By Colin Rajala
Trove: Rob, thank you for taking some time out of your busy summer covering the AAU camps to speak with me for the Trove. I’d like to start by getting your perspective on some higher-level items about the new recruiting landscape with NIL and the transfer portal before drilling down on recruits more specifically. It seems like NIL is front of mind for recruits as facilities and other factors have become less marketable.
Rob: I think the two most important aspects of recruiting guys in college basketball today are NIL and the fit/connection with the coaches. Sure, some kids may look for different things, but those two things sure seem like mostly the two things kids care about nowadays. A lot of these places that built these wonderful facilities and everything else that they thought were going to be a boon for recruiting, I don't want to say they were a waste of money, but I don't think that they really matter as much in this landscape.
Trove: With the NIL being at the forefront of roster construction, I am curious to hear what you think is needed for a school like Seton Hall to stay competitive in this new environment. I have heard figures all over the place, anywhere from $500,000 to $5 million annually.
Rob: It’s hard to say because the numbers that everybody are throwing out, I don't trust at all. Nobody really knows what they're allowed to say and what they're not since this has been implemented. You ask the recruits about NIL and they'll act like they've never heard of it before and say, ‘I don't know what you're talking about. I don't care about that.’ And it’s like come on, you’re allowed to talk about it, give me some insight.
Now coaches are playing a similar game too and saying, ‘Whatever happens on that front, I don't really control it,’ which is also a lie. So, when the numbers leak out, you don't know if you can take them seriously.
Trove: We’re all curious to see how it unfolds in the coming years because not everyone is going to be successful despite the increased spending on players, I also think your point about everyone having an agenda and being self-serving regarding the NIL numbers they are floating.
Rob: It is really going to take a while to have a clear picture on this because unless somebody comes out, a player comes out and tells how much they made and shows the proof you just don’t know. These schools aren't making these payments so you can't trust the info. Basically, you just kind of have to consider what everybody is saying in a landscape where everybody has an agenda to either undersell or oversell the number. I just get really skittish about trusting how much anybody is getting because there’s always an agenda to fudge those numbers.
Trove: Technically they don’t make the payments, but it seems fairly obvious that pay for play is occurring, I guess the good thing is at least it’s now more in the open. When some of these schools spend a lot of coin and don’t have the results to show for it, it is going to be much harder for the schools and coaches to navigate. It will be entertaining to watch that unfold in the coming years.
Rob: Another thing regarding NIL funds that should be encouraging for a place like Seton Hall is a lot of these programs that maybe you don't think of as heavy hitters when it comes to marketing money can actually have it. I was talking with a coach yesterday from a school out West that is a mid-major school and he was talking about how much money Santa Clara has and how they’re doing bigger things. It really can be a right place at the right time situation, if you have the right collective or you have the right donor base, you don't have to be a Kentucky or a Duke to play hardball. Now maybe you’re not going to wade in the waters for top 10 kids, but you can definitely get a Rivals Top 150 kid without being a heavy hitter.
