CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – In 1989-90, Mark Cooke played both basketball and football at the University of Virginia, learning lessons that would carry him through three decades in the business world.

From basketball coach Terry Holland and football coach George Welsh, Cooke said he learned about leadership. From his Cavaliers teammates, he learned the value of support.

It’s an experience he wants for the next generation of UVA athletes, which is why – in June – he joined CavFutures as the organization’s chief operating officer.

“This place is near and dear to my heart,” Cooke told Cville Right Now on Friday. “That’s why I’m back here.”

The 57-year-old, who recently built a house with his wife in Nelson County, is playing a key role as the company rebrands to CavFutures Marketing Inc. this week, a change in response to changes in the name, image and likeness arena following the House settlement.

UVA athletics’ third-party collective is shifting to being a true marketing agency for the athletes, lining up sponsorship NIL deals.

“We’ve been anticipating this for quite some time now,” CavFutures executive director Lo Davis said during an appearance on WINA Morning News this week. “The good thing about CavFutures is, we’ve always kind of operated as a hybrid. A fundraising model but also a true marketing model. We’re more so transitioning now into a true marketing company where we want to work with local, regional and national businesses to create opportunities and deals for student athletes.”

Cooke is working alongside Davis, a former UVA baseball player and Cooke’s college roommate. Cooke’s role has included everything from building up the company’s infrastructure, IT and security systems, streamlining roles and responsibilities, and establishing business licenses and bank accounts for the new version of the company.

“There’s a lot of debate on whether or not student athletes should get paid or not,” Cooke said. “I just land on the side that, hey, they are getting paid. How do we best make that happen. How do we best maximize their brand, their effort, their work, so they can maximize the money they make.”

Cooke and Davis will work closely with UVA’s teams, particularly the football and basketball programs. Cooke said he has had great collaboration so far with Tyler Jones, UVA’s general manager for football and women’s basketball, and men’s basketball contact Ronnie Wideman, a senior associate athletic director, and even first-year coach Ryan Odom.

Cooke said Odom took the CavFutures staff out to lunch this week to thank them for their NIL efforts on the program’s behalf.

While landing lucrative business deals is the most obvious function of CavFutures, opportunities that help UVA teams recruit athletes in the transfer-portal era, the organization also focuses on the future for athletes after their playing days end. Cooke said that aspect is particularly important, because 90% of Virginia athletes go on to make their living doing something other than playing sports.

For Cooke, after his basketball and football days at UVA ended, he went to work in the beverage industry, spending most of his career with PepsiCo and, most recently, working on the launch of Black Rifle Coffee.

He met his wife at Virginia and they both have family in the Staunton area.

“I played two sports here. Our hearts have always been in this area,” Cooke said. “The reason it made sense for me was our love of UVA, the Charlottesville area and, especially, the student athletes.”