Howe: Iowa Needs to Pick Up Pace in NIL Race

Creativity, Execution Crucial in Competing on New College Sports Landscape

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Think of the University of Iowa's athletic department budget as a pie, a very lucrative pie. It's sliced up, pieces handed out mainly for operating costs, scholarships and salaries. 

For years, athletic director Gary Barta and his predecessors in that position worked off a blue print that was clearly defined. The boss adjusted for rising costs of operating expenses, salaries and scholarships, but percentages dedicated to those areas remained relatively in line with money raised. He made it work, tweaked it here and there, where need be. 

Well, a new mouth has pulled up to the table for a slice of the pie. Last year's passing of Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) legislation, which allows student-athletes to earn money, created a new division in the arms race. 

It could have been regulated had the NCAA not spent years in denial, refusing to believe the day would come when athletes would be compensated beyond cost of attendance. This despite warning shots being fired by Connecticut basketball star Shabazz Napier and Northwestern Football. The college athletics governing body dragged its feet and lost control. 

It's spawned an environment where schools across the country are searching for ways to create a competitive advantage. The local car dealership sponsoring athletes for a couple hundred bucks has become small potatoes. "Collective" has joined the "transfer portal" as terms you better know and understand if you're going to survive in 21st-century, high-stakes college athletics. 

A collective is in large part a crowd-sourced pool of money derived from booster donations. It's not new. As a self-sufficient department, Iowa athletics raises its own operating funds and does not draw from the university (with the exception of the pandemic loan of $50M).  

While schools can't directly set up collectives for student-athletes through the athletic department, they will influence and guide a separate pool of money for the players called a collective.  On3 did a good job of rounding up what that looks like across the country. 

Barta and Hawkeye football coach Kirk Ferentz have indicated that a collective is in the works at Iowa. Ferentz said there was a "realistic chance" for a collective. Barta expected athletes being paid for academic performance beginning next year. 

In theory, that's great and admirable. They're student-athletes. Reward them for the student part of the equation. 

But will that be enough? Is the process at Iowa moving fast enough to keep up with the Joneses? 

On the surface, it's tough answering yes to those questions . But it's fluid and complicated. New ground is being covered. It seems one would want to act quickly and error on the side of providing whatever amount possible under the rules to compete. 

For years, athletic departments raised money for facilities upgrades and rising coaching salaries. They wanted to keep up with the competition. 

Same idea applies here. If Ferentz can make $7M a year, and his coordinators, Phil Parker and Brian Ferentz, along with Barta around $1M each annually, it'd be tough to convince anyone the money isn't there. Men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery earns $2.9M, women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder makes about $1M and wrestling coach Tom Brands is compensated more than $500K.  

That brings us back to the pie analogy. 

There's a good chance these new collectives will approach many of the same donors they did to make the previous pie. The pie will probably get bigger. But will it grow enough to add a sufficiently sized piece for student-athletes or will the size of the other slices need reducing? 

Again, while the athletic department can't organize the collective, it can steer or direct funds its way. Influence is legal. And that's why Barta and Ferentz address it publicly. 

You may be noticing the economy is not great. Deep-pocketed individuals will kick in more for the collective but others may ask that their donations be split up between the original pie slices and the new mouth to feed. Still others may not be on board with student-athlete compensation, creating another challenge for fund raisers. 

Those folks are out there. We see them. They're done with college athletics. NIL is ruining them. 

Fine. The games will go on. And the schools must figure it out. 

It's an important time for Iowa. An athletic department promoting itself for "winning, graduating and doing it right" must find the balance during a seismic shift in college sports. Hawkeye leaders that often are reactive need to be proactive, finding what works best for them in remaining competitive on the field of play. 

Iowa likely isn't going to outbid the blue bloods or programs that sell their souls for targeted talent. That really isn't that much different than pre-NIL times when identifying and developing student-athletes keyed success.  

However, competition will be stiffer for those targets now with the NIL. Other schools can raise their profiles through creative and lucrative ventures. And collectives can help retain talent instead of losing it to the transfer portal. 

And don't let anyone tell you it's just little old Iowa. The athletic department ranks among the richest in the nation. Again, the money is there. 

Iowa is well positioned. It just needs a solid plan of attack. And it needs to move sooner rather than later.