The topic was alluded to frequently during Brian Santiago’s introductory press conference on Wednesday, and for good reason.

College athletics has undergone some substantial shifts over the past few years, with more likely still on the docket. Those shifts involve collegiate athletes now able to market their name, image and likeness, commonly referred to as ‘NIL,’ along with the loosening of transfer restrictions.

Sure, there’s been other minor changes, but NIL and the opening up of a very active transfer portal has brought about drastic changes to how collegiate sports operate. What’s apparent is that for Cougar Athletics to succeed in its stated mission of achieving national relevance, being on the forefront of managing both NIL and the transfer portal market is imperative.

“There is so much about today’s college athletics that doesn’t resemble our father’s college athletics,” said BYU President Shane Reese during Wednesday’s press conference. “So we’re going to have a lot of lessons to learn, and (Santiago’s) willingness and humility to learn those lessons also came out through that process.”

Indeed Santiago is viewed as someone who has already helped navigate the changing landscape of collegiate athletics effectively. Perhaps the most dramatic example of Santiago’s adroitness in this regard was the hiring of BYU Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin Young.

In untypical fashion, the BYU administration moved relatively quickly in attracting Young to Provo from his job as the top assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns just weeks after the departure of Mark Pope to Kentucky. BYU came forward with a somewhat surprisingly competitive offer, but perhaps more importantly, an apparent ability, in Young’s view at least, to attract top talent around the country to enhance the overall product on the court.

Sure, Young by himself played a big role in acquiring top talent such as Egor Demin, who is currently viewed as a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft, and No. 1-rated recruit AJ Dybantsa, but other factors certainly came into play.

Santiago was at the forefront of all of it, as stated by Young himself, working behind the scenes he’s been learning to navigate for more than 20 years.

“We found in Brian someone who…is willing to adapt and adjust to a changing landscape,” Reese said.

Santiago is going to have to adapt to quickly is what will come about if the U.S. House of Representative’s so-called ‘Protecting Student Athletes’ Economic Freedom’ Act. The bill’s major change involves preventing student-athletes from being deemed employees of their schools, conferences or even the NCAA and then opening a pathway for Universities to pay athletes directly.

“Candidly, I think all of us, and I mean all of us as in the entire NCAA landscape, are going to be learning lots of new lessons as the House settlement comes out,” Reese said.

Again, Santiago is viewed as someone who has learned the lessons on how successfully navigate the changing collegiate sports landscape and subsequently considered the most capable of taking on future challenges, along with all the other key figures of BYU Athletics.

“I think that the one thing that I’ll do is make sure we protect the great things that we’ve established together,” Santiago said. “When I say we, I don’t just mean Tom (Holmoe) and me. All these coaches in the room, every member of our athletic department, we’re united in this, and we’ve established some great positive momentum, maybe the best momentum that we’ve ever had in sports at BYU. It’s important for us to protect that, especially. We have a department filled with excellence. We have administrators, we have coaches, we have support staff. Everybody’s all in.”

Santiago is certain to make changes, as he seems fit, but stated directly throughout the press conference that his intent is to generally hold things together and stay on what’s generally viewed as a positive course.

“We’re fortunate to have an incredible amount of positive momentum in the athletic department,” Santiago concluded. ” I’m passionate — and people know that I’m passionate — about continuing the excellence and protecting the integrity of this great university. The athletic department has over 100 years of history. We’ve watched some of the greatest players and coaches in the history of sport win at the highest level, doing it the right way. We were born to win.”