Matthew Jakobsze, J.D., has been named Saint Louis University’s Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance and NIL, Billikens Director of Athletics Chris May announced today.
“It is great to welcome Matt to the Billiken team,” May said. “His extensive compliance background coupled with his strong NIL expertise are critically important to our program. Today’s world of NCAA compliance and NIL is changing quickly, and Matt will help our program immensely as we move forward. We are thrilled to have Matt and his family joining the Billikens.”
“My family and I are so grateful to join Saint Louis University, and I want to thank Chris May and Janet Oberle for this opportunity,” Jakobsze said. “It’s an exciting time to be a Billiken and an unprecedented time in college athletics. I look forward to working with the University administration, coaches, student-athletes, and the St. Louis community to uphold the integrity of the institution and positively impact the lives of our student-athletes.”
Jakobsze comes to SLU with more than a decade of experience in college athletics. Most recently, he served as the Associate Athletics Director for Compliance at the University of Missouri Columbia since 2019, where he managed the day-to-day compliance operations and was a member of the department’s senior staff. At Mizzou, Jakobsze served as the sport administrator for women’s gymnastics and women’s soccer, overseeing a gymnastics program that wrapped up the 2022 season with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championship, the highest in program history. Additionally, Jakobsze was heavily involved in the world of NIL – writing the department’s NIL policy, advising on student-athlete and donor education, and consulting on the state of Missouri’s NIL legislation.
From 2017-21, Jakobsze served on the Board of Directors for the National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC), the industry’s leading professional development organization, where he served as the chair of the Convention Committee and the Marketing and Strategic Communications Committee.
Previously, Jakobsze served as an Associate Athletics Director of Compliance at Eastern Michigan University (2013-19), an Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance at the University of Nebraska Omaha (2012-13), and as a Compliance Coordinator and law extern at Northern Illinois University (2009-12).
Jakobsze earned a B.A. in Psychology from Dominican University (River Forest, Ill.) in 2008, where he was a men’s soccer student-athlete and team captain. In 2011, he graduated with a Juris Doctor from Northern Illinois University’s College of Law. He and his wife, Courtney Oden Jakobsze, together raise two children, Harper and Calvin.