Recently caught up with a friend over the holidays who was a former OL at a premier D1 school and now a successful executive in the college athletics world. He had some really insightful comments across a variety of topics that I thought I’d share as I found them to be interesting and coming from a place with a real insider’s perspective.
On the current state of NIL he said that there are some moving pieces behind the scenes on turning the system on its head in the next 2 seasons. He mentioned that several big names schools across a “few” major conferences are running an exploration on the feasibility of creating a player’s union from which a collective bargaining agreement could be agreed upon. This would add more controls around player compensation and player movement, but provide a larger payout across the board to all players. In return, players would be contractually obligated to stay at a school for a fixed term. He believes the standard time commitment would be 2 or 3 years.
Specifically regarding basketball, he mentioned that there have been discussions with the NBA about allowing high school seniors who have reached 18 yrs of age to enter directly into the NBA Draft. According to my friend, the NBA isn’t fully onboard but are not entirely against this. He feels like this wouldn’t be decided until 2026 with any actually implementation taking place until 2028.
He also believes that it’s not crazy to believe that P5 football becomes P2 football but really P1 football - with a single 32 or 40-team super conference. There have already been talks about creating a commissioner-type role to oversee this with Nick Saban being the preferred guy.
Finally, when I asked him about Rutgers he mentioned that he’s heard they have interest in someone from his former school for the AD position. He also said that based on what he’s heard from people he knows that a complete overhaul of the department is most likely coming. In his words, “your athletics department is not run anywhere near how a B1G athletics department needs to be run nor do you have the right people in any of the key roles. I’d expect nearly every person there to be replaced when new leadership comes in.”
Now granted this could be just the opinion of someone who sees Rutgers as a school that doesn’t belong at the table, but my friend is very tuned into the new landscape of NCAA athletics and comes from a school that many would say is the poster child for how to run a program.
On the current state of NIL he said that there are some moving pieces behind the scenes on turning the system on its head in the next 2 seasons. He mentioned that several big names schools across a “few” major conferences are running an exploration on the feasibility of creating a player’s union from which a collective bargaining agreement could be agreed upon. This would add more controls around player compensation and player movement, but provide a larger payout across the board to all players. In return, players would be contractually obligated to stay at a school for a fixed term. He believes the standard time commitment would be 2 or 3 years.
Specifically regarding basketball, he mentioned that there have been discussions with the NBA about allowing high school seniors who have reached 18 yrs of age to enter directly into the NBA Draft. According to my friend, the NBA isn’t fully onboard but are not entirely against this. He feels like this wouldn’t be decided until 2026 with any actually implementation taking place until 2028.
He also believes that it’s not crazy to believe that P5 football becomes P2 football but really P1 football - with a single 32 or 40-team super conference. There have already been talks about creating a commissioner-type role to oversee this with Nick Saban being the preferred guy.
Finally, when I asked him about Rutgers he mentioned that he’s heard they have interest in someone from his former school for the AD position. He also said that based on what he’s heard from people he knows that a complete overhaul of the department is most likely coming. In his words, “your athletics department is not run anywhere near how a B1G athletics department needs to be run nor do you have the right people in any of the key roles. I’d expect nearly every person there to be replaced when new leadership comes in.”
Now granted this could be just the opinion of someone who sees Rutgers as a school that doesn’t belong at the table, but my friend is very tuned into the new landscape of NCAA athletics and comes from a school that many would say is the poster child for how to run a program.
