also want their points. Okay, that's just an internal policy that that can
be done. I probably have said too much, but that's that's the direct
that's the direction we're heading, and we certainly have are having the right people
involved, and everybody seems to be behind that movement. So what I hear
you saying, Tom is just hang in there, don't stop giving, you
know, just come on in. You know, they're going to catch up
and if you need an extra ticket or to call ots. I love it,
I love it, I love it, right man. This has been
great and extremely informed, you know, informational for everybody, for me.
Uh. So you know, I appreciate you coming on the show and sharing
this information. And this is the first of many opportunities for us to get
together, uh with that beautiful name of yours. So thank you for joining
us. Uh. And you know we already we're going to continue to post
where people can give to the charity, correct guys, Yeah, we will.
Yeah, And we are a five one three organization, so any contribution
is is is text deductible. There you go. That's the first thing people
ask, you know, charitable donations or and Spartan fund those are the top
two. So we've answered that. We got all these components. We just
need to put them together together and m SU will be unstoppable. Absolutely hear
that. We really appreciate you, Tom, really appreciate what you do for
these student athletes. And you know, as a former Spartan player that wish
when I was playing you were around. I really do appreciate what you're doing
for these student athletes and what you're doing for the community of you know,
this is Sparta and everything like that. Really really appreciate you. I wish
this was around when I was playing. I know you. I wouldn't have
I wouldn't have blew all my n I l at ricks. Yeah, I
would have all trade. That's all trade. You appreciate the time, Man,
look forward to having you back on the show. Thanks for having thanks,
Thank you very much for having me here. I appreciate thank you.
All right, go oh man, So, I mean, I hope the
nil questions got to answered a little bit there, fellas you know, so,
well, what do you guys think I saw in the chat? Man?
You know, we had this conversation, we had these questions and last
time we you know, last Thursday, right, and then we quickly it
kind of went to the lab and like okay, we gotta break. We
got to get this going. We got to bring someone who is fully living
and breathing it but doing the work. And you know Tom is doing the
work. And I think that's a truly, you know, good opportunity that
this show provides. Our listeners are subscribers, our fans, and the lums.
Is that listen, we are bringing you resources and it's almost like we're
leading you to the well if you don't dip and a get a drink of
water. And that's only you all, and it's one of those things where
you want success us. Tom showed you and told you that what he did,
these did these team wide deals and supporting our student athletes championships, that's
resources, right, So as a direct result of getting the guys and the
girls, the women taken care of so that they're able to then put the
beauty of work onto their competitive fields. And you know, this is a
good opportunity to showcase that. So I do appreciate Tom and what he's done.
I mean he's truly doing it through the green or white spartan pride and
is nothing for his own merit and what he's trying to get out of it.
And so I'm trying to drop the mic before she does, because typically
does that after I do something. The one upper, you know, the
floor, you know, overall, the overall, like we talked about this
and especially last week. You know, it was he of conversations last Tuesday,
you know, tranch support because Michigan State spartans got I got punch.
This is not Tutor's apology toward this is chew cheese like putting it out there
because at the end of the day, all on all of us as spartans
got an absolute gut punch two Sundays ago when we're sitting there minding our business
and you read on Twitter Peyton Thorn nswered the transfer portal, you enter,
you see Charles Brantley entered the transporportal. You see Kean Coleman entered the transfer
portal. You know, those are all things that never really it's one of
those things like you know, it will never happen to us, but it
happened to us. We got we got uh uh k nine out of the
transferport and we were he he ha hai and all the way to you know,
like Chick fil a pitchball New Year's Day, bul you know, and
we didn't think it would happen to us. But this is the way Spartan
Faithful. This is the new college football. This is it right here,
and now you have the opportunity to be a part of the Spartan universe,
be a part of Spartan Faithful that can help keep these and retain these guys
here as Spartans. You know. So those are the things and having you
know, we have this conversation, kudos to Otis. As soon as we
were done, and you guys don't know this, we record the show for
everyone in here. When we're done. At the end, we spend another
thirty minutes on what could we have done better? You know, what can
we do? You know? Okay, this was good, This was good
and everything like that. Oldis is like, hey, we got to get
tom on, you know, to figure out, you know, how can
people help out in every way like that. You know, we have a
guy out there right now. We have a guy out there right now,
Spartan fans that is in that limbo. And this guy is Agent Zero Keon
Coleman. He's in there right now. We need to This is the new
this is the new NCAA. You know, we have to be able to
recruit these guys. It's you know, thoughts and prayers, we wish you
well come back to us, Kean Green and White. Those things are different
now, Yeah, hit the like and subscribe button. Let's pull up the
graphic. Let's look at this Spartan nation right here with Keon Coleman. This
is the teams that have contacted him since he went into portal. But there
hasn't been a commitment yet, so that means there's still a chance. There's
still a chance. So there's all Like I said, there's always a chance
until you sign on the dotted line, you know what, and you don't?
What can I get the camera on me? Pete, Oh my god,
I want to say this. I want to say this. You said
there is always a chance. I, in the heart of hearts, still
believe that Agent zero, Keon Coleman is going to be rocking the Green and
White this year because of the love Spartan Nation has for m But that love
only goes so far just here, you know, right, But I truly
truly believe that Keon loves Michigan State. No matter what he does, no
matter what decision he chooses to do, he loves Michigan State, his family.
We loves Michigan State, all right. I have never I have not
I have yet to have the opportunity to try Mama Coleman's gumbo. I still
want. I still want that damn gumbo. You gotta come back with that
a loan key for my selfishness, get that gumbo. Listen, I will
hust at my house in the summertime. We will have a full our broil.
But that gumbo gotta be on deck too. So look at cows talking
about it's good se see unfinished business. Key. You know, we will
welcome you back. You know there's a prodigal son chapter. We'll talk about
that another day. But guys, you know, before before we go,
I want to say this. I know you guys don't know this. I'm
just throw you guys out there. I have a special announcement. Next Tuesday
show one of those days, like I have a big announcement that that is
you know what, it's gonna benefit our viewers. Okay, it's gonna be
like our viewers. It's something that's gonna benefit our viewers. That's the only
special announcement. Look, look how fast he put that up there. Next
Tuesday, a special announcement. This is part of m s U. The
more, the more yes, the more people you bring into this, the
more people it benefits. If you care about the people, have them come
in and tune in next Tuesday from my special special special announcement that now,
because it's not like that versus commercial college, you see no account and I'm
telling you, I'm telling you, these people are gonna love it. They're
gonna love this announcement. It is something, it's something big, it's something
no other show, no other podcast, can ever offer you something like this.
We've done so many things that you know what they say about you know,
this is part of the MSU, often imitated, never duplicated. No
other people can can do what we do at This is part of and now
this is just another another thing on it that is beneficial to our You've killed
that you talk about the over sell doesn't do this justice. I mean,
we're expecting reparations for the entire chat, the entire check. It's you know
what, you gotta beat the stuff that's going on in California one point two
million per per head. And I will I will have a special outfit on
for this announcement. Okay, yeah, yeah, an Obama or bust.
I mean, like, like, what is getting this into the heads?
Is this you know what trouble. It's big trouble. So no, don't
forget about Thursday. Thursday. This Thursday, we have a special I mean
extremely special Mother's Day gift for you. So we're gonna bring you a show
dedicated to the mothers. All the mothers, every one of us have one,
you know, you know, boys, repeat, keep it inside me.
Oh boy, it's gonna be that's gonna be a special show. So
you can do it in Thursday and then then then that's gonna be very special.
Stress especially has in store. Don't stress. Otis out to this guy
again. Everyone, how long we meet prior to doing these you Choo's got
his own script and that's why we love them. It's okay, you know,
hey, guys, we got to wrap it up here. I think
that you know, we've thoroughly destroyed next Tuesday show. But for otis Wiley
and tell you I'm Jason Strayhorn. Have a good night, God blessed,
and go Green, Go wife. This is part of m s U as
a combine presentation of play fly Sports properties in Michigan State Sports Properties. The
show is produced by Pete Manez with additional support from Tony Costella Operations and Social
media support is provided by Alicia Straehorn with support from Cecily Max Brown on location.
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Thank you for your support and as always, go green.