NIL ''failing'' at Kentucky and players let down-Pharis
- Thread starter RunninRichie
- Start date
I just have a lot of trouble buying this premise. We have by far and away the largest and most avid fan base in the entire country. Nobody else has nearly as many folks willing to cough up money for the program as we do.
If UK is somehow “failing” at NIL, then somebody has seriously dropped the ball somewhere.
If UK is somehow “failing” at NIL, then somebody has seriously dropped the ball somewhere.
Whoever told him Reeves was happy with NIL was smoking crack.
That can’t be because someone on here and the football side is adamant that the NIL is great at UK and nothing wrong with it and all those that question it clearly are clueless.
And that poster has been mysteriously missing for the last few days. Ever since the national media has started reporting on how far behind UK is compared to other SEC schools with President Capiluto even ADMITTING so, Ole @Magilla Gorrilla has been MIA.
just total malpractice by cal and Barney. No other way to describe what’s happening. Cal couldn’t adapt to the NIL game so he’s doomed. Not to mention he’s an awful bench coach (just thought I’d throw that in there 😂)
How many of people on here buy season tickets and contribute to the collectives? To complain about NIL and not contribute is hypocritical. Are you all giving?
Fans do not equal businesses.
Maybe there are a lot more NIL opportunities for UK to tap into, but it has nothing to do with fandom. When it comes to NIL, one billionaire alum at USC is worth more than any single fanbase.
Maybe there are a lot more NIL opportunities for UK to tap into, but it has nothing to do with fandom. When it comes to NIL, one billionaire alum at USC is worth more than any single fanbase.
I'm not buying this "failed NIL" BS. Doesn't Calipari have $30M he was bragging about from his billionaire NBA contracts? Do a little "creative book keeping" and you have more than enough NIL scrilla.
Without data being made public, there's no way to gauge whether Reeves has a right to be upset with his NIL.
He was a sixth man, not the star of the team.
Have a hard time believing he was behind players of similar stature within the SEC.
Hunter Dickinson claims he made less than 100k and he was Michigans best player.
Bet Reeves topped that.
Yeah, it's our fault that Cal has alienated almost ALL the major boosters (not my words, but several others supposedly in the know). Weird how Stoops doesn't seem to be having any trouble finding NIL money...
Yeah, he's just out shopping other teams because he made good NIL last year.
And media closer to the program reporting he made under 6 figures, they are clearly biased.
Who would want tickets to a side show circus?
This clown coach has disrespected fans since his arrival & now has to beg fans to attend home games.
Until ccc is gone, I wouldn't make the 2 hour trip to Rupp even with free front row seats.
This is true, but that guy had no connections at all and admitted he hadn’t given to a NIL group. However I think, at least on the football side, things have improved since the slow slow start on NIL. I lost my connection to the football info about 2 months ago so that’s all I got! lol
Yes we hired someone from the Texas A&M organization way back when and also just recently hired an NIL director for women’s basketball. Hopefully we can build on that.
This is an important point. I spend on 2 collectives (not a bunch of moolah)and tickets but I only get back to like 2 games. I don’t complain anymore because I believe we are at least in the game on the football side. I have zero idea on bball.
UK having the most avid basketball fan base, in indisputable.
But that is different than having the most money available for NIL.
Most (>99%) aren't able to as individuals to afford to do anything wrt NIL for a player. So then you are looking at A) wealthy UK fans (which I would say we are not in the top tier of programs with), or B) businesses that are not just a single store, unless something really big like a car dealership, or C) fan collectives, where say 100,000 fans each throw in $20-200 (which takes a lot of organization)
Look at the two people who need to be leading the charge here, Cal and Barney. I can see how those two could rub a lot of influential donors the wrong way. Neither of them have many people skills. We've probably alienated most of these donors the way Cal and Barney have alienated the fans. Cal with his condescending attitude towards fans and Barney with how he makes the average fan feel unimportant.
There's no hard data on NIL earnings to my knowledge.
There's 14 teams in the SEC so that's about 170 give or take on scholarship.
Where did our players rank 1-170?
I think we all know Oscar was #1.
Where the rest fell, who knows?
Does anybody really have a problem if say Lance Ware didn't crack the top 75?
I really don't see any player who was definitely a notch below Antonio in skill level out earning him in NIL.
Reeves is not going to get star money.
It’s obvious that most of the board still doesn’t know how NIL works .
And yes I’m apart of that group .
And yes I’m apart of that group .
I agree. TJ Beisner (who is still on staff despite other rumors) is the NIL guy for basketball. This is the first line of his bio on the UK Athletics website:
Hired by John Calipari in August 2021 as the first college basketball staff member in the country to oversee the program’s Name, Image and Likeness strategy and execution, TJ Beisner has been at the heart of all player development and operations for Kentucky basketball since joining the staff.
But, the issue here, as you said, is that there is no collective for UK basketball. While you still might be able to grab top level HS kids, you have to be successful with the portal, and these are the guys looking for guaranteed money, which Cal will not do. Until we have a collective, like most other top level programs, we are going to continue to strike out. We have signed 1 guy from the transfer portal in the NIL era..Antonio Reeves. We have reached a new era in college basketball where guys, most of which have no/little NBA earning power, are looking to capitalize on their worth while they can. 2 years....1 guy. Now we might still get someone, but we are in total scramble mode now working on plan z.
Bingo. This problem needs to be addressed regardless of who the AD and Coach are. Kentucky basketball is facing a very real problem, and getting talented roster teams will be an uphill battle. They need to figure out a way to compete with Miami, USC, Texas, etc when it comes to the money that can be spent on the basketball players.
IMO, the number probably needs to be between $5 and $10 million: a collective pool of money to be spread around the top 11 or so basketball players on the team.
That's going to take an entire department under the Athletic department, to work on contracts, finding businesses and donors, contact alum, creative ideas, marketing, etc.
How do we lure the top recruits (or even just the top transfers and overall talent), to small town Lexington Kentucky in rural America? That's what UK has to figure out. It's not even a top60 market, and Louisville is only 27th. Another big issue is that of the top10 largest cities (where the money is), the CLOSEST of the bunch to UK is Chicago.. which is still 6 hours away. The rest of the cities are really nowhere near UK. I think this matters more than we realize.
So exactly how far are we behind on NIL? Who are these schools who are ahead of us and how much NIL money do they have compared to what we have?
The key thing is yes we have boosters and donors and even fans that give large amounts until they don't.There is plenty of NIL money but those that have aren't releasing it
Very valid points . Combination of tapping as many businesses and rich sports fans as we can and Crowd funding by BBN? I do think the KFund and UK administration are scared to death we are all chasing the Same dollars . They need to realize what we did in football. A half empty stadium like we had when twenty thousand fans left after Jokers next to last year reduces the total pie for everyone. Happy alums feel more a part of it and give more .
We really do risk a half full embarrassing Rapp Arena if this team flames out in case of number of our freshman play like Skal’s and BJ. Bostons , or injuries to a small class of seven or eight quality players.
Doing nothing here is no an option .
Green Bay Packers found a way to compete . We simply have to think outside the box and go with our strength which is an incredibly loyal fan base assuming Cal hasn’t screwed that up.
Kentucky is not lacking money to pay Calipari, if we can pay him but can't get the players NIL money, what good is having the highest paid coach that is not producing a typical Kentucky record the last 5 or 6 years and has a dismal showing in the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
In regards to Miami, their coach doesn't even attempt to sign high school talent.
He's all in on the portal.
USC has been primarily HS recruiting other than Boogie Ellis which is from So Cal.
Do UK fans really get excited about portal players?
Do we really want to pay a Reid Travis or Kellen Grady a million a year to play here probably for only one season.
Recruiting Mc Donald's All Americans in in Kentucky's DNA.
That didn't start with Cal.
When I first heard of NIL, I was afraid that it may be this way for us. Tradition means nothing anymore and we don’t have the deep pockets that many assume. Coupled with utter roster mismanagement, I have growing doubts we ever return to the status we’re used to, even with a competent coach.
This is Cals fault, again. The big donors like Stoops and have his back What gets me is all those nba contracts Cal likes to talk about. If hes got 30 mil for facilities but can't get his roster straight with nil. it's total BS!
Yeah, it's really just finding the talent that we need. Now that the transfer portal is so big (I'm not convinced college basketball doesn't do "something" to curb the gutting of rosters, in some way), maybe 5-star freshman aren't the top target?
Maybe we tap into the BILLIONS in salary of our NBA players?
Move Cal to some sort of business position, and he can start making phone calls to guys like John Wall and Jamal Murray.
Move Cal to some sort of business position, and he can start making phone calls to guys like John Wall and Jamal Murray.
This is something I have been wanting to know too. Its almost inconceivable to think we have nil problem.
