MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard was roughly halfway through answering his first question from reporters, discussing the University’s strategy for handling the rapidly changing world of college basketball when his phone started vibrating in his jacket pocket.
A brief pause to see if the call was related to the portal (spoiler: it wasn’t) is a snapshot into what life has been like for him and hundreds of other coaches in college basketball’s new age of free agency.
“Here’s the first thing everybody needs to understand, we have to move out of how things were and walk away from yesteryear because we are in a completely different era,” he said. “It’s something that we saw coming, quite frankly, for two, three, four years as this was coming down the pipe. Anybody that has been shocked, stunned, surprised by anything … it’s kind of like the folks who turn on the TV March 10 and question what happens in the tournament, meaning you haven’t paid attention to the rest of the year. If you are surprised by what has happened to the transfer portal and NIL and where it has grown to, you haven’t paid attention.”
Gard touched on many topics before Wisconsin’s end-of-the-season banquet last month, which had a different feel than past years. After seeing only two players transfer after the 22-23 season, Wisconsin had seven players enter the portal as NIL and pay-for-play arrangements grow exponentially as schools struggle to keep pace with no oversight from the NCAA.
The portal finally closed for new submissions on May 1, and UW was able to rebuild its roster with portal additions Xavier Amos (Northern Illinois), Camren Hunter (Central Arkansas), and John Tonje (Missouri). The Badgers have one more available scholarship and have been tied to other uncommitted prospects.
The NIL money Amos, Hunter, and Tonje are getting from Wisconsin’s NIL fundraising arm, The Varsity Collective, is unknown and hasn’t been distributed (The Varsity Collective is not affiliated with the University and not subject to open record requests).
What is known is that Wisconsin still has work to do to build its NIL coffers to match some of the top basketball-first programs in the country. While Gard said his NIL resource pool nearly tripled heading into this offseason, the massive dollar figures players are commanding and getting increased five times, part of the reason UW lost 2023-24 starters A.J. Storr (Kansas) and Chucky Hepburn (Louisville) to reported high six-figure deals.
“Where it’s going is what we don’t have an answer to because we don’t have an end game in sight,” Gard said. “In my position, I have to manage today and then the powers at be at the NCAA, conference level, Congress as they maybe get involved down the road more, that’s the down-the-road answer.
“What I have to focus on is we are highly competitive in the era we’re in. It’s different at every school. There are no two schools that are approaching this the same. There are no two schools that look at it the same. There is no rulebook and playbook for this and that’s one of the issues that we all operate on our own.”
Gard adamantly doesn’t begrudge Storr and Hepburn for cashing in. Originally declaring for the NBA Draft, Storr signed with Kansas and can reportedly earn upwards of $1 million. Hepburn committed to Louisville and first-year head coach Pat Kelsey and can supposedly earn upwards of $750,000.
Gard wouldn’t go into detail about what dollar figures were discussed with Hepburn but made it clear that he didn’t have an opportunity to put together a package to entice Hepburn to stay. Even if he could, using a large chunk of the budget on one player wasn’t a path Gard was willing to travel.
“We have to be fiscally responsible,” he said. “We’ve been able to do a lot of good things through our resources. My staff and myself have been really relentless in raising those funds. My staff has done a phenomenal job of helping connect with donors who have been really gracious. It’s not a bottomless well, so I have to operate in a fiscally responsible way.
“We’re in a good place but you see numbers that are astronomical. I go back to every school is different. Every school is approaching it different. Every school has different resources and funds it differently. I can’t call any other coach and go, ‘hey, how you’re doing?’ and have it line up exactly with how we are doing and your approach here. You have to find the model that fits best for you.
“We’re really in a day-to-day operational mode because we don’t know. There is no goal line in place here. If there is a frustrating thing, that’s it. Where is this going to go? We don’t know because there’s not a finish line yet.”
With NIL fundraising devoid of any NCAA or federal regulations, it’s eliminated the offseason for college coaches. In between recruiting aggressively in the portal, Gard and his staff have increased their NIL functions to continue adding money to the pot and expect a busy spring and summer of connecting with donors.
Gard is hopeful of some guardrails to eventually be put in place, including implementing contracts to lock in the commitment from the player to the school and vice versa. Until then, Gard begins his 10th head coaching season energized by the strides the program has made this offseason.
“I’ve taken it from a standpoint you take the box of the puzzle, you open it upside down, throw the piece over and you put it back together in today’s climate,” Gard said. “That’s not only your roster construction and how we’ve looked at that specifically, but it’s also my staff construction. That’s something I’ve been contemplating and envisioning for almost a year. Where this was going, we’re going to have to adapt and adjust and change, and we’re in the process of doing that.
“All of this, it’s exciting because it’s new. It’s unknown, and any change or challenge is always invigorating.”
_________________________________________________
*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den
*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel
*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)
*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_
*Like us on Facebook
