The Friday Five: Steve Caric

Steve Caric is an NFLPA certified Agent who is the President and Founder of Caric Sports Management. His clients over the years have included names such as Steven Jackson, Zach Ertz, and Austin Hooper to name a few.

We caught up with Steve for this week’s Friday Five…

Who is your biggest mentor?

I'll give you a couple. My dad is one of them. He was a farmer who worked…you know, he worked like a farmer. I really learned work ethic, determination and about just focusing on what you can control. Then in the agent business, I was lucky enough to be mentored and learn the business from Joel Corry, who is as good as anyone when it comes to salary and contracts.

If you could give one piece of advice to younger agents just getting started, what would it be?

Make friends with the best football player you know! No, seriously, it's a relationship business. You just have to nurture relationships all the way around and really be true to yourself. Be true to your core values. I think that this business is about really showing that you are who you say you are and never compromising on what you believe. As long as you do that, you will build a great reputation and you can build a great business.

With the rise of NIL and NFT and all the other acronyms and buzzwords right now, is it more difficult to add and create value for your clients?

Is it more difficult? No, but the landscape has definitely changed. You have to adapt to that, and there's definitely a lot of challenges that come with everything. There's also a lot of opportunities, and that's how I try to look at everything. It's from the old scouting adage, right? Don't tell me what they can’t do. Tell me what they can do.

I think it's the same thing when you have a new challenge in the industry. You have to try to flip it a bit and look at it. Okay, how can I take advantage of this as well? This is from someone who's not deep in the NIL game, but I do think that there's opportunities there…but I don't think it's any different from anything else. This is the landscape of being an agent. It changes on a regular basis, and you're just always having to adapt and overcome.

Where do you see yourself, your agency, your clients, and the business in 20 years?

I see myself and the agency right where we are. We're not trying to be anyone other than who we are. We're not trying to become the biggest agency. We just want to work with good people and good football players. We're just going to continue to do that. I couldn't be more proud of the agency that we've built and the people that we have working for us. I just want to keep doing what we're doing. I'm very happy with where we are.

As for the industry itself. I don't really know how to answer that question. It's like I said before, it's ever changing, and you never really know what's going to come next or what that new challenge is going to be. That's also what makes me enjoy it as much as I do—that you can never be complacent. You always have to be ready for what's next and ready to adapt and ready to grow. So again, like I said, there are challenges in there. There's always going to be new challenges, but that's part of what keeps me energized

If you can invite any three people to lunch — living, dead, fictional, or otherwise — Who would it be and why?

Oh, my gosh, that's hard. Jackie Robinson, for obvious reasons. He was probably one of the most courageous and brave people that's ever lived. I would love to hear about the struggles he went through and how he coped with everything.

Mike Tyson — just because I think it would be a blast. He has an amazing life story; he was thought of as invincible when I was a kid. Plus, he’s hilarious.

You know what, you said fictional, here's a good one: Forrest Gump. I think that if everyone lived with the honesty and innocence of Forrest Gump, we would live in a pretty terrific world. I've told my kids before that we all need to live by the religion of Forrest Gump.