Editor's note: This is the first article in a two-day series on the impact name, image and likeness has on East Tennessee State University's athletics department.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Solid defense, grit and camaraderie helped the underdog ETSU men's basketball team come back from a 20-point deficit in the semifinals and push itself to the brink of winning the 2024 Southern Conference Tournament championship earlier this month. , athletic director Richard Sander said that's no longer enough.
“We won that game because our players cared about each other, they cared about their coaches, they cared about the university, they cared about the community, and it was all about what's good in college athletics. ” Sander told News Channel 11 this week. .
The team was missing something, but Sander said this will be the last Buccaneer basketball team without something that is now key and shakes up his division from top to bottom.
“Some very good players were already doing pretty well in the NIL in terms of compensation,” he said. “There were some schools that were a little bit ahead of us in that regard.”
“If you just look at the wins and losses of games, the players who play at the end of the game are the players who are paid,” Sander said. The NIL world remains in Wild West-like limbo as courts, the NCAA, agents, players and universities try to sort out the new reality, but Sander said rumors are spreading. It is said that there is.
“It's all rumors and innuendo. We know from talking to different people that there were players who played in the (Southern Conference) tournament and were making $100,000.”
Welcome to the new reality of name, image and likeness (NIL) and its impact on college sports, said the 40-year veteran of college sports administration. As News Channel 11 reported last month, Bucs for Good, a group led by local boosters, wants to improve on shortcomings so ETSU can attract and retain athletes to keep the program competitive. There is.
But what kind of program and its long-term impact are questions Sander and his staff are currently grappling with. ETSU regularly subsidizes its athletics budget from booster gifts made to the ETSU Foundation. The transfer fee has averaged more than $1.1 million per year over the past six years, which is above the long-term average of about $750,000 that Sander said is appropriate for ETSU.
The corporations, alumni, and other donors making these gifts are now being pulled in two directions by ETSU's full immersion in NIL. Sander said he wasn't naive enough to expect donors to give $100,000 a year, so he decided to put $50,000 into NIL to make up the difference. Ta.
“We know we're going to lose money from that standpoint because all that money is not revenue growth. Some of them are saying, 'Let's do this instead of that.'”
“Hard decisions about how to allocate resources”
That reality is now on our doorstep, if not on ETSU's doorstep, and Sander is ready to meet this challenge head-on at an age when many in his position are enjoying retirement. He said he was there.
ETSU President Brian Noland tasked him with leading a six-month strategic planning process. The process already has 19 criteria for evaluating each of ETSU's 17 intercollegiate sports. Surveys have been conducted, initial meetings with high-level supporters have been held, and more community engagement will occur.
“One guiding principle that we will always keep in mind is how everything we try to do will benefit the university and the community as much as possible.” Sander said.
In addition to that, he said, there must also be a determination to “do what's best for the majority of student-athletes.”
With an early return, it's starting to become clear which sports will emerge as budget winners and which will face adjustments that won't be easy for athletes or fans alike.
“We will have to make difficult decisions based on our priorities,” Sander said.
“As people look at these criteria, men's and women's basketball and football are the sports that we really need to focus on and that the university has the greatest benefit of being as competitive as possible at our level.” It became pretty clear what we could get.”
Mr. Sander reiterated many times that this process will be difficult and not everyone will be happy.
“Changes are going to happen. We can't operate the same way as before because things are so different,” he said.
With the expected rise of basketball and football, what will happen to ETSU's other 14 sports — and Sander said men's basketball will be at the top of his priority list for now — remains to be seen. It's a matter of resolution. Despite the caveat that the process is in its early stages and could change significantly, Bucksport fans would do well to buckle down.
“I don't think we're going to eliminate sports,” Sander said. “I think we'll be refocusing them and setting more restrictive guidelines.”
Identifying “the type of funding needed to increase competitiveness”
As for the NIL-affected sectors, Sander said it is futile to predict what kind of funding will be needed to carry out ETSU's operations.
“It's certainly difficult to pinpoint the amount of money we need to be competitive, to know what the compensation level will be for our players.”
He said some players have their own agents and that there are currently few rules and regulations, meaning almost anyone can become an agent. “They call us and ask us to represent them. “It tells you what kind of compensation people are getting.”
Sander said the current market is “all about how much money you can make,” and that applies to a much wider range of people than just athletes, some of whom aren't even teenagers.
“Personally, I don't think it's the student-athlete's fault. It's because of all the other people around them that have this mindset of, 'I'm getting paid, I have to get paid.' The surrounding people. This person is getting paid, so I should get paid too. ”
“So that's what's been produced in college athletics.”
Judging by his assessment, Sander takes a fact-based approach.
“The courts got involved in that and basically made a decision that facilitated this. The NCAA hasn't been very forthcoming about how they're dealing with this issue, so basically the courts and the media have decided that we're going to We have allowed ourselves to create the environment in which we are placed.
“So it doesn't matter what I think. The only thing that matters to us is to be competitive in the sport that we feel is in our best interest.”
