NCAA Basketball: Coaches navigating the new world of college basketball

NILs and Collectives have made recruiting even muddier

All of these factors are intertwined in some way, and with NIL and all that has come with that in a short period of time, I wanted to ask the coaches their thoughts on the subject, both when it comes to their programs and the sport as a whole. Now that the can of worms has officially been opened, what do coaches think about how it’s being used?

The world of Name, Image, and Likeness in college athletics is now upon us and after talking to coaches not only is it clear that student-athletes being able to profit from themselves was long overdue, but in the haste of having it rolled out, it could also use some better-defined regulations.

Grasso said, “I think college athletes should have the opportunity to earn money.” Pastner also said, “I think anything that allows the student-athlete to better themselves off their name, image and likeness is great for the student-athletes.”

Andy Kennedy says about NIL deals, “I’ve always been in favor of it, it’s like any rule or law, the principle of it makes a lot of sense. The majority of people would say that makes sense.”

While most everyone agrees that college athletes should have the ability to make money off of their own name, image and likeness, if the coaches I talked to are representative of coaches across the country, then some guidance when it comes to what is and isn’t allowed in the world of NIL deals and NIL collectives.

McCasland told me, “At this point, there is a lot to be determined, it’s changing so quickly and we are kind of learning as we go.”

I asked Bill Herrion if the world of NILs and Collectives needs to be regulated with more clarity, and admitting he didn’t have a grasp on how the collectives worked because it is not something that is overly prevalent at UNH, he said,

"”Yeah I do, I think if they are not regulated more closely, I got to think things are going to get out of control. There are so many people involved, how are you going to control it?”"

At the upper levels of the sport is where we are beginning to see NILs and collectives being used as a recruitment tool and the size of the deals being offered to some players has escalated rather quickly. So I asked Pearl and Pastner if that escalation has surprised them at all.

Pearl said, “I was in favor of a realistic scholarship. I was in favor of an annuity for players, the longer they stayed the more they were able to profit share.” When I asked him about the escalation of NILs he was much more succinct, simply saying, ”Yes.”

Pastner said, “I just think it’s part of the landscape now, things are moving fast and you have to continue to be able to be flexible, be willing to adjust, and be nimble.”

He also said when it comes to Georgia Tech the NIL world really doesn’t change how he recruits, saying, “We still have to get the best players that we can get that fit the mission of Georgia Tech, we have to fit the mission of the student-athlete, we have to do the right thing for him.”

Pearl on the other hand said, “it’s too soon to tell, but yes in a sense that is to be determined.”

When I asked the other coaches about the NIL world, there was one reply that stood out to me.

Todd Simon said,

"“There are levels of power 5 (conferences). You have the upper levels of the power 5 that are stealing from the other levels of power 5 and their stealing from the mids and lows.” But it was his answer to a question about collectives that stood out. He said, “Collectives if done right is a way that mid and low majors can compete and maybe keep their stars home. Actually, I think that there is a world that exists where the collective helps the little guy more than the big guy.”"

To me, that was an interesting and different take on the NIL/Collective world that I hadn’t heard or thought of for coaches at the lower levels of the sport.

Now that the NIL world is here, it is clear that it has become the latest in the ever-growing line of things the NCAA has put forth that are seemingly the right thing to do but have left coaches rudderless with their lack of direction, implementation, and enforcement. So now we as fans and media members can rest easier that a lot of coaches are as confused as we are when it comes to how these things work.