Brett Whiteside: 'If On To Victory becomes a leader in NIL, championships will follow' at Auburn
On To Victory executive director Brett Whiteside joined Zac Blackerby on the Locked On Auburn podcast to discuss the immediate success OTV has found and the potential the university has that has yet to be unlocked.
According to Whiteside, the success started with changing the pay structure for fans.
"We revamped our website ontovictory.com, and and on the website it's an opportunity for everybody to subscribe to become a member," Whiteside said. "Everyone can come in at an entry level of $34, and there's five ranges - it's fairly evenly distributed across these these different tiers, and the number one benefit is listed there on the website - at least 90 percent of every dollar they donated goes directly to a student athlete."
OTV's emphasis since its creation has been supporting the student athlete, not generating money for its creators.
As the website says, On To Victory was founded by a few individuals who share a love for Auburn.
"When On To Victory was founded, it was founded in a not-for-profit model where none of our board of directors would ever receive compensation for their time, would never benefit financially," Whiteside said. "That was the first thing. The second was that we're not-for-profit, and then thirdly we're going to operate with transparency and compliance of the rules and so people can know that when they're donating, when they're subscribing and becoming a member, that we're going to do everything by the book and that we're going to support Auburn student athletes as much as we can."
"We'd love to have all the fan base join in and if that happens there's no doubt my mind will be the number one collective in the country."
Whiteside was asked if On To Victory was going to be involved in an introduction between Auburn University and a potential head coaching candidate.
"Our board and On To Victory is going to support President Roberts and John Cohen and whoever they choose as the head coach," Whiteside said. "We were supportive of Coach Harsin when he was here and we'll be supportive of the next head coach."
Despite how NIL and collectives in general have been perceived, OTV believes that the place of its collective is to not dictate things through power or influence, but rather as support for those who do have said influence.
"We're not running this collective in a way that that we receive receive power or influence - that's not the way it should be done" Whiteside said. "We should support our leaders, whoever they are, and I know that President Roberts knows that. And I know that John Cohen knows that we're here to support them in any way. It's it's exciting to think that we become more attractive when we have a great strong collective."
"When a coach is choosing if it's a good fit for him or not, they have to examine things like 'is there an opportunity to win a championship?' And we know the answer is yes."
On To Victory reportedly raised over $10 million dollars in the first month of its fundraising campaign. Auburn's grasp on the NIL game has been... slower than some. But now that they've got the ball rolling, anything is possible.
"If we're very effective in this NIL space, if On To Victory becomes a leader in NIL, then the championships will follow," Whiteside said. "And you know that's that's what motivates me every day, it's what motivates our board and our staff. I'm excited to be a part of it."
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