Steven Napolillo is the senior associate athletic director for Providence College. The Dominican Friars college announced Jan. 26 that Napolillo on July 1 will become its new vice president and director of athletics upon the retirement of Athletic Director Robert G. Driscoll Jr.
Napolillo spoke with Providence Business News about fundraising for PC’s athletic program, helping student-athletes profit from their names, images and likenesses, and how the college plans to stay ahead of other institutions in terms of athletics.
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PBN: When you graduated from Providence College in 1998, did you think at the time you would be leading the college’s athletic department?
NAPOLILLO: It’s funny. Going through college, I had the opportunity to intern with [WPRI-TV CBS 12] sports. I interned at the Pawtucket Red Sox for two years. I interned with a lawyer. At the time, I wanted to be a lawyer because the movie “Jerry Maguire” had come out. But working at the Pawtucket Red Sox, they offered me a full-time job to stay on.
When Bob Driscoll [vice president and director of athletics] came on to Providence College, I had reached out to him. I loved his energy and said we should get together for lunch to talk about his vision and how I could help him down the road. I had a two-and-a-half-hour lunch with him on Federal Hill about possibility and dreaming big, and realistically what he needed to have his dream come true. A lot of that is financial resources and fundraising. He told me if that was something I wanted to do down the road, that’s where he needed help.
Over the next two years, I came over to Providence College and worked in the alumni office for a few years. Then, the director of development of athletics decided to go back home to Oregon. Bob took me under his wings and, since then, it’s been an amazing ride.
PBN: Explain how you helped bring in fundraising to the program to help finance various capital projects at campus athletic facilities and what, if any, new projects are on the horizon at PC?
NAPOLILLO: When Bob took me on, the fundraising arm was in its infancy. It was one person, so I needed to build a department for us to have long-term success. In our initial conversations, we were talking about getting to $1 million, $3 million, $5 million. Today, we’re bringing in $7 million cash annually. That’s not including pledges. So, it was putting together a strategic plan on how we do that. That was people.
We worked in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Advancement, which is led by Gregory Waldron. They really understood what athletics meant to Providence College and could really help us galvanize our constituent base. That includes alumni, former players, fans, season ticket holders and students to understand why philanthropic giving is so critical to help fulfill our dreams from annual support, facilities, scholarships to retaining and developing great coaches.
There are so many layers that financial resources are critical to have and that was our game plan from day one. We have the Phase 2 [portion] of the Ruane Friar Development Center done. That’s first-class offices and locker room facilities for our women’s basketball team.
We want to raise funds to really help our student athletes out with student wellness. When you look at the [COVID-19] pandemic, kids are going to need a lot with mental health, nutrition, health and conditioning so that we’re on top across the country. I want to endow more scholarships and fully fund our programs. I want to endow positions to help the college financially long term.
PBN: You helped establish the Friars Forever Athletic Fund. What does that fund help support?
NAPOLILLO: The fund is our annual fund. Those are critical dollars to help us address issues in all areas of the department. When you raise money, you can give to your specific program. You can give to a facility program, and you can give to scholarships.
The Friars Forever fund is the checkbook for the department. When we have issues that arise and we need to support student athletes, we need to do extra things that we are not budgeted for, and that fund helps us get to the next level to financially support what we need to do.
PBN: In August, PC partnered with Opendorse to launch the AdvantEdge program to help student-athletes monetize their names, images and likenesses. How many student-athletes are utilizing this assistance at the college, and will the athletic department help to further support the athletes if they want to monetize their NIL going forward?
NAPOLILLO: We have 365 athletes, so almost all of the athletes are engaged in [the AdvantEdge program]. This is going to completely change our industry. We already started that. Opendorse houses everything our student-athletes do to get their education, sign deals and that’s how their payments go through. We did a T-shirt [program] where every student-athlete got $10 for each T-shirt sold, which was very successful.
We’re going to be launching a [non-fungible token] initiative for our student-athletes. We’re working with different corporate sponsors to give potential student-athletes [the opportunity] to make money from partnerships with specific sponsors to help promote their products. This is an area we’re going to be at the top of the industry in.
We want to do education. We want to teach them how to be successful while they’re here but also life lessons so when they go out for their careers, they’re ready to be successful.
PBN: With college recruiting for athletics being increasingly competitive, how important is it for the college to retain its prominent coaches, such as Nate Leaman for men’s hockey and Ed Cooley for men’s basketball, for the long term to keep the college’s athletic program at a high level and remain a step ahead to welcome new student-athletes to attend the college?
NAPOLILLO: It’s critical. You need great coaches to be successful. We have a great school, and we continue to offer what we want with the best resources and the best academic and social experiences.
Student-athletes want to come to play for great coaches. A huge part of my agenda is to retain, develop and reward great coaches. In the industry, there’s always going to be someone who can throw more money at someone. That’s the challenge we’ll always have. But if you look at what Providence College can offer holistically, we always want to be able to compete and let our coaches know that this is the best place in the country to be. We’ll continue to do that.
That’s why fundraising and financial support is critical to pay our coaches what they deserve but also give them what they need to be successful. It’s a huge package; coaches want to win. So, they want all the tools in the shed to be able to win. That’s what we take a lot of pride in.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
