NIL Nuggets of the Week Thread - (3/24-3/30)
In an attempt to stay tapped into all things NIL, I've sorted through and gathered some interesting NIL-centered news items today, the title of each section will redirect you to the initial article, as I did not translate all of the columns into this page. Just the best cliff notes.
I will continue adding more news as the week unfolds! Please feel free to link any informative or interesting NIL articles in this thread!
Cheers,
PS: If you'd like to advertise with Orangebloods, Sponsoring this Column or a show on Orangbloods Live, please reach out to @Sunny Nelson !
1. Kansas State Basketball Star Reveals Frustration on Leaked Details About Record NIL Deal
"The 6-9 star was coming off a big season for the Illinois Fighting Illini, and he was looking for a new program for his final season. He landed with the Kansas State Wildcats and did so after he snagged name, image and likeness deals upwards of $2 million, according to published reports."
"Statistically, Hawkins’ season was frustrating. He averaged 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.8 steals per game. He was injured near the end of the season and missed a few games. He did earn All-Big 12 Conference third-team honors."
Cody's Thoughts: I've never watched this guy play a minute of basketball, but $2m is maniacal for this stat-line.
2. Sweet 16 Coaches Cashing In With Lucrative Contract Incentives
Cody's Thoughts: Does Nate Oats need a new agent? Even though Alabama made the Final Four a year ago, and I picked them to win it all this year, they aren't near the top of the food chain to the point that only $25,000 is a respectable bonus to make the Sweet Sixteen. Making Alabama a consensus Final 16 team in 4 of the last 5 years, pretty good notoriety.
3. Did NIL End Cinderellas in March Madness?
Thought: "NIL is also helping high-major programs retain talent that might’ve otherwise gone pro. Players who are “NBA-adjacent” now have a financial reason to stay one more year—adding depth and experience to already stacked rosters."
Reality: "The truth is, deep Cinderella runs—Elite 8 or further—have always been the exception, not the rule. We remember them vividly because they’re rare. NIL didn’t change that; it may have just reset the odds a little."
Cody's Thoughts: The good old days, I still think a team like BYU as a 6 seed can be considered a pseudo-Cinderella, although I understand George Mason was an 11 seed back in 2005. Also, Arkansas isn'y a damn Cinderella, not with Coach Calipari. But for real, look at Maryland vs. Colorado State this year, it came down to the wire, and Maryland advanced to the Sweet 16 by one point. There was a minute last weekend when the thought of 1. Florida, 12. Colorado State, 11. Drake and 10. Arkansas, each advancing in the West Region, was a reality.
4. Kentucky fans made Weetabix the No. 1 selling cereal on Amazon for Amari Williams
"Before last night, I didn’t know what Weetabix was, but I doubt it was a bestseller, at least here in America. After Kentucky fans learned that the English breakfast cereal fueled Amari Williams to a big performance in the win over Illinois in the NCAA Tournament, it is now the best-selling cold cereal on Amazon."
"Williams finished with eight points (4-11 FG), ten rebounds, six assists, three blocks, and a steal in 26 minutes in Kentucky’s 84-75 win over Illinois. Afterward, at Mark Pope’s encouragement, he shared that part of the reason he had more energy than in the win over Troy was because he swapped his usual road game breakfast of toast out for Weetabix, his childhood breakfast in Nottingham, England."
“It’s like Shredded Wheat — and me saying this is crazy because my parents always forced me to eat it growing up,” Williams said on Sunday. “I had about three of them this morning and Coach Pope joined me too and Brandon Garrison. I feel like that helped my performance today for sure.”
Cody's Thoughts: Sounds like the once family-owned company that sold to Post in 2017 may be setting up and NIL deal with Williams before this tournament is over!
5. Penn State builds player personnel staff
In a February press conference with reporters, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft was asked about the potential for the football program to bring in a general manager. And while there’d been no movement to that end, he acknowledged the rapidly changing landscape and the necessity of staff to help sort through the issues related therein."
“How about we change the narrative of NIL? It’s marketing now. It’s marketing dollars with the new rev-share and the 20.5 [million]. Obviously, we’re going to invest the 20.5, and then it increases four percent every single year after that. We’re doing that,” said Kraft. “I think, when people think of the traditional NIL piece, we’re where we need to be. You have to keep looking, and you’ve got to continue to do what you got to do. But in this new system, you’re going to have to show fair market value and this is where the power of Penn State is a huge asset. Fair market value for the starting quarterback at Penn State is pretty good. We’ve got to lean into that with our business partners. That’s kind of the new world of name, image, and likeness.
6. Wisconsin football hires new director of player personnel
"Wisconsin football is hiring North Texas' Ethan Russo as its next director of player personnel, the news first reported by 247Sports' Matt Zenitz."
"The hire fills the vacancy created when general manager Max Stienecker left for a prominent role at USC. While the program hired Marcus Sedberry to carry the official general manager designation, his background is primarily in administrative roles, both at Wisconsin (2023-24) and Baylor (2017-22). Stienecker was a recruiting ace before growing into Wisconsin's GM position. With his departure, the program had an additional need at the top of the recruiting department."
Cody's Thoughts: Russo looks like he is 20 years old.
7. Basketball-centric schools without football may soon gain major advantage. Here's how.
"Of the 37 at-large bids handed out by the selection committee this year, only five went to leagues that don't sponsor football: Four to the Big East and one to the West Coast Conference.
It's not an anomaly. Over the past five NCAA tournaments, a combined 28 at-large bids went to non-FBS leagues. The five before that, the number was 38."
“I really look at where we're positioned as a huge advantage,” said VCU athletics director Ed McLaughlin, whose school is the Atlantic 10's only representative in the field this year."
"Naturally, big-time football programs will absorb most of that money at schools where football is the main driver of revenue. Georgia, for instance, has already announced that it will direct 75 percent to football, 15 percent to men's basketball, 5 percent to women's basketball and 5 percent to other sports.
So if the cap ends up at $22 million and Georgia spends up to the cap, that would be $3.3 million for men's basketball."
"VCU, and a number of other basketball-centric schools that don't have to financially support a football program, will be positioned to spend more if they choose.
“We fully anticipate the revenue-sharing number for us next year to be between $4 (million) and $5 million,” McLaughlin said. “I think we are positioned from strength as this goes forward because we can share revenue with our men's and women's basketball, student-athletes at an incredibly high competitive level, to make sure we are a top 25 program. We will never get to the bigger cap, and that's OK. But we will certainly be able to invest in a high level for the programs that matter financially the most to us.”
Cody's Thoughts: Feel like I said this in last weeks NIL Thread, but there is going to be a crazy imbalance in some sports like Mens and Womens Basketball at schools that don't spend much or anything in Football... here is begins from an angle I really didn't see... VCU!
8. Bedlam Revival?
With programs all over the country cancelling their spring games in favor alternative options, Mike Gundy wants to get creative with Oklahoma State’s spring game.
He wants to bring back the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State rivalry in the form of a spring game with a NIL-centric twist. The rival schools would alternate venues and split the revenue from ticket sales to the game.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Gundy said. “Charge $25 a head, they can use it for NIL, we can use it for NIL. If they don’t want to do two in one spring, we can do one here this year, do it there next year and split the gate because we get tired of practicing against each other.”
Cody's Thoughts: This feels.... weird! Should be Oklahoma State and Murray State or Oklahoma and Tulsa, or something.
9. Big Ten coach: Teams in our league paid $25, $30 million for their rosters in 2024
Be it during his first stint atop Rutgers football or now in his second, Greg Schiano never has had the largest pool of resources to make his programs competitive.
"The interesting thing is going to be what happens to NIL," Schiano said this week at the onset of Rutgers' spring practice. "If everybody says, 'Well, there's going to be a clearing house and all these things ...' I hope it works. That would be unbelievable.
"But I've been doing this a long time, and there's teams in our league that have paid $25 or $30 million for their roster last year. I don't think they are going to take a pay cut. So, how that all gets sorted out, that's going to be the interesting part, but I don't really care."
The Scarlet Knights also already are dealing with a prominent NIL situation. Jett Elad is an impending NCAA Transfer Portal addition to the Rutgers program.
Seeking to extend his eligibility and earn a six-figure payday in the process by suiting up for Rutgers, Elad is taking the NCAA to court per myriad reports.
Schiano won't confirm that Elad could have a $500,000 deal at hand from Rutgers, but he did address the situation.
Cody's Thoughts: Count Rutgers into the list of schools that will be "squeezed" when the Power 4 splits into a super conference and those non-super conference qualifiers. Schiano deserves to be coaching in that top tier, but Rutgers is in one of those spots.
10. College basketball’s transfer portal opens with prices rising again.
"Last offseason, the consensus was a team needed to spend $3-5 million on its roster to be competitive at the high-major level. This year that number is expected to fall in the $5-8 million range, with some of the top spenders expected to reach $10 million."
“You need $7 million to be in the mix, when last year $4 million could get you a really good team,” a general manager of a high-major program said. “Everybody’s coming up with all this money to front-load in addition to the back end of rev share. So if your rev share is $2.7 million from the school, people are trying to raise $5 million in addition to that, where you can pay to retain guys, plus go out and spend a whole bunch of money for transfers.”
🔔"That’s especially true for basketball programs in the Power 4 leagues, which fear that non-football-playing schools, especially in the Big East, will have an advantage. SEC and Big Ten programs may have an easier time setting aside the $20.5 million for athletes because they bring in more in revenue, but what, for instance, is to stop Villanova or St. John’s from allocating $15 million for men’s basketball alone?"🔔
Cody's Thoughts: Is Texas in a non-advantageous spot with that, given the cash raised for the football team and what we saw this week, being likely unwilling to hit the seven figure number for Aaliyah Chavez for the Women's Basketball team that very well might make a run to the National Title game? Also, to the Nova/St. Johns thought... Nothing is stopping them!
On Wednesday, the board approved the resolution, which gives the director of the division of athletics the authority to sign all endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements with student-athletes, without prior board approval, and without the need to submit the agreements to the board after execution.
At the end of each year, the athletic director will report to the board on the annual budget for all endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements, the total amount spent on endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements, and the number of students who received compensation.
The director’s authority to sign the agreements is continent upon ensuring the total value of executed agreements does not exceed the budget for that year, unless approved in advance by the university president.
--
UConn says it will only use funds generated by its Division of Athletics for the endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements.
The law allows student-athletes to keep their contracts private. However, universities are required to report the total amount of revenue shared with student-athletes and the number of student-athletes receiving revenue-sharing at the end of each year.
In the last three weeks alone, at least three NBA assistants have jumped into the men’s college game. Utah hired Mavs assistant Alex Jensen as its next head coach on March 6. Three days later, Florida State hired Kings assistant Luke Loucks to replace longtime coach Leonard Hamilton. Both are alums of those schools, but Pelicans assistant Dan Geriot had no previous connection to Iona, which plucked him as their new boss on March 20.
The moves are part of a new trend: Pro basketball coaches are willing to leave their jobs for college, which was previously viewed as a step down.
The most prominent example can be found in the Sweet 16, where Kevin Young’s BYU faces Alabama on Thursday night.
BYU hired Young away from the Phoenix Suns last year. It was a move that raised eyebrows around the basketball world, as Young had risen to become one of the NBA’s most respected assistants in eight years with the Suns and 76ers. The Suns promoted him to associate head coach in 2021 and in 2023 he was given a five-year, $10 million extension with Phoenix, which made him the highest-paid assistant in the league. The deal came after he finished as runner-up for the Suns’ head coaching job, which went to Frank Vogel.
When he was hired by BYU, Young signed a seven-year, $30 million contract that instantly made him one of college basketball’s highest-paid coaches. Jensen was signed to a six-year contract that pays $3.6 million annually, but can go over $4 million with incentives.
13. Aaliyah Chavez Commitment Just the Start of Sooners’ Madness
As the Oklahoma women’s basketball team prepares for its Sweet 16 matchup against UConn on Saturday night, its staff has also kept an eye on the program’s long-term future.
The Sooners face heightened financial competition following their move to the SEC, which has produced the last three national champions—South Carolina in 2024 and 2022, and LSU in 2023. Adding Chavez could help them keep pace.
South Carolina flexed its financial strength earlier this year by giving head coach Dawn Staley a record contract of $25.25 million over five years, while LSU joined the Gamecocks in spending more on its women’s hoops squad than its men’s in 2023-24. Even Kentucky, historically known more for its men’s basketball success, made a splash by swiping head coach Kenny Brooks and coveted transfer Georgia Amoore from Virginia Tech last year, in order to keep up with the rest of the conference.
Brooks’ contract overtook what Kentucky predecessor Kyra Elzy received. Elzy was in line to get $800,000 this season total before her dismissal; Brooks earned $1.4 million between base salary and multimedia and endorsement related compensation.
Oklahoma ranked No. 15 in spending on its women’s basketball team among public schools in the last year with available data (2022-23). It spent $6.6 million compared to $11.9 million on its men’s program. Since then, it has reaffirmed its commitment to women’s basketball with major transfer portal and high school recruiting moves, distinguishing itself in an era when women’s sports are more lucrative than ever.
14. College Basketball Is Getting Older—Except for Duke
Ten years ago, not a single Sweet 16 starter was older than 23. In 2025, Baker-Mazara isn’t even the oldest starter remaining in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament—that title belongs to BYU’s 26-year-old guard Trevin Knell.
College basketball has gotten older across the board. In 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average age of Sweet 16 starters was 20.8. In 2021, that number had jumped to 21.2, and now it’s all the way up to 21.6. More than three-quarters of the players who will start on Thursday and Friday night can legally grab a drink after their game.
15. NCAA denies Colorado vs. Syracuse Spring Joint Practices.... for now!
In an attempt to stay tapped into all things NIL, I've sorted through and gathered some interesting NIL-centered news items today, the title of each section will redirect you to the initial article, as I did not translate all of the columns into this page. Just the best cliff notes.
I will continue adding more news as the week unfolds! Please feel free to link any informative or interesting NIL articles in this thread!
Cheers,
PS: If you'd like to advertise with Orangebloods, Sponsoring this Column or a show on Orangbloods Live, please reach out to @Sunny Nelson !
1. Kansas State Basketball Star Reveals Frustration on Leaked Details About Record NIL Deal
"The 6-9 star was coming off a big season for the Illinois Fighting Illini, and he was looking for a new program for his final season. He landed with the Kansas State Wildcats and did so after he snagged name, image and likeness deals upwards of $2 million, according to published reports."
"Statistically, Hawkins’ season was frustrating. He averaged 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.8 steals per game. He was injured near the end of the season and missed a few games. He did earn All-Big 12 Conference third-team honors."
Cody's Thoughts: I've never watched this guy play a minute of basketball, but $2m is maniacal for this stat-line.
2. Sweet 16 Coaches Cashing In With Lucrative Contract Incentives
- $200,000: Tennessee’s Rick Barnes
- $100,000: Houston’s Kelvin Sampson
- $75,000: Maryland’s Kevin Willard, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo
- $50,000: Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd, Mississippi’s Chris Beard, Kentucky’s Mark Pope, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Texas Tech’s Grant McCasland
- $37,500: Florida’s Todd Golden
- $30,000: Purdue’s Matt Painter
- $25,000: Alabama’s Nate Oats, Michigan’s Dusty May
Cody's Thoughts: Does Nate Oats need a new agent? Even though Alabama made the Final Four a year ago, and I picked them to win it all this year, they aren't near the top of the food chain to the point that only $25,000 is a respectable bonus to make the Sweet Sixteen. Making Alabama a consensus Final 16 team in 4 of the last 5 years, pretty good notoriety.
3. Did NIL End Cinderellas in March Madness?
Thought: "NIL is also helping high-major programs retain talent that might’ve otherwise gone pro. Players who are “NBA-adjacent” now have a financial reason to stay one more year—adding depth and experience to already stacked rosters."
Reality: "The truth is, deep Cinderella runs—Elite 8 or further—have always been the exception, not the rule. We remember them vividly because they’re rare. NIL didn’t change that; it may have just reset the odds a little."
Cody's Thoughts: The good old days, I still think a team like BYU as a 6 seed can be considered a pseudo-Cinderella, although I understand George Mason was an 11 seed back in 2005. Also, Arkansas isn'y a damn Cinderella, not with Coach Calipari. But for real, look at Maryland vs. Colorado State this year, it came down to the wire, and Maryland advanced to the Sweet 16 by one point. There was a minute last weekend when the thought of 1. Florida, 12. Colorado State, 11. Drake and 10. Arkansas, each advancing in the West Region, was a reality.
4. Kentucky fans made Weetabix the No. 1 selling cereal on Amazon for Amari Williams
"Before last night, I didn’t know what Weetabix was, but I doubt it was a bestseller, at least here in America. After Kentucky fans learned that the English breakfast cereal fueled Amari Williams to a big performance in the win over Illinois in the NCAA Tournament, it is now the best-selling cold cereal on Amazon."
"Williams finished with eight points (4-11 FG), ten rebounds, six assists, three blocks, and a steal in 26 minutes in Kentucky’s 84-75 win over Illinois. Afterward, at Mark Pope’s encouragement, he shared that part of the reason he had more energy than in the win over Troy was because he swapped his usual road game breakfast of toast out for Weetabix, his childhood breakfast in Nottingham, England."
“It’s like Shredded Wheat — and me saying this is crazy because my parents always forced me to eat it growing up,” Williams said on Sunday. “I had about three of them this morning and Coach Pope joined me too and Brandon Garrison. I feel like that helped my performance today for sure.”
Cody's Thoughts: Sounds like the once family-owned company that sold to Post in 2017 may be setting up and NIL deal with Williams before this tournament is over!
5. Penn State builds player personnel staff
In a February press conference with reporters, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft was asked about the potential for the football program to bring in a general manager. And while there’d been no movement to that end, he acknowledged the rapidly changing landscape and the necessity of staff to help sort through the issues related therein."
“How about we change the narrative of NIL? It’s marketing now. It’s marketing dollars with the new rev-share and the 20.5 [million]. Obviously, we’re going to invest the 20.5, and then it increases four percent every single year after that. We’re doing that,” said Kraft. “I think, when people think of the traditional NIL piece, we’re where we need to be. You have to keep looking, and you’ve got to continue to do what you got to do. But in this new system, you’re going to have to show fair market value and this is where the power of Penn State is a huge asset. Fair market value for the starting quarterback at Penn State is pretty good. We’ve got to lean into that with our business partners. That’s kind of the new world of name, image, and likeness.
6. Wisconsin football hires new director of player personnel
"Wisconsin football is hiring North Texas' Ethan Russo as its next director of player personnel, the news first reported by 247Sports' Matt Zenitz."
"The hire fills the vacancy created when general manager Max Stienecker left for a prominent role at USC. While the program hired Marcus Sedberry to carry the official general manager designation, his background is primarily in administrative roles, both at Wisconsin (2023-24) and Baylor (2017-22). Stienecker was a recruiting ace before growing into Wisconsin's GM position. With his departure, the program had an additional need at the top of the recruiting department."
Cody's Thoughts: Russo looks like he is 20 years old.
7. Basketball-centric schools without football may soon gain major advantage. Here's how.
"Of the 37 at-large bids handed out by the selection committee this year, only five went to leagues that don't sponsor football: Four to the Big East and one to the West Coast Conference.
It's not an anomaly. Over the past five NCAA tournaments, a combined 28 at-large bids went to non-FBS leagues. The five before that, the number was 38."
“I really look at where we're positioned as a huge advantage,” said VCU athletics director Ed McLaughlin, whose school is the Atlantic 10's only representative in the field this year."
"Naturally, big-time football programs will absorb most of that money at schools where football is the main driver of revenue. Georgia, for instance, has already announced that it will direct 75 percent to football, 15 percent to men's basketball, 5 percent to women's basketball and 5 percent to other sports.
So if the cap ends up at $22 million and Georgia spends up to the cap, that would be $3.3 million for men's basketball."
"VCU, and a number of other basketball-centric schools that don't have to financially support a football program, will be positioned to spend more if they choose.
“We fully anticipate the revenue-sharing number for us next year to be between $4 (million) and $5 million,” McLaughlin said. “I think we are positioned from strength as this goes forward because we can share revenue with our men's and women's basketball, student-athletes at an incredibly high competitive level, to make sure we are a top 25 program. We will never get to the bigger cap, and that's OK. But we will certainly be able to invest in a high level for the programs that matter financially the most to us.”
Cody's Thoughts: Feel like I said this in last weeks NIL Thread, but there is going to be a crazy imbalance in some sports like Mens and Womens Basketball at schools that don't spend much or anything in Football... here is begins from an angle I really didn't see... VCU!
8. Bedlam Revival?
With programs all over the country cancelling their spring games in favor alternative options, Mike Gundy wants to get creative with Oklahoma State’s spring game.
He wants to bring back the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State rivalry in the form of a spring game with a NIL-centric twist. The rival schools would alternate venues and split the revenue from ticket sales to the game.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Gundy said. “Charge $25 a head, they can use it for NIL, we can use it for NIL. If they don’t want to do two in one spring, we can do one here this year, do it there next year and split the gate because we get tired of practicing against each other.”
Cody's Thoughts: This feels.... weird! Should be Oklahoma State and Murray State or Oklahoma and Tulsa, or something.
9. Big Ten coach: Teams in our league paid $25, $30 million for their rosters in 2024
Be it during his first stint atop Rutgers football or now in his second, Greg Schiano never has had the largest pool of resources to make his programs competitive.
"The interesting thing is going to be what happens to NIL," Schiano said this week at the onset of Rutgers' spring practice. "If everybody says, 'Well, there's going to be a clearing house and all these things ...' I hope it works. That would be unbelievable.
"But I've been doing this a long time, and there's teams in our league that have paid $25 or $30 million for their roster last year. I don't think they are going to take a pay cut. So, how that all gets sorted out, that's going to be the interesting part, but I don't really care."
The Scarlet Knights also already are dealing with a prominent NIL situation. Jett Elad is an impending NCAA Transfer Portal addition to the Rutgers program.
Seeking to extend his eligibility and earn a six-figure payday in the process by suiting up for Rutgers, Elad is taking the NCAA to court per myriad reports.
Schiano won't confirm that Elad could have a $500,000 deal at hand from Rutgers, but he did address the situation.
Cody's Thoughts: Count Rutgers into the list of schools that will be "squeezed" when the Power 4 splits into a super conference and those non-super conference qualifiers. Schiano deserves to be coaching in that top tier, but Rutgers is in one of those spots.
10. College basketball’s transfer portal opens with prices rising again.
"Last offseason, the consensus was a team needed to spend $3-5 million on its roster to be competitive at the high-major level. This year that number is expected to fall in the $5-8 million range, with some of the top spenders expected to reach $10 million."
“You need $7 million to be in the mix, when last year $4 million could get you a really good team,” a general manager of a high-major program said. “Everybody’s coming up with all this money to front-load in addition to the back end of rev share. So if your rev share is $2.7 million from the school, people are trying to raise $5 million in addition to that, where you can pay to retain guys, plus go out and spend a whole bunch of money for transfers.”
🔔"That’s especially true for basketball programs in the Power 4 leagues, which fear that non-football-playing schools, especially in the Big East, will have an advantage. SEC and Big Ten programs may have an easier time setting aside the $20.5 million for athletes because they bring in more in revenue, but what, for instance, is to stop Villanova or St. John’s from allocating $15 million for men’s basketball alone?"🔔
Cody's Thoughts: Is Texas in a non-advantageous spot with that, given the cash raised for the football team and what we saw this week, being likely unwilling to hit the seven figure number for Aaliyah Chavez for the Women's Basketball team that very well might make a run to the National Title game? Also, to the Nova/St. Johns thought... Nothing is stopping them!
11. UConn grants athletics director authority to sign endorsement contracts, revenue-sharing agreements with student-athletes
On Wednesday, the board approved the resolution, which gives the director of the division of athletics the authority to sign all endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements with student-athletes, without prior board approval, and without the need to submit the agreements to the board after execution.
At the end of each year, the athletic director will report to the board on the annual budget for all endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements, the total amount spent on endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements, and the number of students who received compensation.
The director’s authority to sign the agreements is continent upon ensuring the total value of executed agreements does not exceed the budget for that year, unless approved in advance by the university president.
--
UConn says it will only use funds generated by its Division of Athletics for the endorsement contracts and revenue-sharing agreements.
The law allows student-athletes to keep their contracts private. However, universities are required to report the total amount of revenue shared with student-athletes and the number of student-athletes receiving revenue-sharing at the end of each year.
12. A New Destination for Top NBA Assistants: College
In the last three weeks alone, at least three NBA assistants have jumped into the men’s college game. Utah hired Mavs assistant Alex Jensen as its next head coach on March 6. Three days later, Florida State hired Kings assistant Luke Loucks to replace longtime coach Leonard Hamilton. Both are alums of those schools, but Pelicans assistant Dan Geriot had no previous connection to Iona, which plucked him as their new boss on March 20.
The moves are part of a new trend: Pro basketball coaches are willing to leave their jobs for college, which was previously viewed as a step down.
The most prominent example can be found in the Sweet 16, where Kevin Young’s BYU faces Alabama on Thursday night.
BYU hired Young away from the Phoenix Suns last year. It was a move that raised eyebrows around the basketball world, as Young had risen to become one of the NBA’s most respected assistants in eight years with the Suns and 76ers. The Suns promoted him to associate head coach in 2021 and in 2023 he was given a five-year, $10 million extension with Phoenix, which made him the highest-paid assistant in the league. The deal came after he finished as runner-up for the Suns’ head coaching job, which went to Frank Vogel.
When he was hired by BYU, Young signed a seven-year, $30 million contract that instantly made him one of college basketball’s highest-paid coaches. Jensen was signed to a six-year contract that pays $3.6 million annually, but can go over $4 million with incentives.
13. Aaliyah Chavez Commitment Just the Start of Sooners’ Madness
As the Oklahoma women’s basketball team prepares for its Sweet 16 matchup against UConn on Saturday night, its staff has also kept an eye on the program’s long-term future.
The Sooners face heightened financial competition following their move to the SEC, which has produced the last three national champions—South Carolina in 2024 and 2022, and LSU in 2023. Adding Chavez could help them keep pace.
South Carolina flexed its financial strength earlier this year by giving head coach Dawn Staley a record contract of $25.25 million over five years, while LSU joined the Gamecocks in spending more on its women’s hoops squad than its men’s in 2023-24. Even Kentucky, historically known more for its men’s basketball success, made a splash by swiping head coach Kenny Brooks and coveted transfer Georgia Amoore from Virginia Tech last year, in order to keep up with the rest of the conference.
Brooks’ contract overtook what Kentucky predecessor Kyra Elzy received. Elzy was in line to get $800,000 this season total before her dismissal; Brooks earned $1.4 million between base salary and multimedia and endorsement related compensation.
Oklahoma ranked No. 15 in spending on its women’s basketball team among public schools in the last year with available data (2022-23). It spent $6.6 million compared to $11.9 million on its men’s program. Since then, it has reaffirmed its commitment to women’s basketball with major transfer portal and high school recruiting moves, distinguishing itself in an era when women’s sports are more lucrative than ever.
14. College Basketball Is Getting Older—Except for Duke
Ten years ago, not a single Sweet 16 starter was older than 23. In 2025, Baker-Mazara isn’t even the oldest starter remaining in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament—that title belongs to BYU’s 26-year-old guard Trevin Knell.
College basketball has gotten older across the board. In 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, the average age of Sweet 16 starters was 20.8. In 2021, that number had jumped to 21.2, and now it’s all the way up to 21.6. More than three-quarters of the players who will start on Thursday and Friday night can legally grab a drink after their game.
15. NCAA denies Colorado vs. Syracuse Spring Joint Practices.... for now!
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