The College Sports Commission is hiring a federal prosecutor and former deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department to lead investigations for the new enforcement agency created by the power conferences.
The CSC announced Wednesday that Katie Medearis, previously chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Virginia, will take over as chief of investigations and deputy general counsel beginning Nov. 10.
Medearis will oversee compliance and enforcement of college sports’ newly implemented revenue sharing system and rules regarding name, image and likeness compensation for athletes.
“Katie’s broad research experience and her track record of hiring and developing talent make her an excellent addition to our team,” said Bryan Seeley, CEO of CSC. “Her proven ability to tackle complex challenges will be instrumental in building a fair and responsible future for college sports, supported by robust and consistent enforcement.”
The CSC began operations shortly after a federal judge approved the $2.8 billion settlement in the House v. NCAA lawsuit in late June. Seeley, the former head of investigations at Major League Baseball, was hired by the conferences to lead the fledgling governing body.
As part of the settlement, conferences agreed to let schools pay college athletes directly for the first time. The agreement also created policies to regulate NIL agreements between athletes and third parties.
The new system went into effect on July 1, and since then the CSC has been playing catch-up as Seeley builds a staff and works with the conferences and House of Representatives plaintiffs’ attorneys on implementing the terms of the settlement.
The CSC essentially takes over the role of the NCAA when it comes to overseeing improper payments to college athletes.
Medearis has held senior positions at the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Virginia and California, where he led hundreds of investigations into complex criminal conspiracies such as financial fraud, narcotics trafficking on the dark web, cyberstalking and counterintelligence.
As Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ, she oversaw enforcement matters for the FBI, DEA, ATF and the US Marshals Service.
“College sports are undergoing historic changes and effective oversight is essential to safeguard the new opportunities created by the House settlement,” Medearis said in a statement. “I am honored to join the College Sports Commission at this inflection point and am confident we can provide the integrity, honesty and transparency that student-athletes, institutions and fans expect.”
Medearis is a graduate of William & Mary Law School and received two bachelor’s degrees from UC Davis.
The revenue sharing system she is required to maintain at the CSC comes with a standardized cap for schools that choose to participate. This year it is about $20.5 million. Schools can choose to distribute that money among their athletes however they wish, but most spend the vast majority on the revenue-generating sports of football and basketball.
College athletes are also now required to submit NIL deals worth $600 or more to an online platform called NIL Go for approval by CSC staff. Under CSC policy, deals must have a valid business purpose and be within a reasonable range of market value.
Although thousands of deals have been approved, the volume has created a backlog. NIL Collectives, donor- and sponsor-funded organizations that support individual schools, have expressed concern about the delays and complained that the inefficiency is keeping millions of dollars away from athletes across the country.
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