ABOUT US
WHY WE ARE DOING THIS
DYK Media champions education, transparency, accountability, economic freedom, and athlete empowerment. DYK hopes to make the Byzantine world of big-time college sports more accessible to athletes and other stakeholders. DYK aims to provide athletes with a comprehensive, research and fact-based rebuttal to dominant, self-serving institutional and corporate narratives built primarily around college sports’ mythologies. DYK hopes to motivate athletes to own their power and destiny through education and informed, thoughtful advocacy.
RICHARD FORD
Co-FOUNDER & CEO
Richard Ford has been connected to athletes’ rights since the 1980s through his work with Dick Devenzio, a pioneer in the field. Through years of intensive research, Richard analyzes college sports regulatory, legal, and cultural issues through a values-based lens.
In his podcast, the BigAmateurism monologues, and through DYK, Richard emphasizes unreported and underreported issues and narratives.
Richard received his undergraduate degree in Public Policy from Duke University (1984) and his law degree from the University of Georgia (1988).
Richard spent over a decade as a litigation attorney representing clients in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. He also has academic experience as an adjunct professor, clinical advisor, and administrator in the law school setting.
While at Duke, Richard played basketball under legendary Coach Mike Krzyzewski, going from a walk-on to a scholarship player and, ultimately, a team captain. He brings a unique perspective to his critique of college sports.
Casey Floyd
Co-Founder & COO
Casey Floyd has been an athletes’ rights advocate for over a decade. Casey grew up a huge UCLA fan and Ed O’Bannon became his childhood hero after O’Bannon led UCLA to the 1995 NCAA Championship. Almost two decades later, Casey was a law student when O’Bannon sued the NCAA. Casey became obsessed with the lawsuit and was disturbed to learn the unsettling truth that college athletes were the only American citizens prohibited from using their own name, image, and likeness. The legal injustices and civil rights issues became Casey’s driving force, rerouting his career toward the intertwined worlds of college athletics and civil rights.
Served at multiple Power Five institutions including as Director of Compliance at the University of Michigan
Worked at a Division I Conference Office, which provided a broader perspective
Half a decade on the NAAC Legislation and Governance Committee
Casey received his undergraduate degree in Business Law and Marketing from California State University Northridge (2011) and his law degree from Washington and Lee School of Law (2015). Casey saw behind the veil and realized all sincere feedback related to NIL and athlete compensation was dismissed and some committee structures were just smoke and mirrors for the public. This revelation pushed him to venture out in 2020, co-founding NOCAP Sports in search of a more impactful path.
Michele Roberts
Advisor
Michele A. Roberts, Esq., widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier trial lawyers and litigators, is the former executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). As the first woman to head a major professional sports union in North America, she negotiated for NBPA members new collective bargaining agreements that secured better salaries, schedules and health protocols for union members. She guided the organization through the COVID-19 crisis as players, the National Basketball Association and owners designed the “bubblelike” environment within which the league resumed play during the pandemic. She also played an instrumental role in promoting racial justice within the league.
Prior to serving as executive director of the NBPA, Ms. Roberts was a trial lawyer and partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Before that, she was a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. In both roles, her practice focused on complex civil and white-collar litigations before federal and state courts and administrative bodies.
Described by Washingtonian magazine as the “finest pure trial lawyer in Washington,” Ms. Roberts has received numerous accolades during the course of her legal career. She is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been recognized by Chambers Global, Chambers USA (Business Trials) and Benchmark Litigation, among other prominent publications, as well as by numerous public and private organizations, for her professional achievements.
Ellen Staurowsky
Advisor
Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., is a full professor in sports media in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College. She has been recognized as a fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) , the AAHPERD Research Consortium, and the National Academy of Kinesiology.
Dr. Staurowsky is internationally recognized as an expert on social justice issues in sport which include gender equity and Title IX, pay equity and equal employment opportunity, college athletes’ rights and the exploitation of college athletes, the faculty role in reforming college sport, representation of women in sport media, and the misappropriation of American Indian imagery in sport. She is co-author of the book, College Athletes for Hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA Amateur Myth (Praeger Press) ; editor and author of Women and Sport: A Continuing Journey from Liberation to Celebration (Human Kinetics Publishers); co-editor and author of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion in Sport; and co-author of The NCAA and the Exploitation of Profit College Athletes: An Amateurism That Never Was.
In addition to publications in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, Quest, Journal of Sport Management, the International Journal of Sport Communication, the International Journal of Sport Sociology, the Marquette Sports Law Review, the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, the International Journal of Sport History, and Sport Management Review her critiques and analyses on a variety of issues have appeared in *The Chronicle of Higher Education, Huffington Post, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, The NCAA News, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Athletic Management Magazine, and News From Indian Country. She was a columnist with the College Sport Business News, Women in Coaching Blog, and co-founder and editor of the LBGT Issues in Sport: Theory to Practice Blog. She currently serves as a contributing/senior writer with Sports Litigation Alert and Legal Issues in College Athletics and is editor in chief of Title IX Alert. She is also producer/writer/host of the podcast Talking Title IX and College Sports.
She has served as a research consultant to the National College Players Association, co-authoring several reports addressing issues regarding college football and basketball player value, including How the NCAA Empire Robs Predominantly Black Athletes of Billions in Generational Wealth, The $6 Billion Heist: Robbing College Athletes Under the Guise of Amateurism, TV Money Windfall in Big Time College Sports: $784 Million Reasons for Reform, The Price of Poverty: A Comparison of Big-Time College Athletes Fair Market Value, Their Current Compensation, and the U.S. Federal Poverty Line, and An Examination of the Financial Shortfall for Athletes on Full Scholarship at NCAA Division I Institutions – 2009-2010. And she serves on the advisory board of the College Football Players Association.
As a researcher and advocate on behalf of women in sport, she is the lead author on the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 50 Years of Title IX: We're Not Done Yet!, Her Life Depends on It: Sport and Physical Activity in the Lives of American Girls and Women (second and third editions). She also co-authored WSF’s report on women in the college sport workplace entitled Beyond X’s and O’s: Gender Bias and Coaches of Women’s Teams. And she was lead author on Chasing Equity: The Triumphs, Challenges, and Opportunities in Sports for Girls and Women and co-author of Play to Lead: The Generational Impact of Sport on Women's Leadership.
As a teacher and researcher, she has received numerous honors including the Women’s Sports Foundation Researcher of the Year award, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport’s President’s Award, the University of South Carolina College Sport Research Institute’s Lifetime Research Achievement Award, and the Laughlin Education Award from Ursinus College for her contributions to education nationally.
Current & past consultants and interns
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Jake Larson
Social Media Consultant
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Sara Cigri
Social Media & Design Intern
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Tim Ruiz
Legal Intern, Pepperdine Law Graduate 2023
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Albert Zhu
Legal Intern, Washington and Lee Law 3L
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Anu Iyer
Website Designer
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Kassidy Woods
Athlete Rights Advocate
Current Auburn Football Player
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Ra Kazadi
Artist and Graphic Designer
Former SMU Football Player
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Anna Puchalski
Illustrator
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Demaar Bey
Video Editor