More on what I think the real story is behind U of L's current NIL experience... No one's reporting this systematically, so you look for anecdotal evidence like this comment from Jeff Walz on Drew Deener's radio show Wednesday morning. If you wanna listen for yourself, it's late in the second hour of his show.
Walz was quoted during the discussion on what he's heard about the NIL income for the starting five on Tennessee's women's basketball team. The average he quoted was $75-100,000 per player. And his quote in the header was his own team's experience.
FWIW Deener remarked that based on his own assessment, the average well heeled donor at U of L isn't naturally plugged into NIL. He should know less than Walz, but that guy's a schmoozer often spotted in suites or behind the bench of a U of L basketball game like the Maryland game on Tuesday. Again anecdotal, but not necessarily a throwaway comment.
The entire 10-minute or so discussion is worth a listen. Walz made a couple points pretty clear... One is that elite players expect money to be prearranged before they step foot on campus. And he goes on to say that his program needs to find players who aren't as highly ranked that they can develop into highly regarded players. Loose NIL translation... We don't have that kinda money, nor are we likely to get it.
Obviously Wlaz has an elite basketball program. And based on performance alone, we should be getting our fair share of NIL flowing into women's basketball. He would explain it's not that straightforward.
I relate this all as a counterargument to the belief that U of L football is taking maximum advantage of NIL money. I dispute that as a not-so-subtle distinction from we are BENEFITING from recruits getting NIL money. The Clarkson kid, his connections, and his future teammates have done most of this on their own. There are no references anywhere to what U of L had set up for him. Nor would anyone logically expect that of or from a school that can hardly raise money to save itself.
Good for the young man and good for us to be the beneficiary. But that's all the accolades I'm doling out at this point...
Walz was quoted during the discussion on what he's heard about the NIL income for the starting five on Tennessee's women's basketball team. The average he quoted was $75-100,000 per player. And his quote in the header was his own team's experience.
FWIW Deener remarked that based on his own assessment, the average well heeled donor at U of L isn't naturally plugged into NIL. He should know less than Walz, but that guy's a schmoozer often spotted in suites or behind the bench of a U of L basketball game like the Maryland game on Tuesday. Again anecdotal, but not necessarily a throwaway comment.
The entire 10-minute or so discussion is worth a listen. Walz made a couple points pretty clear... One is that elite players expect money to be prearranged before they step foot on campus. And he goes on to say that his program needs to find players who aren't as highly ranked that they can develop into highly regarded players. Loose NIL translation... We don't have that kinda money, nor are we likely to get it.
Obviously Wlaz has an elite basketball program. And based on performance alone, we should be getting our fair share of NIL flowing into women's basketball. He would explain it's not that straightforward.
I relate this all as a counterargument to the belief that U of L football is taking maximum advantage of NIL money. I dispute that as a not-so-subtle distinction from we are BENEFITING from recruits getting NIL money. The Clarkson kid, his connections, and his future teammates have done most of this on their own. There are no references anywhere to what U of L had set up for him. Nor would anyone logically expect that of or from a school that can hardly raise money to save itself.
Good for the young man and good for us to be the beneficiary. But that's all the accolades I'm doling out at this point...
