Molly Harry
Assistant Professor | University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, UNITED STATES
Molly Harry focuses on research and advocacy in the area of college athletes' rights and wellbeing with a particular recent focus on NIL.
Biography
Molly Harry's research explores ways to integrate “big-time” athletics into the American academy with a focus on two areas: (1) Understanding the relationship between the NCAA, institutions, and athletic departments, and (2) examining ways the NCAA, institutions, and athletic departments can improve athletes’ developmental opportunities and experiences, through qualitative and mixed methods approaches. Her current areas of study and advocacy include athletes' NIL and potential employment status. Her research seeks to uncover power structures in sports, recenter athlete narratives and experiences, and provide athletic departments with actionable avenues for change.
Areas of Expertise (6)
Sport sociology
Title IX and Gender Equity
College Athlete Rights
Name, Image, and Likeness
NIL
College Athlete Wellbeing
Media Appearances (2)
Professor Molly Harry: The NCAA’s Use of Language to Assert and Protect Its Power
DYK Media radio
2024-04-26
In this episode, we sit down with University of Florida professor Molly Harry to discuss how the NCAA’s public messaging strategies on name, image, and likeness preserve and protect NCAA regulatory power and authority.
The NCAA coined the term ‘student-athlete’ in the 1950s. Its time might be up.
The Washington Post online
2021-10-28
As Congress, the courts and state legislatures re-examine the definition of amateurism in college sports, another concept at the heart of the enterprise is being reconsidered: the term “student-athlete.” To many college athletes, it is a fitting descriptor, given the demanding dual roles they juggle.
Articles (3)
“You Don’t Want Us to Solve This”: Agenda Setting in the Federal Hearings on Name, Image, and Likeness
Communication & SportMolly Harry
2024-07-20
From 2020 to 2024, the United States Congress held 11 hearings pertaining to name, image, and likeness (NIL). Various stakeholder groups have participated in these hearings including Congress and those looking to “maintain” or “disrupt” college sport and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Examining Faculty Perspectives on the Role and Value of Intercollegiate Athletics
Journal of Intercollegiate SportMolly Harry
2024-02-17
The uneasy marriage of higher education and athletics can be seen through the conceptual lenses of former institution and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) President Myles Brand’s Standard or Integrated View. The Standard View maintains that athletics serves as a business while the Integrated View argues that athletics should be appreciated as a form of education and art.
Hegemony and the National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Critical Discourse Analysis of National Collegiate Athletic Association Resources Concerning Name, Image, and Likeness
Sociology of Sport JournalMolly Harry
2023-12-06
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is experiencing existential shifts, but perhaps none is more significant than the adoption of name, image, and likeness (NIL) policies allowing college athletes to monetize their publicity rights (Cocco & Moorman, 2022). This adoption increased the rights of the more than 500,000 college athletes and challenged the historic hegemonic power the NCAA has maintained over college sports since the early 1900s (Smith, 2011).
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