Temple Alumni Introduce NIL Collective Called the "TUFF Fund"
Three Temple alumni launched the TUFF Fund.
Here’s a blurb from Sam Cohn at the Inky:
“Andy Carl, Seth Goldblum and Chris Squeri announced the formation of The TUFF Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable fund utilizing community-focused initiatives and partnerships intent on creating name, image and likeness opportunities for Temple student-athletes, according to a release. The fund is not affiliated with Temple University.”
Temple alum John Kincade narrated the introduction video:
Introducing the TUFF Fund. By Owls, for Owls.
Hit the link in our bio to learn more. pic.twitter.com/gpCj7KPfi9
— The TUFF Fund (@TUFF_Fund) August 30, 2022
The most important part of the entire fund is that this isn’t investment for a new football stadium. It’s getting Temple back to its roots and investing significantly in the Top-5 winningest basketball program of all time:
“One of the TUFF Fund’s immediate goals is to sign a NIL agreement with student-athletes from each of Temple’s 19 varsity sports. A source told the Inquirer there will also be significant investment in the men’s basketball program.”
Basketball is Temple. It’s the history of John Chaney. It’s the Elite Eight runs in the 90s with Mark Macon, Aaron McKie, and Pepe Sanchez. But basketball has taken a major step backwards at Temple. They’re in a shitty conference, no top recruits in Philly want to play there, and they’re on a completely opposite trajectory than Villanova over the last 20 years. There’s no reason that should be the case in a major market with this kind of basketball history.
Hopefully, alumni and fans can get behind this. This opens up a lot of opportunity for athletes and brands. We could pay Khalif Battle to come on Crossing Broadcast every week or design a “Miller Time” shirt for Hysier Miller where most of the sales go back to him so he can eat downtown a couple times a month and not at the J&H. There are a ton of people in sports media that went to Temple that can increase these athletes’ platforms. Think about when the football team went on that run in 2015 and College Gameday came to Philly. PJ Walker, Robby Anderson, and Tyler Matakevich would’ve been everywhere. That was the most buzz a Temple team has had in years and the entire city got behind them. You can’t tell me it can’t be done for basketball.
