Adam R. Cocco, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration in the Department of Health & Sport Sciences at the University of Louisville. His research primarily investigates economic and legal/policy issues impacting intercollegiate athletics, with particular focuses on name, image, and likeness (NIL) in college athletics and the financial impacts of athletics on small colleges and universities.

Dr. Cocco’s scholarship has received several accolades. Notably, he received the Best Paper Award from the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport for his research on legislative frameworks within state-level laws impacting the NIL rights and opportunities of college athletics. Furthermore, he was a finalist for the 2022 Outstanding Paper award from the Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics for his seminal examination of NIL earnings estimates among community college athletes. In 2025, Dr. Cocco was presented with the Emerging Early-Career Researcher Award from the University of Louisville for his scholarly production and impact while serving as a tenure-track faculty member.

Overall, Dr. Cocco has authored 25 peer-reviewed publications across a variety of prominent sport management journals, including the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Marketing Quarterly, and the Sociology of Sport Journal. He has also contributed to over 40 presentations at academic and professional conferences.

Dr. Cocco maintains active partnerships with sport industry organizations to deliver practically applicable insights for sport administrations. He has served as the Lead Researcher on the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Return on Athletics Research and Analytics Project since 2021. In 2024, he partnered with the PGA of America to conduct a comprehensive economic impact study for the 2024 PGA Championship held in Louisville. Furthermore, he served as the Lead Policy and Data Analysis consultant for the SB206 California Community College NIL Working Group in the year leading up to the onset of the NIL era in college athletics.

Dr. Cocco also maintains an active teaching and service record. In Fall 2021, he developed one of the first NIL in College Athletics courses in the country and has continued to deliver that course to students each semester since its inception. He is the primary instructor for the university’s graduate-level Sport Finance and Economics course. Finally, he has coordinated and lead students on several study abroad trips, including three separate trips to Germany where students volunteered at the Special Olympics World Games (2023), UEFA European Football Championships (2024), and FISU World University Games (2025). He also coordinated and conducted International Service-Learning Program trips for students to travel to Ghana in 2019 and 2023.

Dr. Cocco received his B.S. in Business Administration from Youngstown State University, his M.A. in Economics from the University of Akron, and completed his PhD in Sport Administration at the University of Louisville in 2020.