The high level of competitiveness within the college wrestling scene sets the gold standard in collegiate wrestling. However, it beats all odds by ensuring that there is first-class talent acquisition while seizing NIL (name, image, and likeness) opportunities to secure the future of Penn State athletes and the program’s legacy.

Apart from producing champions on the mat, the Penn State team has been able to transform their athletes to suit the college’s changing demands not just academically but also in providing opportunities post-retirement from competition. Penn State recruited their talented athlete last year post-retirement to help the team with business.

Clay Steadman will help Penn State in bringing NIL deals

Penn State recruited former wrestler Clay Steadman as general manager, and he was recently seen on the official YouTube channel called ‘Penn State on PennLive.’ He chatted with Jim Carlson and Bob Flounders and talked about his role as a general manager and plans to expand their NIL program. Jim Carlos asked Steadman about his role in Penn State and how the recruitment took place.

Clay Steadman reflected on his role and funding efforts; he said, “Yeah, it’s a lot of different things. I mean, all in all, we’re trying to get help with funding, right? And there are two aspects to that: there’s trying to find more people to help from an individual level, and then also trying to reach out to businesses and see it’s a great product that these guys have created here, and so we’re trying to get some of our guys some different sorts of NIL deals from different companies.” That’s what he is an expert in apart from wrestling, as he has been in business for more than a decade now.

Steadman’s positive favor for NIL is clashing, as it was considered negatively—that it creates inequality among athletes, and opportunities will differ as per the name and the fame. Steadman also shared his connection with the Penn State staff; he stated, “Penn State staff guys are guys I call all the time mentors of mine, uh, Cunningham and Cael particularly, just guys that, uh, helped shape me in aspects beyond just my discipline and things like—it’s funny.” Cael Sanderson coached Steadman when he used to wrestle for Penn State.

Steadman also shared his thoughts on the recruitment drive by Penn State; he said, “We’re in the fortunate position to be recruiting the top guys in the country, and the recruiting class that we have coming in now and the guys that were potentially potential commits for us are just an unbelievable group of individuals—not just great wrestlers, like guys that were like, Wow, these are the freshmen that came in this year.” Every team is in search of new talent, and so is Penn State, but how has Clay Steadman’s experience as GM been till now?

On the overall experience as GM, he stated, “So I think that it’s a couple of those different aspects of what my role is, and, um, yeah, it’s been really fun so far. It’s so different.” How’s his journey so far, from wrestling mat to business and back to the wrestling world?

Steadman’s journey from the wrestling mat to corporate boardrooms and back to Penn State

Clay Steadman has an old connection with Penn State and coach Cael Sanderson. He used to wrestle in the 197-pound category for Penn State during his freshman and sophomore years and was trained under Cael Sanderson. But God had different plans for him. He suffered from a chronic neck injury and had to miss the entire season of 2010-11. Later he switched to the corporate world. Why corporate, you may ask?

Steadman studied finance and economics at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, and when things turned against wrestling, he chose his path. He has been in the business world for many years now and has also been involved in start-ups and worked in strategic corporate account roles and big healthcare companies. working on large partnership deals, executive offices, and million-plus deals. And that’s how he will help Penn State with his business skills.

Steadman also transitioned into the healthcare sector, Siemens Healthineers. For more than a decade he held roles in finance, business development, and sales, where he excelled in building relationships with executives for long-term partnerships. It is to be seen how he will work in the success of Penn State in the future.