The 2025 NCAA outdoor 800-meter champion and U.S. champion, Roisin Willis of Stanford University, made history in 2023 as the first NCAA athlete to sign an NIL deal with the sportswear behemoth New Balance, a brand worth more than $4.3 billion. A promising professional career began in college, and this early endorsement was a stepping stone along that road. However, Willis’ recent academic decision has proved quite surprising.

On Friday evening, Willis announced on Instagram that she would not be returning to Stanford for her final year of eligibility and would instead turn professional. However, she did not address the status of the existing NIL contract in her statement, casting doubt on the future of that blockbuster partnership.

Willis thanked Stanford University for her invaluable experience in the social media post. “These past few years have brought a series of highs and lows – moments that have tested and refined by character and taught me how to show up authentically in my sport. Through it all, I cannot express my gratitude enough to God, who brought me through each of those hills and valleys and showed me the right race to run,” she wrote.

What follows is Willis’ expression of gratitude to her loved ones, her coaches, and her teammates, whom she referred to as “the sister I never had.”

The announcement concluded with a focus on the future, as she wrote, “With that being said, I have decided to forego my last year of eligibility and turn professional. I am so excited to take on this new chapter with faith and humble spirit to test my limits in this sport. Thank you, Stanford, for the past three years. I am so grateful.”

Her decision to turn professional raises doubts about her NIL deal, although it is understandable for an athlete of her caliber—an eight-time All-American and program record-holder—to make that choice.

When it comes to amateur student-athletes, NIL partnerships are tailor-made so that they can make money without losing their NCAA eligibility. An entirely new sponsorship agreement, unencumbered by NIL regulations, is usually necessary when one makes the leap to a professional career.

The fact that Willis did not mention the New Balance deal in her statement makes it unclear if her connection with the company will be transformed into a professional agreement, if it will be renegotiated, or if it will end as she joins the free-agent market, which is quite competitive. Because Willis’ original deal was so unusual, this whole thing is very interesting.

When she signed with New Balance in July 2023, it was seen as a significant coup for the brand to secure a top talent from a Stanford athletic department sponsored by its rival, Nike. Well, as Willis hopes to make a big mark in the major events, there are a number of Stanford University track and field athletes who have gone on to great success in the professional ranks.

The NCAA program that has raised many top athletes

Prior to Roisin Willis, there was a lengthy history of track and field competitors at Stanford University who went on to become professionals. Charles Hicks, a distance runner and fellow Stanford student-athlete, inked an NIL with Nike in March 2023 and shortly after the end of the college outdoor season accepted a full-pro contract with the same brand.

This path from a collegiate NIL agreement to a pro contract is exactly what Willis’s recent announcement has now set in motion. Beyond the present NIL era, Stanford’s track and field team has a long history of producing Olympians who went on to become professional athletes either while they were students or shortly after graduation.

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With a total of 22 medals, the program boasts an incredible 74 individual Olympians. Motivating Willis to greatness in major track and field events will be names like Valarie Allman (two-time Olympic gold medalist), Grant Fisher (first American male to medal in both the 5,000m and 10,000m in the same Olympics), Katerina Stefanidi (2016 Olympic champion), and many more.