Maryland Basketball Scoop: Latest NIL developments, who gets the money and two to watch from Baltimore
Changes continue to arrive fast in the NIL and revenue-sharing world. What's the latest from Maryland's efforts and will a key guy in the operation stay involved? How will that $20.5 million be broken up by teams? Who are the latest emerging young prospects from Baltimore to keep an eye on?
Changes continue to arrive fast in the NIL and revenue-sharing world. What's the latest from Maryland's efforts and will a key guy in the operation stay involved? How will that $20.5 million be broken up by teams? Who are the latest emerging young prospects from Baltimore to keep an eye on?
On the revenue-sharing situation, multiple sources confirmed Maryland plans to direct that $20.5 million like this: $14 million for football, $ million for men's basketball and $2 million for the women's basketball program. There will be some NIL deals on top of this money, and they'll be needed to keep up with cash-happy programs. Maryland will need Under Armour to step up here.
One would assume Kevin Willard has figured out some legal workarounds because he's going to need a lot of money just to retain Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice and get two quality big men out of the portal. Those four alone could require about three-quarters of that $4 million. Football, of course, requires far more money because the roster is about eight times the size of a basketball roster.
A good question was asked on the board on Wednesday: with Harry Geller no longer involved (details here), who's going to negotiate deals with recruits? Maryland doesn't seem to be planning to hire a basketball GM, so someone will need to handle all of those duties. Geller wasn't just negotiating, but he was also making sure payments were made and players were being kept happy.
Officially, new GM Geroy Simon will be responsible for these duties, but I suspect Geller will be unofficially involved. He has relationships with every parent, AAU coach and agent for the current players and has helped Willard build his roster. Simon is the literal a It's hard to imagine one guy, no matter how good he is, handling these communications and negotiations with athletes for all of Maryland's teams.
On a related note, the Department of Justice revoked a ruling that said Title IX won't apply to NIL after all, meaning universities won't be required to make sure their female athletes are receiving the same pay as the men. Via the press release:
"The Biden Administration claimed that NIL agreements between schools and student athletes are akin to financial aid and must, therefore, be proportionately distributed between male and female athletes under Title IX. Enacted over 50 years ago, Title IX says nothing about how revenue-generating athletics programs should allocate compensation among student athletes. The claim that Title IX forces schools and colleges to distribute student-athlete revenues proportionately based on gender equity considerations is sweeping and would require clear legal authority to support it. That does not exist."
This decision will remove a lot of headaches and constraints for athletic departments. This is now a full-fledged a business and the reality is, the men's teams generate most of the revenue. The $2 million expected to be provided to Brenda Frese's program should place Maryland in the upper echelon of women's programs. She's earned that support by winning at a high level for decades.
In recruiting, Maryland hosted one of Baltimore's better young prospects this week when Billy Stanfield III visited for the Rutgers game. Stanfield, a 6-5 forward at Calvert Hall in Baltimore, is only a freshman but he's one to keep an eye on. Arkansas, Oregon, Syracuse and LSU are among the other schools already sniffing around but Maryland should have the inside track if he develops into a top prospect. He's not the only 2028 prospect from Baltimore to keep tabs on. Spalding freshman Braxton Bogard is one of the more athletic Bigs in his class nationally and has Maryland's early interest.
Maryland's branded itself as a hot spot for athletes at Spalding, but it's been on the football side. The top basketball players from the school, Rudy Gay and Cam Whitmore, spurned the Terps.
