What does our basketball NIL budget need to be with Paris as coach?

18IsTheMan

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We are dead last in the league. Of the 10 SEC teams to make the NCAAT, the only 2 outside of the top 8 in NIL to make it were Bama ($8-10 million) and UGA ($8-10 million). Lamont for doggone sure is nowhere near as a good coach as Oates. We basically need to nearly double our NIL to get into the thick of it in the SEC. The questions are: Can we do that? and Is that enough?

Do we have the resources to effectively double our NIL budget?

Say the answer is "yes", even if we get ourselves to just on par with others in the conference for NIL, we now have to convince a player that he's better off coming here than another, better team in the conference. What's the advantage for a player to come to arguably the worst program in the program in the league? It seems we would have offer more than other programs, which means we'd need to spend more than others. There nothing at all about our program that suggests we're almost there. Unless we had like 3 top shelf players all lined up to come here on NIL, I don't see a single player saying "yeah, I'll choose South Carolina".

That could be offset somewhat by having a coach who has shown an eye for talent and player development, like Oates, who has won at Bama with a bit less. That ain't Lamont.

When you look at our current position in the league, our NIL position in the league, and our head coach, it doesn't paint a promising picture.
 
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18IsTheMan

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I think we'd need to triple our NIL budget to $15 million to build a Lamont-proof roster.

The ONLY incentive for a good player to come here would be money and that means we have to outspend others.
 

Piscis

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Is NIL money one pool of money for all sports, or does each sport draw from its own unique account?

If it is one pool of money, how much NIL money do you take away from football and baseball to prop up MBB under Paris? If MBB has its own proprietary NIL fund, why empty that fund to save Paris' job?
 
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Lurker123

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Is NIL money one pool of money for all sports, or does each sport draw from its own unique account?

If it is one pool of money, how much NIL money do you take away from football and baseball to prop up MBB under Paris? If MBB has its own proprietary NIL fund, why empty that fund to save Paris' job?

Great question. The AD is capped at about 20 million, and I wouldnt move a dime away from football. But the 3rd party are unlimited, and as much as it may be unofficial, I think those are being directed by the schools too.

Were we actually dead last in NIL? I found an article from last year saying we were dead last, and going to increase it to be at least "competitive". Did everyone else just move up when we did? And if so, who's to say that wont happen again?
 
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muscleknight

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UK spent 20 million and at one time was in danger of missing the tournament.

We upped our baseball money and they suck worse than last year

What can you do in these cases?
 

18IsTheMan

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UK spent 20 million and at one time was in danger of missing the tournament.

We upped our baseball money and they suck worse than last year

What can you do in these cases?
UK is spending a ton to give an underperforming coach a good roster to work with.

We can't afford to do that. And Lamont is worse than Pope.
 

18IsTheMan

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The big question is, will money really fix the problem?
Well, no. See above discussion on UK. And that was implied in the OP.

Lamont is not a good coach. This is why I say above that we'd to spend likely at least $15 million to give this a shot at working.

My guess is that we'll increase our NIL spending in basketball to around $8-9 million. It won't work and we'll end up firing Paris anyway. The increased amount spent on NIL will offset any savings made by delaying the firing for a year.
 

Lurker123

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My guess is that we'll increase our NIL spending in basketball to around $8-9 million. It won't work and we'll end up firing Paris anyway. The increased amount spent on NIL will offset any savings made by delaying the firing for a year.

You also can be pretty sure that whatever we spend will be called "at or near the bottom of the SEC" in hindsight, and we'll repeat this same discussion again next year.
 

18IsTheMan

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You also can be pretty sure that whatever we spend will be called "at or near the bottom of the SEC" in hindsight, and we'll repeat this same discussion again next year.
Right. NIL budgets are only going up. Everyone will likely increase by at least as much as more than we do. Even if we made a big jump from $5.5 million to $10 million, all those who are already spending $10 million will likely be spending $12 million. I just don't see us catching up.

I can understand the rationale for not being able to afford firing Paris. But that argument loses merit when you consider we'll come off no better financially when you factor in increased NIL spending and his buyout for next season.

The bottom line is, you just gotta have a good coach. Oates is doing more with less at Bama. UK is spending a boat load on NIL and only made it as a 7 seed b/c Pope isn't that great of a coach.
 
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Piscis

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9-11.5 million is where we want to be, but that could be the bottom again for all we know.
That should be in the middle, maybe slightly above the middle. The questions is, will good players go to a team with a coach on a white hot seat? The really good players can get the same money wherever they decide to go. Why would they go to a team whose coach is likely to be fired after the season?
 

Lurker123

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That should be in the middle, maybe slightly above the middle. The questions is, will good players go to a team with a coach on a white hot seat? The really good players can get the same money wherever they decide to go. Why would they go to a team whose coach is likely to be fired after the season?

With NIL, arent all player stops basically one year deals now?
 

StickyBandit

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Over half the league spends at least $10 million NIL, so yeah, even going that high doesn't do much for us.
I think that’s not enough. The entire league is more appealing to play for so you have to break down NIL spending as we need a starting 5 from the portal + Keep Ellis, Strong, Assemian, Walker, and Polk. That’s my opinion. The other 5 spots should be guys you don’t have to pay a lot to and are developmental.
 

StickyBandit

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That should be in the middle, maybe slightly above the middle. The questions is, will good players go to a team with a coach on a white hot seat? The really good players can get the same money wherever they decide to go. Why would they go to a team whose coach is likely to be fired after the season?
Who knows if it’s going to be middle? We thought we’d be in the middle this season but weren’t. In my opinion, we need to aim for 11.5 million at minimum. Those kids we are going after are most likely 1 year rentals and they care more about the money in many cases. So we just have to spend and get the best we can.
 

StickyBandit

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I guess technically, yes. However, I can't imagine a player would prefer going to a struggling program with an embattled coach over a more successful team with a stable coaching situation for the same money.
Money talks
 

RL09

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I think we'd need to triple our NIL budget to $15 million to build a Lamont-proof roster.

The ONLY incentive for a good player to come here would be money and that means we have to outspend others.
I think you are spot on with this comment, the money would be the only real incentive, and if not careful, we might get played in the bargain. The player could come in here, get handsomely paid and then go back into the portal for the next season, while making little impact with us.
 
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atl-cock

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Great question. The AD is capped at about 20 million, and I wouldnt move a dime away from football. But the 3rd party are unlimited, and as much as it may be unofficial, I think those are being directed by the schools too.

Were we actually dead last in NIL? I found an article from last year saying we were dead last, and going to increase it to be at least "competitive". Did everyone else just move up when we did? And if so, who's to say that wont happen again?
I wouldn't move a dime from any sport.
 
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atl-cock

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With NIL, arent all player stops basically one year deals now?
Well, actually, athletic scholarships are one-year renewable deals and has been the case for many years. Slightly different, but still somewhat related to NIL. NIL and not having to sit out a year if transferring to another school does give the players (um, students) a lot more clout.
 
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Piscis

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Uhhh buddy, they are in the NCAA tournament while we are sitting at home.
They spent double what the majority of teams in the SEC did and ended up in the middle of the pack in conference. Spending $22 million to be a #7 seed doesn't seem like a great investment. If money truly talks, they should have at least bought a regular season SEC title.
 
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StickyBandit

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They spent double what the majority of teams in the SEC did and ended up in the middle of the pack in conference. Spending $22 million to be a #7 seed doesn't seem like a great investment. If money truly talks, they should have at least bought a regular season SEC title.
Money talks, as in money draws players you need so we have to pay them.
 

atl-cock

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As I posted in another thread, I spoke to someone yeaterday who mentioned that bench players on UGA's women's basketball team are getting 60k on average via NIL! And those NIL dollars come from corporate sponsors, not billionaires per se.
 

Mr. Belvedere

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We are dead last in the league. Of the 10 SEC teams to make the NCAAT, the only 2 outside of the top 8 in NIL to make it were Bama ($8-10 million) and UGA ($8-10 million). Lamont for doggone sure is nowhere near as a good coach as Oates. We basically need to nearly double our NIL to get into the thick of it in the SEC. The questions are: Can we do that? and Is that enough?

Do we have the resources to effectively double our NIL budget?

Say the answer is "yes", even if we get ourselves to just on par with others in the conference for NIL, we now have to convince a player that he's better off coming here than another, better team in the conference. What's the advantage for a player to come to arguably the worst program in the program in the league? It seems we would have offer more than other programs, which means we'd need to spend more than others. There nothing at all about our program that suggests we're almost there. Unless we had like 3 top shelf players all lined up to come here on NIL, I don't see a single player saying "yeah, I'll choose South Carolina".

That could be offset somewhat by having a coach who has shown an eye for talent and player development, like Oates, who has won at Bama with a bit less. That ain't Lamont.

When you look at our current position in the league, our NIL position in the league, and our head coach, it doesn't paint a promising picture.
This literally justifies not firing Lamont... props.
 

Harvard Gamecock

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That should be in the middle, maybe slightly above the middle. The questions is, will good players go to a team with a coach on a white hot seat? The really good players can get the same money wherever they decide to go. Why would they go to a team whose coach is likely to be fired after the season?
 

Harvard Gamecock

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While we discussing an infusion of money for our NIL deals to keep on par with other SEC schools, they are not our only competition. Two big competitors are instate (Clemson) and neighboring state schools in NC.
Now we are not gong to sway any recruits from UNC and Duke, but we also have to deal with NCST, Wake, and even Davidson (solid Program)
 

Piscis

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As I posted in another thread, I spoke to someone yeaterday who mentioned that bench players on UGA's women's basketball team are getting 60k on average via NIL! And those NIL dollars come from corporate sponsors, not billionaires per se.
UGA donor pool is wide and deep. They have a lot of alumni who own successful mid size businesses and live within a couple hundred miles of Athens. Those sort of alumni feel a connection to the school and the teams and give more readily and generously than alumni who live a long ways away from the school. They have something like 250,000 living alumni in the state of Georgia. Add in the "fans" who may have gone to UGA for a couple years or simply grew up as UGA fans and the number of people likely to donate gets pretty huge. 10,000 people donating just $1000 each gets a pretty quick $10,000,000 on the table.
 
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atl-cock

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UGA donor pool is wide and deep. They have a lot of alumni who own successful mid size businesses and live within a couple hundred miles of Athens. Those sort of alumni feel a connection to the school and the teams and give more readily and generously than alumni who live a long ways away from the school. They have something like 250,000 living alumni in the state of Georgia. Add in the "fans" who may have gone to UGA for a couple years or simply grew up as UGA fans and the number of people likely to donate gets pretty huge. 10,000 people donating just $1000 each gets a pretty quick $10,000,000 on the table.
I think you bring up a good point regarding alumni who live in proximity to the Athens (I'll even include Albany, GA at the opposite end of the state). Georgia Tech has far fewer instate alumni/ae than Georgia.

The midsize businesses are probably the NIL donors.

I can be a "starter" at Kennesaw State or Georgia Southern, and ride the bench in Athens and get paid 60k a year for the latter.
 

Piscis

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I think you bring up a good point regarding alumni who live in proximity to the Athens (I'll even include Albany, GA at the opposite end of the state). Georgia Tech has far fewer instate alumni/ae than Georgia.

The midsize businesses are probably the NIL donors.

I can be a "starter" at Kennesaw State or Georgia Southern, and ride the bench in Athens and get paid 60k a year for the latter.
Georgia tech has about 60% in state students, with around 30% of students being international. Their grads end up all over the country and the world and that hurts their football program. A good friend had a son who played at GT and the son used to laugh and say "Tech students fall into three categories. 1/3 are football fans like regular college students, 1/3 don't care anything at all about football or sports in general because they are uber nerds and 1/3 don't even know what football is because they are from India or China". They also have about half as many total alumni worldwide as UGA. Honestly, considering what they have to work with, they are surprisingly successful in sports.

I live in Georgia. You can travel anywhere in the state, no matter how far you are from Athens, and you will see lots of UGA flags, stickers and people wearing UGA gear. Even in Atlanta, home to Georgia tech, UGA dominates. South Carolina is different. Clemson dominates the upstate, SC rules the midlands, especially around the Columbia metro area and the rest of the state is pretty evenly split. Clemson and SC are battling head to head for sports dollars in a pretty even match. In Georgia, UGA is close to having a monopoly.

I really don't see a path for SC to have a big jump in NIL or giving in general. What money SC has needs to be spent wisely.
 

atl-cock

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Georgia tech has about 60% in state students, with around 30% of students being international. Their grads end up all over the country and the world and that hurts their football program. A good friend had a son who played at GT and the son used to laugh and say "Tech students fall into three categories. 1/3 are football fans like regular college students, 1/3 don't care anything at all about football or sports in general because they are uber nerds and 1/3 don't even know what football is because they are from India or China". They also have about half as many total alumni worldwide as UGA. Honestly, considering what they have to work with, they are surprisingly successful in sports.

I live in Georgia. You can travel anywhere in the state, no matter how far you are from Athens, and you will see lots of UGA flags, stickers and people wearing UGA gear. Even in Atlanta, home to Georgia tech, UGA dominates. South Carolina is different. Clemson dominates the upstate, SC rules the midlands, especially around the Columbia metro area and the rest of the state is pretty evenly split. Clemson and SC are battling head to head for sports dollars in a pretty even match. In Georgia, UGA is close to having a monopoly.

I really don't see a path for SC to have a big jump in NIL or giving in general. What money SC has needs to be spent wisely.
I would suggest the demographic hurts all Tech sports, not just football. I live in Atlanta (unincorporated Dekalb County to be specific), about a 20 minute drive from the Tech campus. I try to go to one Tech baseball game each season - vs Clemron if I can help it (for other sports, the ticket prices and parking hassles aren't worth it to me). I was at a Jacket-Tater game at Russ Chandler Stadium a few years ago, wearing a USC cap. There are usually 1-2K loyal Tech fans who show up to their games. As I was heading to my seat, one of them asked me "You're not pulling for Clemson, are you?" If I was quick-whitted, my reply should have been "I'll pull for Clemson the day after you start pulling for Georgia!"

But you are correct regarding UGA vs Tech publically-displayed paraphernalia in metro Atlanta, although it's not exclusively Dawg-Jacket. I do see some Auburn, Bama, Florida, F$U, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Penn State, Clemson, USC, UnCarolina, Tennessee, etc. around. And when my wife and I spent Memorial Day week in New Orleans about 9 years ago, it was overwhelmingly LSU (over 95%). I saw maybe a couple of Tulane banners.