Thomas Healy ’28
Staff Writer
Holy Cross athletics is taking a step in the right direction. I had the opportunity to sit down with JR Butler, CEO and Founder of the Shift Group and the mind behind the Mount St. James NIL collective at Holy Cross. JR graduated from the Cross in 2008 and was a member of the varsity hockey team that upset Minnesota in the 2006 NCAA tournament in an overtime stunner.
He founded the Shift Group in 2022, paving the way for a new approach to the NIL puzzle. With a goal of personal growth and career development, the Shift Group is dedicated to “Getting Athletes And Veterans Dialed In as Business Professionals.” The company has partnered with over 3000 athletes and veterans once they hung up their uniforms, helping them transition into roles across every business function.
Now, through the Mount St. James NIL collective, Butler is bringing that same mission-driven focus back to his alma mater—empowering Crusader student-athletes not only to compete at the highest level, but also to prepare for life after sports. It’s the emphasis on the transition into the corporate world that makes Holy Cross’ partnership with the Shift Group unique. It’s not the run of the mill NIL collective that you hear about on SportsCenter.
“When most people think of NIL, they think of the million dollar running back in the SEC,” says Butler.
In a lot of cases, the student in “student-athlete” has been eliminated. In large conferences like the SEC and BIG 10, schools are paying athletes salaries as if they were professionals first and students second, blurring the line between college competition and the business of sports.
In Butler’s eyes, a successful NIL collective addresses three components: retention, mentorship, and education. Retention has been the bulwark for the whole NIL landscape ever since its inauguration in 2021.
Retaining players who have great seasons is becoming more and more difficult, especially for schools like Holy Cross. Think about it. If you have a great first season at HC, you’re going to be approached by mid majors and maybe some power 5’s. From that point on, it’s a bidding war. The highest bidder typically wins.
For Holy Cross Men’s Basketball, this is a dilemma all too familiar. The Crusaders have had three of the last six Patriot League Rookie of the Years. All three left the school after their first year.
With the Mount St. James collective, the hope is for player retention to become a lot more manageable. Getting student athletes to realize the value of a Holy Cross education is a major component of retention, too.
“The retention isn’t just about the student-athlete,” Butler added. “It’s about the members of the community.”
The money aspect can’t be implemented without the importance of the community being realized. Shift Group’s focus on mentorship and education adds a complexity to the Mount St. James collective that aligns with the Holy Cross community.
“It’s really like the collective is about retainment for sure at the core, like what we think of a collective,” Butler says. “But I think the way we’re doing it uniquely with these other three pieces of education, mentorship and career transition, is really what’s going to make it special.”
In practice, the collective is still in its early stages. However, there are opportunities for student athletes to receive compensation and participate in the collective. In this way, the onus is on the student-athlete to make use of the opportunities the collective presents.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a top athlete on your team or not — every player has the chance to build their personal brand, gain professional experience, and prepare for life after sports.
“It’s up to you if you want to take advantage of it,” Butler insists.
The collective isn’t a one-way street doing the work for the athlete. Rather, it’s a two-way street that requires effort from the athlete as well.
The Worcester community and alumni network are extremely fond of Holy Cross – large in part to the values that HC stands for. We’re a liberal arts school that cares for each one of its students and alumni. Understandibly, people want to give back.
Just look at JR Butler, an alumnus of the college, a member of the hockey team’s 2006 Cinderella run, and now the leader of the Mount St. James collective. People who loved their time at HC haven’t skipped a beat on what the college is up to today. The opportunities to engage with the community and alumni are superfluous – now it’s a matter of seizing them.
Holy Cross athletics now has the infrastructure to do more than it ever has – but I’m not talking about championships or records. The collective will surely make our athletic teams more competitive in the leagues they play in. However, it goes beyond this superficial impact.
I’m talking about empowering athletes to do great things not only on the playing field, whether it be turf, grass, ice, or the hardwood, but to do great things once they walk across that stage and are handed their diploma.
“Holy Cross takes athletics very seriously. And I don’t see a world where we go backwards,” Butler says. “I think what I see us doing, and I’m sitting at the front seat of it is like we’re answering the bell for what’s necessary to continue to compete at the level we’ve competed at for the last 45 years.”
Featured image courtesy of Google Images
Copy Edited by Sophia Mariani ’26
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