The award-winning “Listen In With KNN” podcast and radio show is back with a brand new audio episode as host and executive producer Kelsey Nicole Nelson sits down with fellow Terrapin, the founder of Coastal Advisors LLC, Rich “Big Daddy” Salgado.
For the next 54 minutes, the Maryland alumns sit down to discuss Salagado’s collegiate playing career, life after football, and provide a positive outlook looking ahead to the future of University of Maryland football program. The interview brings awareness to the importance of being insured.
Rich Salgado was a football player in College Park from 1986 to 1990, where he was able to earn a scholarship to the Power 4 program and become the first member of his family to attend college.
“Well, I took the hard road when I went to Maryland. I wasn’t the most academic, studious student in high school,” Salgado said, recollecting on his time with the Terps. His path to the college football field really began with his time at Milford Academy, a prep school in New Berlin, NY. An experience that he described in the interview as a “quick wake up.” During his time at Maryland, he earned the notorious nickname of “Big Daddy” thanks to a fellow teammate of his.
“When a fellow Terps player, he was 6 ‘9, 330lbs. I walked into the room and said ‘Man, Big Daddy’ and he said ‘No your daddy brought you here, so you’re big daddy.’ I looked up at him and said ‘Yes Sir’ and it stuck.”
The conversation between the fellow alums segued to modern day as Nelson asked for Salgado’s insight about the current NIL era and how it is impacting college football’s recruiting landscape. Salgado brought up how this era of college football is scary while having an understanding that these recruits are following the money as some of the guys come from backgrounds where they haven’t seen this significant amount of money before. Salgado did share worry that these schools are giving it to recruits who aren’t accustomed to having this amount of wealth and won’t be able to properly use it and wants more financial literacy to be taught in these regards.
“Back when I was going up and coming out, we didn’t have all this stuff. Your parents were with you when you visited a school, they offered you a scholarship. You either took it or you didn’t. You played football and went to school, those were your priorities,”Salgado said. As college recruits in all sports can make money off their own personal brand, many don’t know that the monetization comes with taxes.
Now these kids, they’re going to these schools and one guy will go to University A and get a million bucks. He doesn’t like it there cause he’s not playing and goes to University B and gets another [million]. It’s not about the game and it’s not about school. It’s about ‘how much money can I put in my pocket?,’” Salgado said.
The conversation continued as Nelson talked about how Maryland Head Coach Mike Locksley has impacted the program. They also talked about the potential positive impact newly hired offensive coordinator Pep Hamiliton will have. With Maryland also signing DMV hometown 4-star quarterback Malik Washington, Salagado had nothing but praises for the future of Maryland football. He also emphasized the importance of support off the field by alumni, to help Maryland football be successful this upcoming season.
“Maryland does a great job of welcoming back its players and letting them be part, come up to campus and be at practice and do the things that they need to do. Those are filtering points to help build a program,” Salgado said.
Support for the program is how Nelson and Salgado initially met. They were able to get in contact by meeting in the press box at Maryland football’s first ever game against USC where they were able to defeat the Trojans. The course of discussion then shifted to life after football and the importance of making sure your future is secured, which is the role Salgado works in now.
After graduating from Maryland, Salagado reconnected with former teammate and roommate, quarterback Neil O’ Donnell who invited him to come down to Pittsburgh as O’ Donnell was the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers at that time.
That time would become beneficial for “Big Daddy” as he ended up forming major connections during his three-year stay in the Steel City, one of them being legendary hockey player Mario Lemieux. Salagado would leave Pittsburgh, with his reason of departure being the responsibility he took upon himself to help take care of O’Donnell’s father in New Jersey
“I played nurse, rehab, driver and everything all from about six or seven months. because his father was a big guy and obviously me I’m a big guy, could pick him up and throw him over my shoulder. I did my part there till I had to move on because he needed more medical care.”
This would lead to Salgado finding his role in the insurance field, as Rich got offered a job in the industry through a friend. Big Daddy was able to put those Pittsburgh connections to good use as he began working with well-known agent Tom Rich, whose top client was Lemieux and Ralph Cindrich, another prominent football agent. Being able to diversify his clientele in the sports industry, Salagado originally worked more in the world of hockey before branching out to football.
“After I got the confidence to do what I’m doing now, I took it to a grander scale. Where I went out there publicly and let people know who I am and what I do. And off we go, Coastal Advisors LLC.”
Host Nelson proceeds to ask Salagado how he got comfortable with being in the insurance field, where he responds by admitting that insurance isn’t a “sexy” topic to talk about as he mainly does his work through players agents and accountants.
“When I first started with the athletes I would say to them ‘Look, does a dentist do an MRI on your knee and then operate on it. No, the dentist works on your teeth. So, if you want to be successful, let multiple people work for you.’”
Establishing trust is major for Salgado as he’s seen athletes frequently put the financial decisions in the hands of close family members, which doesn’t always work out as one would expect..His response to that is asking the athlete if that family member is licensed/certified to do so. Rich and his partner Chris Murial have offices in New York and Florida. The reason Salagado added him to the team is because Chris could educate him so he could be the best and know what he’s talking about.
“What we do as a team, we try to make it sensible and understandable why you should be doing business with us. It’s not pretty, there’s no gimmick, there’s no reward. We do this, we show how it’s economically beneficial for you. There’s no robbing you; we’re not selling you something you don’t need, you need this, you need us. When your career is done, you’re gonna be done with your agent, you’re not done with us.”
Big Daddy has been able to build an empire in the insurance industry, working with stars like Hall of Fame defensive end, Michael Strahan. Salgado also has connections with both teams from Super Bowl LIX as he’s been a long time friend of Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnolo and head coach Andy Reid. All while working with Philadelphia Eagles players Lane Johnson and Brandon Graham.
Nelson asks Salagado if he’s had to change his style of gaining clients in this new age of athletes. Rich agrees that it is different and tells Nelson that he’s gained his clients through building trust by telling his own personal stories about how he needed to obtain protection after having an aneurysm back in 2008.
“Tragically you have these deaths with athletes. When Sean Taylor was killed, that week I wrote four policies on players. Because God forbid something happens – you have to take a look at all this stuff and let somebody educate you and teach you on how to buy insurance in a cost effective manner that benefits you and your benefactors.”
Rich Salagado tells the audience that his services don’t start and end with athletes, as he also works with regular business owners and workers. He tries to educate how insurance benefits everyone and that education sets his firm apart from the rest of the competition.
To listen to the full show, check it out below.
