From making university history to traveling across Europe to paving the way for new opportunities for college athletes, Fairfield University alumnus Tyler Nelson has returned to “Stag Country” as the Director of NIL Operations and Player Relations.
Sports have always been a huge part of Nelson’s life. Having grown up just north of Boston, Mass., he spent his childhood playing many different sports, including basketball, football, golf, and baseball. However, Nelson said, “I realized at a young age that basketball was my passion and what I was best at.” He played basketball throughout high school and was recruited to Fairfield to play Division I basketball on a full scholarship.
During his time on the collegiate court, Nelson made many connections and memories and left a lasting legacy on the university. Martin Bahar, his former coach during his time at Fairfield, said, “[Nelson] was always a high character kid who was all about the right things. We knew he was going to be one of our best players as a freshman, and I think he’s one of the best players to come from [Fairfield].”
Nelson shared that the biggest moment of his college career was breaking the university’s all-time points record. “It was a great crowd. It was a big game. All of my family and friends were there, and that was a really special moment for me,” he said. Nelson still holds the university record for career three-pointers.
After graduating in 2018 with a degree in Business Management, Nelson went on to play professional basketball for seven years. Nelson played his first year post-grad in the NBA G League in Charlotte, N.C., and continued with the team until the COVID-19 pandemic hit halfway through his second season. Following the pandemic, Nelson had multiple offers to play professional basketball internationally, and decided to go to Europe to play in Germany.
“It was honestly the best decision I could have made at the time,” he said. “I got to travel all over Europe, play basketball at a really high level, and go to a lot of different countries and travel the world.” Nelson spent four years with the team in Germany before playing for half a year with a different team in Greece. He finished out his professional career back in Germany before officially retiring this past June to return to Fairfield in his new role.
“I knew I was ready for the next chapter of my life,” he said. “When I played here, I had a great relationship with [Vice President for Athletics] Paul Schlickmann and President [Mark] Nemec. I was talking to them over the last couple of years and over the summer, and I knew they were interested in having a position like this.”
Nelson’s new position as the Director of NIL Operations and Player Relations is reflective of a shift in college athletics across the country, a shift that’s rapidly taken place over the last few years.
Name, Image and Likeness, commonly known as NIL, refers to a student athlete’s ability to profit off of their personal identity. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, “Athletes can benefit from NIL by endorsing products, signing sponsorship deals, engaging in commercial opportunities and monetizing their social media presence, among other avenues.”
Nelson said that Fairfield is one of the first universities in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to have an official position designated to organizing NIL opportunities for student athletes. “I work directly with both the men’s and women’s basketball coaches on all recruiting aspects, and finding out how much we’re willing to offer and pay these kids for NIL,” he said.
“We’re not paying them just to play the sport,” Nelson continued. “We’re paying them to put their pictures on posters and other things like that for advertisements for the university.”
Nelson explained that Fairfield has been able to raise a lot of money through alumni and donors, as well as the university itself, to offer this unique experience to our athletes. “Every athlete that is here on scholarship for men’s and women’s basketball is getting some sort of money for NIL. Our goal is to get more and more [money] for them over the next couple of years,” he said.
While Nelson is just a few weeks into his new position, he said that so far it has been a great opportunity and he has been able to learn a lot. He also noted how much is still to be determined about the future of NIL in college athletics, which excites him about the future of Fairfield athletics. “We’re in a great spot,” Nelson said. “We are winning championships across the board, and now with NIL being involved, that’s just another tool for us to recruit better players and have better programs. The more opportunities we have to do that, the better it will be for Fairfield overall.”
Nelson’s full-circle moment has been an exciting opportunity for him to give back to his alma mater and leaves an inspiring message to all current and future Stags: “Whether you’re a business student, a nursing student or whatever it may be, there are so many people who are willing to be mentors and look out for you once you graduate,” he said. “That’s the goal of college – to get an education and go on to get great jobs after that. I think Fairfield does a great job of that.”
