Gophers' AD Mark Coyle says he deals with name, image and likeness 'every hour'

[cheeseheadgophfan]

With our luck we would finally get some booster to put up a bunch of money for a star recruit, and they would get hurt or drastically underperform. Thus killing any opportunity for someone to want to donate again.

No.....with our luck we'd have that wealthy booster willing to pay that amount to a player and Coyle would tell him/her that it would have to be spread out equally. Booster would change mind and say screw it.

 

[60's Guy]

Optimism, somehow the Pepperdine guy chose us! That’s encouraging. We must have at least something we are selling?

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

The difference between what the Gophers are doing and other programs is mind-boggling. Miami is an obvious example, but I just saw where DJ Wagner pulled up to the McDonald's All-American game driving a Roll-Royce. He got out of the car and did a commercial for the luxury car company that he is repping, inviting all the Kentucky fans to join him at a fan party. He hasn't even stepped foot on Kentucky's campus yet. SMH

How did Kentucky do this year? Squandered away another top 5 recruiting class and one of the most talented rosters in college basketball, again.

Giving kids money and expensive things before they've earned them isn't necessarily a good thing for the kid, or the team, and definitely doesn't equate to success.

 

[bga1]

How did Kentucky do this year? Squandered away another top 5 recruiting class and one of the most talented rosters in college basketball, again.

Giving kids money and expensive things before they've earned them isn't necessarily a good thing for the kid, or the team, and definitely doesn't equate to success.

True! Which is why the whole thing is a mess.

 

[CPTMidnight]

How did Kentucky do this year? Squandered away another top 5 recruiting class and one of the most talented rosters in college basketball, again.

Giving kids money and expensive things before they've earned them isn't necessarily a good thing for the kid, or the team, and definitely doesn't equate to success.

The vast majority of pro sports players live in an alternate reality and have since high school. It wrecks them for life.

 

[cheeseheadgophfan]

How did Kentucky do this year? Squandered away another top 5 recruiting class and one of the most talented rosters in college basketball, again.

Giving kids money and expensive things before they've earned them isn't necessarily a good thing for the kid, or the team, and definitely doesn't equate to success.

I wasn't defending Kentucky (gross!).....I was just shocked to see a high school senior drive up to an all-star game and step out of a Rolls Royce and act like it was no big deal. It's a different world.

 

[Dave H]

Whether they are still seeing things the same way or not- I don't know. As of last summer, I heard some of this same stuff at a meeting of boosters with Coyle, the coach and others. They really wanted to manage it and go cautious. I am not saying that is wrong or right, I am saying it puts us at a competitive disadvantage in a game that has few rules. We are fighting under Marques of Queensberry rules while some others are street fighting.

I would rather they do it this way then be stupid about it. That is just me though.

 

[Dave H]

True! Which is why the whole thing is a mess.

Yup, and it is why the transfer portal is going to be nuts until things calm down. So many players jumping ship looking for money, other players leaving because the money wasn't good enough or the opportunities fizzled out when they got there. It is going to be ugly.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

the point of the congressional hearing is that there are no 'national' rules right now. just a hodge-podge of individual state rules.

As far as the Gophers, the lack of rules mean that athletes are free to do as they wish. if Recruit X wanted to - and had the connections - he or she could go out and sign their own NIL deal that has nothing to do with Dinkytown Athletes or the official, U of MN sanctioned NIL program.

what the bleep is Coyle going to do in that case? He can't say "No" because no rules have been broken. and if he does say "No," you can bet that recruit's next words will be "bye-bye" to the U of MN.

Imagine that headline: "Star Recruit de-commits from MN because AD didn't like their NIL deal."

every coach at MN would be lining up to smash Coyle's head with a ball-peen hammer.

 

[EG#9]

Well I'm hopeful that the recent appointment of staff dedicated to this means they've moved out of cautious mode and are trying to catch up.

Anecdotally, Reusse said Jim Dutcher told him he recently got a call asking him to donate to the Gopher NIL and he told them if he gives any NIL $ it will be to SDSU (assuming that wasn't sarcasm.)

If this is true (with Reusse it's always a question), this would fit in with how incredibly tone deaf the U can be. "Hey we treated your son like crap 2 years ago...want to give us some NIL money?"

 

[EG#9]

I had heard some of the same things bga1 had heard, but those came before the worst season in program history, so maybe things have changed. At that time, the line of thinking was the coaching staff didn't want freshman coming in making more $ than guys already on the team. They didn't want potential locker room issues with guys playing/contributing more on the floor making less from NIL than guys playing smaller roles. There was also the issue of going by the rule book of not explicity offering NIL until guys were on campus which other schools were not following. I heard that Dave Thorson told boosters something along the lines of a lot of schools are going 75 right now and we're sticking to the speed limit (I may not have this quote right but that was the basic analogy). The Athletic posted an article on Shaka Smart and NIL about a month ago. He talked about Mountain West guys wanting $100 K to transfer and how they "weren't doing that" and that they wouldn't have guys coming in making more than their current players. They took only one transfer, a DII guy (inferred no NIL) and won the Big East. So this line of thinking can work if you recruit/develop/coach well. Again, I know ISU had some NIL this past season, but the year that got the ball rolling was done exclusively with kids that easily could have been Gophers with the exception of Grill who followed TJ to Ames. NIL might have helped them land their A-10 transfers this year, but they also lost their best returning player in Hunter to NIL.

One of my issues here is Ben Johnson is strongly incentivized to not just go 65 (to use the above analogy) but but go 62-63 in that 65 mph zone just to be safe because he's in a job he has no business having. He's making ~$2 million a year which is 6 good years as a high major assistant and there's a very good chance he'd be an assistant at a mid major right now if he didn't have the Gophers job so that's like 12-15 years salary? A guy with a track record of success might tell Coyle "we're going with the flow of traffic or I am leaving for someplace that does". I don't think NIL has anything at all to do with Minnesota going 2-17 in Big Ten play as other teams who are not significant players in the market have done just fine (Wisconsin tied for the league a year ago, Iowa won the BTT a year ago, Penn State had one of their best seasons ever this year, etc, etc). I'd like the University/Gabel/Coyle to be much more aggressive in the NIL space, but I don't want to see it being used as an excuse for what we've seen on the court.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

If this is true (with Reusse it's always a question), this would fit in with how incredibly tone deaf the U can be. "Hey we treated your son like crap 2 years ago...want to give us some NIL money?"

What if they told him he would get 20 gopher points?

 

[Gophers_4life]

Optimism, somehow the Pepperdine guy chose us! That’s encouraging. We must have at least something we are selling?

And he's not even from MN! So much for my hypothesis.

I guess "I played basketball in the Big Ten" is still worth it to some.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Small, possibly way overcooked thought here:

Pepperdine is a very religious school. Not like Notre Dame or something, think like BYU and Liberty U.

I don't know what kind of leeway their coaches have to recruit "the best players who will come here, regardless" vs "they need to fit the culture of our school/mission", but if it's even shaded towards the latter, then his choice could be heavily weighted by the culture of the program and what BJ sold him about that.

 

[Gophers_4life]

How did Kentucky do this year? Squandered away another top 5 recruiting class and one of the most talented rosters in college basketball, again.

Giving kids money and expensive things before they've earned them isn't necessarily a good thing for the kid, or the team, and definitely doesn't equate to success.

This!

Also the following: putting a bunch of kids together in a room, where each kid has already been built-up to believe, and been told over and over by coaches, parents/guardians, etc. that he is the next coming of MJ, Kobe, etc., may not necessarily tend towards a cohesive group. In fact, the opposite could happen! (Selfishness)

 

[Gophers_4life]

Two points I want to bring up, and maybe someone who knows better can address and clarify (moreso the first, I'm pretty sure the second is correct).

1) Coyle and Ben Johnson (or Gable and the Regents, for that matter) have no official authority over organizations like Dinkeytown Athletes. There is no official connection between DA and the U's athletic department. Thus, there can be no such thing as dictation from Coyle or BJ to the leadership of DA who make decisions on how much money to offer particular players on the various teams.

Coyle and BJ (and other coaches) are certainly free to express ideas/ideals like "I don't think it's right that an incoming player/recruit, who hasn't done a single thing for us on the field/court/mat/track (whatever) yet should have a larger NIL contract than an All-Conference performer." Free to express that all day long, every day. And I think a lot of good Minnesotans would say "heck ya, doncha know!" to that.

And ..... so??? They can't force DA to do a single thing.

DA could voluntarily choose to respect those wishes, sure.

As far as I know, the school, athletic department, and coaching staffs cannot do either of the following things:
- tell a (prospective) NIL provider that they are not allowed to provide that deal to any particular athlete
- tell a (prospective) NIL receiver that they are not allowed to make any specific deal, or else they're off the team, won't get playing time, etc. *

* there are likely a few, obvious exceptions to this: alcohol, tobacco, firearms or things which go against the University's values, I would suspect could be disallowed within reason.

(this is the part where it would be good to get precise clarity)


2) to my earlier comments about if you had a $1M burning a hole in your pocket and wanted to let it be known that if some hot-shot recruit comes here, they'll get that money in a NIL deal:

if that situation, there is no need at all to go through DA or something of the like. You can just go directly to the player's agent, and do the deal straight up. You don't need a middle-man like a collective.

So the comments about how our collectives are (maybe?) following Coyle/coaches wishes about "spreading around" the money, don't really apply in that case.

 

[bga1]

Two points I want to bring up, and maybe someone who knows better can address and clarify (moreso the first, I'm pretty sure the second is correct).

1) Coyle and Ben Johnson (or Gable and the Regents, for that matter) have no official authority over organizations like Dinkeytown Athletes. There is no official connection between DA and the U's athletic department. Thus, there can be no such thing as dictation from Coyle or BJ to the leadership of DA who make decisions on how much money to offer particular players on the various teams.

Coyle and BJ (and other coaches) are certainly free to express ideas/ideals like "I don't think it's right that an incoming player/recruit, who hasn't done a single thing for us on the field/court/mat/track (whatever) yet should have a larger NIL contract than an All-Conference performer." Free to express that all day long, every day. And I think a lot of good Minnesotans would say "heck ya, doncha know!" to that.

And ..... so??? They can't force DA to do a single thing.

DA could voluntarily choose to respect those wishes, sure.

As far as I know, the school, athletic department, and coaching staffs cannot do either of the following things:
- tell a (prospective) NIL provider that they are not allowed to provide that deal to any particular athlete
- tell a (prospective) NIL receiver that they are not allowed to make any specific deal, or else they're off the team, won't get playing time, etc. *

* there are likely a few, obvious exceptions to this: alcohol, tobacco, firearms or things which go against the University's values, I would suspect could be disallowed within reason.

(this is the part where it would be good to get precise clarity)


2) to my earlier comments about if you had a $1M burning a hole in your pocket and wanted to let it be known that if some hot-shot recruit comes here, they'll get that money in a NIL deal:

if that situation, there is no need at all to go through DA or something of the like. You can just go directly to the player's agent, and do the deal straight up. You don't need a middle-man like a collective.

So the comments about how our collectives are (maybe?) following Coyle/coaches wishes about "spreading around" the money, don't really apply in that case.

#2 is never going to happen unless you are coordinating with the coach of the team that kid would play for. For example, with Nigel Pack at Miami- Ruiz 100% knew that the coach wanted him and would play him, otherwise no offer.

 

[Gophers_4life]

#2 is never going to happen unless you are coordinating with the coach of the team that kid would play for. For example, with Nigel Pack at Miami- Ruiz 100% knew that the coach wanted him and would play him, otherwise no offer.

The following can't be publicly announced?

"I, [rich person], want to let it be known that I am committed to providing $1M/year to any top 25 recruit in the country who makes a commitment to the University of Minnesota basketball team, in the form of a NIL contract."

That's against the rules? I don't think it is.


Now granted, we, and most schools to be honest, don't have such a person.

 

[bga1]

The following can't be publicly announced?

"I, [rich person], want to let it be known that I am committed to providing $1M/year to any top 25 recruit in the country who makes a commitment to the University of Minnesota basketball team, in the form of a NIL contract."

That's against the rules? I don't think it is.


Now granted, we, and most schools to be honest, don't have such a person.

OK- I see where you are headed with that. I suppose that could be done, but I think we both know that there would be some behind the scenes discussion with the coaches before such a thing actually happened. And... I'm not so sure even that would be against the rules.

 

[Gophers_4life]

OK- I see where you are headed with that. I suppose that could be done, but I think we both know that there would be some behind the scenes discussion with the coaches before such a thing actually happened. And... I'm not so sure even that would be against the rules.

Maybe.

Though the very detailed story/article I've read about SEC bagmen, required there to be a layer of separation between the coaches and the bagmen. They literally would only ever be introduced as "friends of the program", thus having to be willing to disavow acknowledgement for their "service".

I guess that doesn't really disprove the idea that there was some level of organization and dictation from the coaches on who should receive whatever, probably the opposite.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

Coyle is making excuses for his inaction on this issue.

The speed limit is 55, but like a good Minnesotan he’s driving 45…in the left lane.

 

[GoodasGold]

No.....with our luck we'd have that wealthy booster willing to pay that amount to a player and Coyle would tell him/her that it would have to be spread out equally. Booster would change mind and say screw it.

Those who sit and cheer also serve!

 

[disco]

If this is true (with Reusse it's always a question), this would fit in with how incredibly tone deaf the U can be. "Hey we treated your son like crap 2 years ago...want to give us some NIL money?"

Not to mention they fired Jim. Someone fires me I'm not giving them money.

 

[Roland Brooks]

Mark had a good seat for the games yesterday

 

[disco]

I would rather they do it this way then be stupid about it. That is just me though.

Then winning isn't your primary concern.

 

[Dave H]

Then winning isn't your primary concern.

No it isn't...because my manhood isn't measured by how many wins the team I support gets.

 

[Crappie]

No it isn't...because my manhood isn't measured by how many wins the team I support gets.

Your manhood shrunk mightily the past two seasons.

 

[howeda7]

Not to mention they fired Jim. Someone fires me I'm not giving them money.

Actually, I believe he resigned in protest after they forfeited a game after the Wisconsin incident.

 

[disco]

No it isn't...because my manhood isn't measured by how many wins the team I support gets.

Your manhood? The hell are you even talking about? College football and basketball are big time, big money entertainment, not some altruistic amateur contest. If you don't want the team you support to win, and win at all costs, what's the point?