PirateCrew: Seton Hall Pirates Football & Basketball Recruiting
The definitive source for all PirateCrew news.
By Colin Rajala
Trove: I couldn’t agree more with having multiple organizations that speak to different sets of the fanbase. As you look to combat donor fatigue among the various pools, I am curious to get your perspective on what you view as the minimum levels or thresholds to maintain NIL to remain competitive in the Big East?
McBride: I’ll tell you, if I had to rank what question I’ve been asked most about NIL, that would be number one and NIL is all everybody wants to talk about lately. It’s all about what number do we have to get to, what is the magical number?
Trove: I can only imagine. I had to ask or else the fanbase might really have it out for me.
McBride: I totally get it. Every single time someone asks me that, the first thing I do is, because I’m curious how they would handle it, is ask what do you think that number should be? Colin, what do you think the numbers should be?
Trove: That’s a fair exercise. I think the NIL budget should vary year-to-year. If you’ve got a younger team with sophomores and juniors that are exceeding expectations, like the team a couple of years ago with Myles Powell, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Jared Rhoden, guys that have a serious ability to go somewhere professionally, then you’re going to have to pony up above your typically yearly budget for continuity sake because you can’t let any of those guys walk and the school and program miss out on their successes. I think you have to capitalize on those team and individual successes and use them to push the program forward.
My ideal vision of the program also has Shaheen picking up younger guys like high school and prep school kids as well as younger transfers that may be less heralded. I like to think that those types of players will not be commanding as much from the NIL budget immediately, so those years when rosters are young will be less expensive than when you’re a serious threat to advance in the tournament. I think that is a long-winded way of getting to the idea that for the NIL budget to be competitive, it has to be at least at the median amount of the major conference schools on a yearly basis with the school willing to take some risks and bet on its student-athletes when they are positioned for success.
McBride: I think that answer is as solid an answer that anybody can give. The truth is, there is no number. I couldn't give you an answer because every week everything is changing. If you listen to the news and you listen to the message boards, we're going to need an astronomical number because all these schools are providing astronomical NIL opportunities to these athletes. Here's my personal opinion : I find it very hard to believe anything you hear or read. I find it extremely hard to believe what the third - party NIL companies are saying because they're only going to say something that benefits them. I find it hard to believe what the student - athlete agents are saying because they're only going to say something that benefits them. I find it hard to believe what the schools are saying because they're only going to say something that benefits them. Everyone is only going to leak or report information that benefits them and until there is a clearinghouse or a way to monitor the country's NIL market, in my opinion, you just can't believe or trust anything you see or hear.
There’s probably truth to every number you hear, and there's probably some stretching of the truth to every number you hear. Sometimes they inflate it, sometimes they keep it depressed for whatever goal and objective suits them. I honestly don't understand why anyone would ever say a number. Like what's the benefit? Because then it's just going to be used against you. So, the original question is what is the number that Seton Hall athletics needs for men’s basketball? I don’t know but we will have a plan.
Trove: And its going to change over time based on market dynamics. You said before that it’s still in the early phases and I think it remains to be seen where the playing field levels off. For every success story like Miami’s first Elite Eight in school history last year, there will be the opposite with funds spent on an underperforming group of teenagers/young adults.
McBride: I can promise you this, Seton Hall Athletics will work with our NIL partners to find a plan that is executable against whatever dollar amount we have in place. Some of these numbers reported are not applicable when adding football into the equation. The focus should be on our conference and basketball first programs when discussing a sample set.
Trove: Sure, that is apples to oranges.
McBride: When you look at apples to apples, you’re hearing numbers anywhere from $500,000 to $5 million, so there's your range. There's truth to that, and I think it is somewhere in there, but I kind of liked your answer. Maybe your answer is the best answer. We can tell the readers that your answer is what we’re going to go with [laughs]. At the end of the day, whatever the amount is, we will have a solid plan for it.
