NEW ORLEANS – Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company and University of New Orleans Athletics have announced a new, two-year partnership agreement. The bank is paying an undisclosed sum to sponsor the school’s athletic department, and the bank will develop a series of interactive financial literacy classes to inform student athletes about credit, taxes, saving and investing. The education program is designed to help athletes as UNO Athletics ramps up its name image and likeness (NIL) programming.
“We at Gulf Coast Bank are very happy to partner with the University of New Orleans to support Privateer Athletics. The student athletes at UNO are an incredibly impressive group,” said Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Company President & CEO Guy Williams at an Aug. 24 event announcing the partnership. “Our desire is to help even more people understand the value and opportunities to see great college athletes compete here in New Orleans.”
New Orleans Athletics said it will use sponsorship funds to enhance the experience for each Privateer student athlete.
“I’m so excited to partner with Gulf Coast Bank as the official bank of #NOLAsTeam. Finding a community bank with that personal feel was an important metric for us when looking for a partner,” said New Orleans Vice President for Athletics & Recreation Tim Duncan. “One of the reasons this relationship made sense for us is that Guy Williams and his leadership team were adamant in providing financial literacy programming for our student athletes. As educators at heart, we knew we had the right partner when that was the primary focus of Gulf Coast Bank.”
As part of the deal, Gulf Coast will be the official bank of UNO Athletics, and it will have signage at UNO sports events.