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Connecticut's Caroline Ducharme (33) in before an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

UConn's Caroline Ducharme (33) plays in UConn's season-opening 95-80 win over Arkansas in the NCAA women's basketball game at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021.

Connecticut's Caroline Ducharme (33) blocks a shot by Creighton's Carly Bachelor (22) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

UConn guard Caroline Ducharme (33) in action during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game between Butler and UConn in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

UConn women’s basketball player Caroline Ducharme sat courtside Tuesday night for the Connecticut Sun’s game against the Dallas Wings at Mohegan Sun Arena.

She watched the game alongside teammate Dorka Juhász and was featured on the Jumbotron a couple times throughout the game. Each time, the crowd cheered as the announcer said her name.

This wasn’t an unplanned appearance. Days before the game, Excel Sports Management reached out to the Sun and local media giving them a heads up that Ducharme would be at the game and available for interviews. In the college basketball offseason, opportunities like sitting courtside at a WNBA game allow Ducharme to increase her visibility and personal brand.

That’s the priority in the era of name, image and likeness.

The 2021-22 school year was the first with NIL activity. For the first time, student-athletes could profit off their name through various means, including with their social media platforms.

Ducharme is represented by Colleen Garrity of Excel. The agency helped the rising sophomore launch her brand, make deals with companies, and elevate her platform over the course of her freshman season.

“With college athletes, especially when it’s someone like Caroline who’s a freshman who’s really just like getting into this space, it’s just really fun to be creative and to work with someone who has interest and who is dynamic and wants to excel in their sport and wants to do things off the court to build their brand but also to make a difference,” Garrity said.

“They have these platforms that they use in such a positive way to speak out on issues that are going on in the world. It’s rewarding to be a small part of that and helping them accomplish what they want to do on and off the court.”

Ducharme was already well-known in the world of women’s basketball before coming to Storrs. She was the No. 5 ranked recruit in the Class of 2021 and a two-time Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year.

Her visibility and popularity only increased when she added those five significant letters to the front of her jersey: UConn. She joined perhaps the most influential and famous program in her sport.

To better take advantage of her larger platform, Ducharme hired an agent to help navigate the new world of NIL.

Ducharme and her family first connected with Garrity through the recommendation of Mandy Zegarowski, the mom of Massachusetts-born Orlando Magic guard Michael Carter-Williams. Ducharme, also from Massachusetts, had played for Carter-Williams’ family’s AAU program and the families were also friends.

Last season, Garrity also represented Christyn Williams with her NIL endeavors. Outside of women’s college basketball, Garrity represents NBA players such as Kevin Love, Nikola Jokić and Brandon Ingram.

“It was funny because last year it sorta came down rather quickly before the school season started,” Garrity said. “It was kinda like this mad dash of student-athletes trying to figure out what to do and if they should hire an agent or if they shouldn’t and how schools were gonna be involved in the process.

“We had an idea and strategy in place and both with Caroline and Christyn, which I think is a huge compliment to Excel is that they were both introduced to us by existing clients.”

Her role as Ducharme’s agent is to help create, facilitate and manage marketing her personal brand. She focuses on creating open dialogue between Ducharme and brands that want to connect with her and form deals.

“Our role is to really help guide the family and the student-athlete through this NIL process, especially when all this started last summer and fall it was brand new,” Garrity said. “We’ve really dedicated some resources internally with attorneys and people who know the sales side of what brands were doing in the NIL space.

“So, it’s really started this sort of advisory role on what you can and can’t do and then actively looking for opportunities for her that might help build her brand and support things she wanted to do or if she wanted to speak out about.”

Since Ducharme was a freshman last season, Garrity said academics were the first priority, followed by basketball. She also wanted to make sure Ducharme had time to adjust to college life and all its responsibilities before beginning any NIL activity.

“Just going to college in it of itself your first year is challenging because everything is so new and you’re on your own,” Garrity said. “So, I do think that’s one thing we’re really conscious of is making sure that we’re very aware that school and sport comes first and this NIL piece and the marketing opportunities are extras. … And obviously, she played a lot early on so we really wanted to make sure her focus was on basketball and just working behind the scenes to make sure we can support her any way we could.”

Ducharme was called upon early to step up for the Huskies as the team was plagued with injuries, including missing fellow guards Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Nika during the end of December.

In the 19 games without Bueckers, she was second on the team with 12.2 points per game. The only player who averaged more than her was Williams (12.6 points).

It was Ducharme’s last-second shot at DePaul that saved the Huskies’ then-164 game record streak over conference opponents.

Off the court, Garrity was ready to help when Ducharme was ready to begin exploring NIL options.

NIL deals can be initiated in various ways. Most commonly, either a brand reaches out to an athlete and/or agent and expresses interest in wanting to work with them or the athlete themselves is interested in working with the brand and asks their agent to help make the connection.

Agents can also identify and suggest brands to work with that align with their athlete’s passions and everyday lives. As part of their contracts with the athlete, agents do get a commission from any brands an athlete accepts.

“A lot of times its us reaching out to brands that we think would be a really authentic fit to who our student-athletes are,” Garrity said. “For example, if someone is an authentic user of a brand or they really have a hobby that sorta resonates with a brand, it’s us reaching out to them (the brand) and making a pitch to say, ‘This is why we think so-and-so would be a good fit for your company or do a campaign around.’”

Once a brand offers a deal to work with the athlete, the agent then goes back to the athlete and their family to talk through the details. A deal can be anything from a social media campaign, a post, a photo shoot or even more of a behind-the-scenes-like sponsorship.

An attorney through Excel works continuously with a student-athlete’s school to make sure any brand deals that are proposed follow the school and state’s specific NIL rules and regulations. UConn also uses the outside firm Opendorse to handle NIL activity, working with both the compliance office and the athlete’s representation.

“We get really into the nitty-gritty like a lot of the things are really social (media) based, so do you have to create your own content? Do you need to do a shoot? What do I have to post? It really is a conversation of what does the brand stand for. Any pitfalls?” Garrity said.

“We really try to help educate the student athlete and their family on why it may or may not be a good fit and where we think like, ‘I don’t think this will take up too much of your time, should be really easy or we can help you with these aspects or just know that you’re gonna have to do some appearance or whatever it may be.’ It’s a conversation that is really transparent.”

One example of how Garrity helped Ducharme was with her NIL deal with ISlide, a Boston-based custom shoe apparel company focused on slide sandals.

A post shared by Caroline Ducharme (@caroline.ducharme3)

Ducharme and her family were already in conversations with ISlide prior to hiring Garrity. Once Garrity was on board, she helped collaborate with ISlide as an intermediary to confirm the details of Duhcarme’s partnership with the company and help get her custom slides off the ground.

Ducharme’s personalized slides read: “When it gets hard, think about why you started.” She posted a picture of the slides and a video of her designing them along with a discount code on Instagram.

Garrity says the biggest difference in helping collegiate athletes versus professional athletes is with student-athlete clients, the focus is purely marketing whereas professional athletes also work with agents to help negotiate playing contracts.

Student-athletes also have a much tighter window during the school year of when they’re available for any in-person requirements for brand deals.

“The biggest thing is just being really conscious that first and foremost on the NIL side they’re student-athletes and they have responsibilities in the classroom and with basketball that are just very different from someone who’s in the NBA and whose job it is to play basketball,” Garrity said. “At this point of their career, they really need to focus on their sport and doing all they can to achieve what they want on the court to move on with a career if they decided to do that.”

When a college athlete does graduate, they can choose to continue working with their NIL agent and agency if they want to pursue their sport in the professional world. In the case of Excel, if athletes do choose to stay within the agency as professionals, their NIL agent becomes their marketing agent and they’re also paired with an on-court agent who specializes in on-court contracts.

Garrity said such was the case with Christyn Williams when she declared for the WNBA this spring. Williams still works with Garrity on marketing her brand but also has an agent dedicated to helping her with her contracts in the W and overseas, if she chooses to play internationally.

“There is sort of a delineation when it comes to representation between NIL and professional reputation because on the NIL side, we don’t give career advice, it’s strictly like a marketing opportunity whereas obviously on the professional it’s much different,” Garrity said. “When they’re professionals, we’re sorta of a full-service representation agency.”

While the NIL era is still new and shiny, its impact in the world of college athletics is just beginning. With each new year, deals will look different and compliance rules will also. Earlier this month, Connecticut passed a bill allowing college athletes to use their school’s name and logo in deals.

For Garrity, she’s passionate in helping college athletes grow, change and impact the world through their athletic passions.

“This space, whether it’s college athletes or professional athletes, I think it’s a really rewarding experience to help someone shape their career both on and off, in this case, the court,” she said. “Obviously, when you’re talking about a professional athlete their lives change drastically when they’re drafted and they’re living out their dream and so, that’s just like a really special thing to be a small part of when you’re helping sorta guide them into that next step of their career.”

Maggie is a general assignment sports reporter for Hearst CT Media who focuses on highlighting the humanity within athletics with every feature. She comes to Connecticut after growing up and working all along the West Coast, including stops at The Seattle Times and The Orange County Register. Outside of writing, she enjoys spontaneous adventures, reading, hiking and visiting her family back home in Portland, Oregon.