Logan Hittle has helped facilitate more than 5,500 NIL deals and works closely with all of Ohio State’s 1,100 student-athletes, as well as coaches, administrators, brands, donors, alumni, fans, agents and parents as the Associate Athletic Director of Name, Image and Likeness & Strategic Initiatives. Courtesy of Logan Hittle
Logan Hittle was working as a facilities assistant at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in 2018 when he walked into the recruiting office to take out the trash.
Eron Hodges, former assistant director of player personnel for Ohio State football, was sitting at his desk and looked up at the interruption. He quickly took notice of Hittle.
“You’re a bigger guy,” Hodges said. “Have you ever thought about playing here?”
Hittle answered honestly: The thought had never occurred to him.
But he pondered the idea, imagining what it could be like.
A few months later, the team was holding tryouts, and Hittle had thought enough — he was ready to set the bizarre idea into motion.
He walked onto the indoor practice field, wearing his high school Adidas white cleats with gold laces.
“Are you here to take out the trash?” asked Phil Matusz, a strength and conditioning coach.
“No coach,” Hittle replied. “I’m here to try out.”
The rest is history.
Hittle’s confidence in himself paid off in the form of a walk-on spot with the 2018 Buckeyes, and he hasn’t looked back since. Seven years later, he’s the associate athletic director of Ohio State’s name, image and likeness and strategic initiative efforts, leading and advising student-athletes in 36 sports through the ever-changing collegiate athletics landscape.
“I had the foresight that getting that job at the Woody and having the chance to walk on was always bigger than football,” Hittle said. “It was always going to lead to the opportunity to work in college athletics, hopefully at Ohio State, but at least somewhere.”
Hittle’s office sits on the fifth floor of the Fawcett Center, where his framed, scarlet No. 48 jersey hangs on one wall. On another wall are nearly a dozen handwritten notes from student-athletes, expressing their gratitude for Hittle’s guidance over the years.
His current setup is a far cry from the janitorial job he took in 2017 to earn “spending money” and help him pay tuition.
“If I’m taking out the trash of a coach’s office, or an administrator or a defensive coordinator, that’s like a 30-second opportunity every day to try and build a little bit of a relationship,” Hittle said.
So, Hittle gave it his all every time he stepped through the door, whether he was sweeping floors, moving tables, cleaning toilets or taking out trash.
“Logan was great; he was probably one of the best students we’ve ever had,” said Sean Perkins, assistant athletics director of indoor facilities. “We promoted him to student supervisor; he was a self-starter, he was a leader — he led the crew, and he could manage the crew for you.”
Once Hittle had finally convinced himself to try out for the Buckeyes, he ran into a roadblock: He forgot to turn in his mandatory paperwork and thought he had blown his chance of making the team.
Hittle went back to the recruiting coordinator’s office and confessed his mistake. But he wasn’t told he was out of luck. Instead, he realized his determination as a facilities worker was being noticed.
“Certain people, I know who they are,” Hodges said. “He didn’t have to fill out s***.”
Hittle had Hodges’ trust already, and that following Wednesday, he was good to go for tryouts.
A day after his tryout, Hittle was sitting in his American literature class at 11:35 a.m. when he received an email. He had made the cut.
“It was just one of those things that didn’t feel real,” Hittle said.
But Hittle didn’t quit his custodial job just because he made the team. In fact, he consistently went from practices to cleaning shifts.
“It tells you the kind of person he is; it tells you how driven he is; it tells you how loyal and dedicated he is,” Perkins said.
Hittle’s lone snap as a member of the Buckeye football team came Sept. 21, 2019, when Ohio State led Miami (OH) 76-5 in a torrential downpour. Before the game was called early by mutual consent, Hittle and the other walk-ons were put into the game.
“It was a cool moment to be out there with guys who are in similar situations as you,” Hittle said. “There were probably 300 people in the stands. It was probably all of our parents.”
Hittle spent two years on the football team and graduated in December 2019. Soon after, he sat down with then-athletic director Gene Smith and asked him about working in collegiate athletics.
“Leave, get out of here,” Smith said to Hittle. “You can always come back, but go get experience somewhere else to help build your resume.”
Hittle left for the University of Tennessee to serve as a graduate assistant for the school’s football program, helping the Volunteers plan academic schedules, track educational progress and schedule tutors and mentoring sessions.
A year later, Hittle got a call from Melissa McGhee, director of student-athlete development at Ohio State, who offered him the role of associate director.
“It was a no-brainer,” Hittle said. “I wanted to be at Ohio State anyway. It was incredible because what Gene had sat in his office and told me came true.”
As Hittle began his new job back in Columbus, NIL initiatives started to gain steam in the wider world of college sports.
Carey Hoyt, executive associate athletic director of sport administration and student-athlete development at Ohio State, oversaw the athletic department’s NIL efforts. She asked Hittle to read through related articles and review potential vendors with whom the program could connect.
As more and more schools began hiring NIL directors, Hittle offered to officially take on the role at Ohio State, a position he assumed in 2022.
“He is elite in so many ways,” Hoyt said about Hittle. “In the space that we’re in, and NIL and the responsibilities that he has, I don’t know that everyone could handle them. It’s very fast-paced, changes quickly, high-pressure, high-stakes, and he handles it like a pro.”
In his role, Hittle completes a multitude of tasks, whether it’s educating student-athletes on brand building, talking to potential donors about how they can collaborate with student-athletes, researching how jersey sales impact Ohio State and its athletes or pitching why Columbus is the best place for a new recruit.
“I had no idea where it was going, but knew that I was willing to take the opportunity to learn and grow with the space,” Hittle said. “I’m so fortunate because this NIL space has allowed me, as a young professional, to develop exponentially fast.”
Hittle said he has helped facilitate more than 5,500 NIL deals and works closely with Ohio State’s 1,100 student-athletes, as well as coaches, administrators, brands, donors, alumni, fans, agents and parents.
“Anybody that interacts with him externally — whether it’s a brand or another professional in Columbus, a donor — everybody is just so impressed with him, and people go out of their way to take note of how special he is,” Hoyt said.
Hittle’s quick rise in the athletics administration landscape was not a surprise to Hoyt, Athletic Director Ross Bjork or Hodges, who is now the associate director of player personnel for Alabama football.
“Certain people have traits that you can consistently see them climbing,” Hodges said. “And he’s one of those people that I saw those traits when he was changing trash, I saw it when he became a player, even after I left, and I see it now in his ability to navigate NIL.”
Bjork agreed.
“I’ve been so impressed with his talent, his organization, his calmness,” Bjork said. “He’s in a high-pressure environment around the NIL world, and you can’t get too high or too low with his steadiness, and calmness and organization; he puts people at ease.”
Now, Hittle said every day is different as he continues to gain diverse experience in the college administration realm. Looking forward, he said he can see himself becoming an athletic director someday, or even the CEO of a company adjacent to college athletics.
Even so, Hittle isn’t worried about the future — he’s focused on the present.
“One of my favorite quotes I have on my wall is, ‘Keep your vision solid, but your plans fluid,’” Hittle said. “Ultimately, that endpoint and how you want to feel has to stay consistent, but how you’re gonna get there isn’t always going to be a straight line.”
