MONEY TALKS
MIAMI TAKES TRANSPARENT APPROACH WITH NIL DEALS IN NEW AGE OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Almost a year ago, Nijel Pack became the face of NIL.
You could almost call it a birthright. After all, you can’t spell Nijel without NIL.
It’s been 21 months since the NCAA passed legislation that allowed athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness. Pack became the most visible player in college basketball last April when he transferred from Kansas State to Miami. He signed a two-year endorsement deal worth $800,000 (and included a car) with LifeWallet — Miami billionaire booster John Ruiz’s company that recovers improper payments made by Medicare — that was made public.
“People in my corner told me to look at it with a positive perspective,” Pack, a third-year sophomore and one of the nation’s top point guards, said recently as the Hurricanes prepared for their first Final Four appearance. “If you make it to the next level — and that’s my main goal — thinking about what people will expect from you because you make a certain amount of money. This is basically preparing me for the next level.”
NIL talk has followed the Hurricanes throughout the NCAA Tournament, from Albany, N.Y., to Kansas City, Mo., to the Final Four at NRG Stadium. It was a frequent topic heading into Saturday’s national semifinal games between San Diego State and Florida Atlantic and Miami and Connecticut.
“I know the media makes it a bigger thing about it, and I think it is a misconception for our program,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “There has not been a single day of negativity in our program based on NIL.”
Of the players at this week’s Final Four, UConn forward Adama Sanogo has the highest NIL evaluation at $773,000, according to the On3 NIL Valuation, followed by Miami guard Isaiah Wong ($533,000), UConn guard Jordan Hawkins ($375,000), San Diego State forward Matt Bradley ($372,000) and Miami guard Jordan Miller ($222,000). Two University of Houston players ranked in the top 10 in On3’s valuations: Marcus Sasser ($801,000) at No. 6 and Jarace Walker ($567,000) at No. 10.
In two seasons at Kansas State, Pack, an All-Big 12 guard, started all but one game and averaged 15.3 points, but the Wildcats had two ninth-place finishes.
Pack considered Ohio State and Purdue before deciding to sign with the Hurricanes. In his first season at Miami, Pack had 26 points in an upset of No. 1 seed Houston in the Sweet 16 and 15 points in the Elite Eight win over Texas.
Ruiz told CBS Sports that it was a “totally strategic” decision to release the salaries of the players he was paying to endorse LifeWallet. At the time Pack signed, Wong, the ACC’s player of the year, reportedly threatened to transfer if he did not get a bigger NIL deal, which he has vehemently denied.
“There are a lot of schools that do the same thing we do,” Larrañaga said. “We just don’t know about it because it’s not public knowledge. Why not? Why are we afraid of sharing information?
“The second thing is … TV makes money, right? The shoe companies make money. The universities make money. And the coaches make a hell of a living. What’s wrong with that filtering down?”
Miami players said there has been no issues, like jealousy, or division in the locker room caused by NIL.
“I’m just going to reiterate that everybody was happy for him,” Miller said. “There’s no bad blood. The more we got to know Nijel, the more we got to see him as a person and how he is as an individual basketball player. So, at the end of the day, everyone is happy for whoever gets whatever NIL opportunity comes their way.”
Said Pack: “All that mattered was my teammates accepting me, and they did from day one. Everybody took me in as a brother. The reason this team is so good is because our bond is so strong, and nothing with NIL has ever affected us in a negative way.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley said Miami’s NIL deals being publicized “sent shock waves” through college basketball.
“It’s a real shock to the system to see that and see how it was playing out publicly,” Hurley said. “Obviously, it’s where things are headed. There are incredible athletes who deserve everything they can get.”
Larrañaga said he is in favor of transparency.
“Why is it hidden behind a curtain? Why? You can go on a website and check out anybody’s salary in the NBA,” he said. “If there is going to be money involved in college sports, we need to know what’s going on.”
In the short history of NIL, Miami became the first school to be penalized by the NCAA for an NIL-related issue. The Miami women’s basketball program received a one-year probation and minor sanctions that stem from a meeting between Ruiz and Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who transferred from Fresno State.
Ruiz said he has invested more than $10 million in more than 100 deals with Miami athletes. The men’s and women’s basketball teams made the deepest runs in school history, and every scholarship football player was offered an NIL deal.
“We’ve been trendsetters,” Ruiz told the New York Times. “Nobody does it like we do.”
Miami guard Harlond Beverly said Ruiz has impacted college careers.
“I feel like having people like him helps out players, because I’ve known many players that go hungry and not have many clothes except the team-issued ones,” Beverly said. “Being able to give players an additional source of income that doesn’t come from school, that’s really a blessing.”
That has drawn national attention to the Hurricanes’ athletic programs.
“I don’t feel like we were a groundbreaking school,” Beverly said. “Ours was just a little more public.”
Almost two years later it’s still a touchy subject.
On Thursday, Savanna Wood, Miami’s executive athletic director for brand and marketing strategy, interrupted an interview, telling reporters from the Houston Chronicle and Times to “keep the NIL questions out of this” in an open locker room session.
As the interview continued, Miami forward Anthony Walker responded: “I would prefer not to answer that question.”