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NIL & brand staff in the Big Ten

Big Ten athletic departments list 50 NIL and athlete-brand staff positions across 15 of the 18 covered schools as of 3 Nov 2026 — 1% of the conference's 6,872 tracked positions, an average of 3.3 per department that has the function. University of Wisconsin–Madison has the most (8). In the last 90 days Whistle detected 1 hire, 0 departures and 2 title changes in these roles.

Data as of 3 Nov 2026.

Source: the official athletics staff directories of the 18 covered Big Ten schools, re-read on a rolling schedule; roles classified from published titles; changes from successive reads.

NIL & brand in the Big Ten at a glance

Conference: Big Ten — NCAA Division I
Schools covered: 18
Schools with nil & brand staff: 15 (83%)
NIL & brand positions: 50 (1% of 6,872 tracked positions)
Average per department with the function: 3.3
Changes, last 90 days: 1 hires · 0 departures · 2 title changes

How many NIL and athlete-brand staff does each Big Ten school have?

One row per covered department. "Positions" counts current (non-departed) staff whose classified role or published title places them in nil & brand; changes are non-baseline hires, departures and title changes in those positions over the last 90 days, with same-day directory re-reads excluded.

School	Division	NIL & brand positions	All tracked positions	Hires (90d)	Title changes (90d)
University of Wisconsin–Madison	Division I	8	461	0	1
The Ohio State University	Division I	5	634	0	0
University of Michigan	Division I	5	496	0	0
Pennsylvania State University	Division I	4	476	1	0
Rutgers University	Division I	4	382	0	0
University of Minnesota	Division I	4	386	0	0
University of Washington	Division I	4	389	0	0
Michigan State University	Division I	3	302	0	0
Purdue University	Division I	2	355	0	0
University of California, Los Angeles	Division I	2	373	0	0
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Division I	2	383	0	0
University of Iowa	Division I	2	302	0	0
University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Division I	2	397	0	1
University of Oregon	Division I	2	245	0	0
Indiana University Bloomington	Division I	1	301	0	0
Northwestern University	Division I	0	302	0	0
University of Maryland	Division I	0	358	0	0
University of Southern California	Division I	0	330	0	0

Who sells to NIL and athlete-brand staff?

NIL & brand is the buying group for NIL marketplaces and collectives, disclosure and compliance software, brand-building and content agencies, financial-literacy providers. Typical titles in this group: Director of NIL Strategy; Assistant AD for NIL & Brand Development; NIL Coordinator. Whistle customers filter these positions by conference, school, state and sport, see each person's name, title and contact details where the directory publishes them, and get an alert when one of the positions changes hands.

Other staff functions in the Big Ten

Ticketing in the Big Ten — 152 positions at 18 schools
Marketing & fan experience in the Big Ten — 148 positions at 18 schools
Communications & media relations in the Big Ten — 181 positions at 17 schools
Compliance in the Big Ten — 97 positions at 18 schools
Development & fundraising in the Big Ten — 271 positions at 18 schools
Facilities & event operations in the Big Ten — 387 positions at 18 schools
Video & analytics in the Big Ten — 201 positions at 18 schools
Strength & conditioning in the Big Ten — 250 positions at 18 schools
Athletic training & sports medicine in the Big Ten — 549 positions at 18 schools
Equipment in the Big Ten — 139 positions at 18 schools

NIL & brand in other conferences

Method

Positions are counted when the published job title matches the nil & brand pattern (and not an exclusion such as student, intern or graduate assistant); the same rule produces the counts and the change tallies.

Change counts compare successive reads of each school's official directory; a school's first extraction and any day on which 25% or more of a roster appears or disappears at once (a re-read, not turnover) are excluded. This page is published when at least 3 covered Big Ten schools have the function and they list at least 10 positions between them; smaller combinations are kept out of search indexes.

Frequently asked questions

How many NIL and athlete-brand staff work in the Big Ten?

50 current positions across 15 covered Big Ten athletic departments as of 3 Nov 2026; University of Wisconsin–Madison lists the most (8).

Which Big Ten school has the largest nil & brand staff?

University of Wisconsin–Madison, with 8 NIL and athlete-brand staff positions out of 461 tracked positions.

How much turnover is there in Big Ten nil & brand roles?

3 changes in the last 90 days: 1 hire, 0 departures, 2 title changes, after excluding first reads and same-day re-reads.

Where does this staff data come from?

From the staff directories athletic departments publish on their official websites, read automatically on a rolling schedule (NCAA Division I roughly weekly, Division II and III every three to four weeks). Whistle never publishes names, emails or phone numbers on public pages; staff can remove their details at any time at gowhistle.io/remove-my-info.

Selling to NIL and athlete-brand staff in the Big Ten? Whistle lists every one of these 50 positions with name and title, emails and phones where the directory publishes them, and an alert when one changes. Or buy the conference as a one-time dataset.