With NIL becoming a much more prominent part of collegiate athletics, coaches around the country have to adjust.
College athletics has always been moneymaker for institutions, coaches, and the local businesses that operate in these different cities and towns across the country.
Those were the only people who could make money from what happened on the field, court, swimming pool, gym, or anywhere else sports are practiced for decades on end.
Subsequently, the NCAA permitted student-athletes to earn money using their own Name, Image, and Likeness, radically altering the amateur sports industry’s future.
Coaches in all sports programs have thus had to adapt to this new facet of their careers.
It’s obvious that another component has been added to how college teams must handle funding, whether it comes from businesses and school collectives spending money on athletes or from NIL money being utilized in recruiting pitches, roster retention, program funding, or anything else.
Pat Kelsey, the recently hired men’s basketball coach at Louisville, is aware of this.
“You’d better, otherwise it’s time to look for another job. I refer to it as the benefit of fresh options. Every industry has significant transitions, as I’ve mentioned numerous times. If individuals, businesses, or organizations oppose these changes and are not adaptable to the times, they will eventually be overwhelmed and forced out of business. The benefit of having more options is that you have to be open to changing with the times. When talking about NIL and the transfer portal in a sit-down interview with Kent Spencer of WHAS11, he advised her to “adjust and run toward it.”
That certainly has to be music to the ears of Louisville fans who have seen their program fall from being considered a top program in the country to where they are now as a doormat of the ACC.
What he’s saying is right.
NIL is not going anywhere, and those who try to ignore it or look down upon it are going to be overmatched by those who do embrace it.
Kelsey is not going to let that happen to him.
This is the first big job in his career.
He got his initial head coaching job with Winthrop after being the associate head coach with Xavier from 2009-11. He stayed with Winthrop from 2012-21, turning that program into the winningest team in the Big South conference during his tenure and leaving with one of the most wins of all time.
After deciding to move on, Kelsey became a coach at the College of Charleston, where he was 75-27 in his three seasons. There, he enjoyed comparable success.
Louisville’s work will be very different.
They play in an elite league and face many of the best players in the game on a weekly basis, on top of the pressure and expectations that come with it.
Adopting NIL will undoubtedly assist Kelsey in swiftly reconstructing the program by attracting and retaining top personnel nationwide, as opposed to having them leave for more lucrative opportunities through transfer portals.
