Let's face it being a mid-major program before the NCAA settlement and competing for NCAA Tournament bids was very difficult. Your chances of getting to the tournament were about 4% unless you won your conference tournament; as 34 of the 37 at-large bids went to High Major teams.
The NIL world has only upped the ante and created even more separation between the High Majors and Mid Majors. Since 2015, only Gonzaga (9) and St. Mary's (2) have won the WCC Tournament and the automatic bid that comes with it. The current WCC is a one bid league although St. Mary's and USF have recently received rare at-large nods.
For Santa Clara, and other WCC teams not named Gonzaga, it's a matter of dollars and sense; not just cents. A good number of the ACC, Big 12, Big 10, and Big East teams are spending $8.5 million just on rosters. According to the NIL NCAA databases, estimates of the WCC roster allocations range from $4-6 Mil for Gonzaga, $1-3 Mil for USF and SCU with St. Mary's, LMU, and Pepperdine in the $500k-1.5 million range. It's still gobs of money.
As far as I know, all of the current and next season WCC teams have opted into the settlement, meaning they plan to invest. Each school will have a strategy for the level of competitiveness they are willing to fund. SCU has been pretty quiet about the goals for Men's Basketball other than a few statements from Heather Owen and the administration that we want to make NCAA tournaments. Timetables for NCAA bids have not been stated. We know the current wait has been 30 years.
Each school has to evaluate whether the pay for play model not only makes sense, but dollars and cents. For one WCC team, Gonzaga, it was transformative and began 25 years ago. It began with a "Cinderella" NCAA bid in 1999 and is now a 25 year streak. The numbers are impressive.
Their enrollment has nearly tripled. SAT scores, student diversity, and GPA's rose as a result of admission selectivity. Their endowment tripled and University budget grew from $73 million to over $320 million. Athletic revenue rose from $250,000 to to $ 8.6 Million. Fundraising was able to fund a $60 million student center and many new academic facilities. Their NCAA tournament revenue units have generated over $51 million to the WCC with the lion's share to the Zags. These numbers are through 2020 when Covid hit. They are surely much larger now. Clearly, the Zags' Administration's decision and commitment at all levels to become a top 25 team from scratch has paid enormous dividends.
SCU chose a different path and has been playing catchup in athletics for the past 25 years. The hiring of Coach Sendek 10 years ago was the step needed to regain footing in Men's Basketball. A lot of progress and winning has occurred, but there is still much to do and not just on the court.
For SCU and others, Athletics and Men's Basketball budgets must rise. According to the EADA database, as of 2024 our Men's Basketball budget was $5.6 mil which would rank 4th behind LMU $8.6mil, St. Mary's $6.8m, and USF $6.22m. Gonzaga is not included since they are leaving the WCC. I'm sure all of the above are now spending more since Universities are allowed to spend up to $20.5 mil from their operating budgets on Athletics.
The new world of NCAA Men's Basketball requires much more than just on court excellence. Key areas, to name a few, include fundraising through active use of NIL collectives, implementing player promotional, marketing, branding and retention programs to expose players to NIL opportunities from Alums and local companies, and to keep top talent from transfer portal poaching. A number of schools are exploring multi-year NIL deals to protect their best players. Expand recruiting pipelines and staff to find talent in Euro pro leagues, Asia, Africa, the G league and exploit JUCO's and Division II under the radar talent. SCU also needs to find ways to energize students and the local Santa Clara residents to come to Leavey. Not easy, but essential. Top talent wants loud and proud fans in the stands.
One example of a success story is coach Eric Olen, who coached UCSD and their move from Division II to Division 1 using four Division II players. After the three year required waiting period for post season, he went 30-5 on the way to the Tritons first NCAA Division 1 tourney. He now coaches at New Mexico, who recently dismantled us on their home court. Our pipeline has been successful finding underutilized High Major players and turning them into stars and Pros. After all, talent is the Gold for winning and needs to be creatively mined.
The Broncos have opted into the new reality and it makes sense that more investments are happening. We saw solid progress this past Monday by starting WCC league play with a lopsided 102-64 win on the road at Oregon State. We'd love to see our investments grow and pay dividends by contending for the top spots in the WCC!
Happy New Year to all!
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