College Sports Enforcement Entity Builds Out Investigative Unit

The College Sports Commission formed last year to monitor and enforce the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement. Several months later, it’s looking to build out its investigative unit, hiring for multiple jobs including an “investigator,” “investigations analyst,” and “investigations counsel.”

The job listings, promoted on the CSC’s LinkedIn profile this week, suggest it’s investing heavily in an investigative unit, which will include a team of attorneys, law enforcement employees, and supporting analysts. The postings for all investigative roles specify that CSC employees will focus on inquiries into three areas: the new revenue-sharing system and rev-share cap, new restrictions on NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals, and new roster limits.

The CSC currently has 10 full time employees, with an 11th starting next week, a CSC spokesperson said. The organization’s leadership currently consists of CEO Bryan Seeley, Chief Operations Officer and Deputy General Counsel John Bramlette, and head of investigations Katie Medearis. The group is also opening an office in Tysons Corner, Va., outside Washington, D.C. 

For its investigator role—with a salary between $150,000 and $190,000 a year—the CSC is looking for candidates with experience in “prior law enforcement or other investigations experience.” According to the postings, the CSC’s investigative strategies will include conducting interviews and analyzing “forensic evidence … including text messages, emails, and social media,” and “work with analysts to gather and analyze available information, including government records, social media, news reports, and other open source information.” The CSC wrote it is seeking candidates with “unwavering integrity” and “exceptional interpersonal skills.”

The CSC’s “investigations counsel” role includes much of the same descriptions, though it is geared toward practicing attorneys with “prior work as a prosecutor or experience working for a regulatory or enforcement agency; (2) inhouse or law firm experience handling internal or government-facing investigations, compliance, or risk management on behalf of corporate clients or institutions; or (3) federal clerkship.” This position pays between $150,000 and $220,000.

The CSC’s investigations analyst role, with a salary of $60,000 to $80,000, is billed as a role to support investigators.

While not directly part of the investigative unit, the CSC is also hiring for a fourth position: a “staff attorney” will review NIL deals submitted and determine whether they comport with the House settlement rules.  The salary range for this role is $140,000 to $175,000.

The job postings come at a time when the CSC’s enforcement power is unclear, however. To ensure the CSC could be shielded from lawsuits or challenges from schools that may face punishments, power conference commissioners drafted a participant agreement for all power conference schools to sign. The agreement faced significant backlash, and has yet to be implemented.

To this point, all three investigative roles request that candidates make a video to address “recurring challenges the CSC likely faces in conducting investigations and how you would recommend addressing them.”

Meanwhile, the CSC is forging ahead with its mission. It says it has already informed “several schools” that it has launched inquiries into “unreported NIL deals.”