BC NIL problems

The plight of Boston College women’s basketball: How NIL and the transfer portal make an already tall task even harder

By Eden Laase Globe Correspondent,Updated February 27, 2024, 5:00 a.m.
According to BC coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee, a common question asked by recruits is: "What does my check look like?"

DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN/GLOBE STAFF

When Boston College women’s basketball coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee took over the program in 2018, she began searching for an equalizer between her program and the established ACC powerhouses.
She saw new facilities as the answer, but as soon as the Eagles got their updated facilities, something else emerged to create separation: NIL.
Once again, BC found itself playing catch-up.

“Now we have the goods when it comes to basketball,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “But the next step is being able to retain our players once we get them, with a sum of money that they feel they are worth.”
In July 2021, the NCAA passed legislation allowing athletes to benefit from their name, image, and likeness. The ruling has changed the landscape of college sports, particularly women’s basketball, which has seen the rise of players such as Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Haley and Hanna Cavinder in the NIL era.

LSU’s Reese is the seventh-highest NIL earner in the country, with a valuation of $1.7 million. Her teammate Flau’jae Johnson is 16th at $1.1 million, and Haley Cavinder, who will play for TCU next season after transferring from Miami, is 32nd with a valuation of $868,000.
While those players rank among some of the top NIL earners, there is little trickle-down to lower-profile players. NIL is creating a bigger gap between the country’s top programs and those trying to build.
Schools such as LSU, South Carolina, Louisville, and Duke even have specific NIL offices dedicated to helping their student-athletes navigate deals. At BC, deputy director of athletics Craig Anderson is the only person to help with NIL, in addition to his other athletic department duties.
The updated NCAA transfer rules, which allow players to play immediately even after multiple transfers, also contribute to the gap.

“Five years ago, if a kid wanted to transfer, they were going to sit out a year,” Anderson said. “So they weren’t leaving. Now they can say, ‘Someone else is offering me more money,’ and they leave. It’s changed everything.

“So now, if you aren’t high-profile, how do you build a program? And then how do you sustain it?”
Those are questions Bernabei-McNamee continues to ask herself.

Prior to her arrival, BC endured seven straight losing seasons, with its last NCAA Tournament appearance coming in 2006. Bernabei-McNamee has gone 89-90 since taking over the program, with a WNIT third-round appearance in 2022. This season, BC is 11-18, and 3-13 in conference play. The program has shown potential, but that was hindered at the end of last season, when the Eagles lost two starters to the transfer portal. Both left for other ACC schools.

Taina Mair, a Boston native and the 2021-22 Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year, left to play at Duke, and Maria Gakdeng, the No. 76 recruit in the Class of 2021, transferred to North Carolina.
Mair said she was looking forward to playing at Duke in part because it allows “student-athletes to thrive on and off the court,” while Gakdeng said she wanted to be “surrounded by a winning culture and a group that wants to see one another at their best on and off the court.”

“Losing those two players was heartbreaking,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “And I think if you talk to those two players about their experience here, they would both say they really enjoyed it. But there’s always outside factors.”
Location, playing time, winning, and of course, NIL, all can play a part in a player’s decision to transfer, Bernabei-McNamee says.

Even top programs have increased roster turnover year after year, but the consequences can be much greater for up-and-coming programs.
“Maybe someone wasn’t a high-profile recruit, but then they play really well, and all of a sudden these big schools are coming in and they’re transferring,” Anderson said. “What people don’t realize is you’re not just recruiting high school kids anymore. You’re recruiting high school kids, transfer kids, and your own players.”

So in addition to her typical coaching duties, Bernabei-McNamee now must convince her players that they can build something at BC, even if the NIL opportunities aren’t as appealing as they are at other schools.

“Our goal is to be a national power,” she said. “We might play teams where those players are making a lot of money, and we might not be getting that kind of money, but we can outwork them.”
Even with that mind-set, it’s no secret to Bernabei-McNamee or the BC athletic department that to compete nationally, they need to make money and sponsorships available to players.
Schools aren’t able to directly offer NIL deals, nor can they facilitate those deals. But they can tell players how much their athletes are making in endorsements. BC is looking to increase that number.
In a letter published on the BC athletics department website in March 2023, athletic director Blake James asked businesses to reach out if they were interested in partnering with student-athletes. He also asked for donations to BC’s collective, Friends of the Heights, which helps facilitate NIL deals for student-athletes.

The letter highlights the two types of NIL: commercial and collective.
In commercial NIL, businesses work with specific athletes for sponsorships, autograph signings, jersey sales, and other endorsements. Collective NIL can include many of the same things, but it is paid by donors who want to support the athletic department.

“Commercial NIL requires athletes to think entrepreneurially and market themselves,” said Blake Anderson, the founder of Opendorse, an online platform used by 125,000 athletes daily to secure NIL deals. “They have to use social media to build an audience, they have to be able to pitch businesses on why they should partner with them, they have to create merchandise, or host camps and clinics.”
All of that takes time and resources. Especially for lower-profile athletes, like the ones at BC. Players such as Clark and Reese have companies approaching them with NIL offers, but the BC players have to spend time researching companies, and essentially trying to convince those companies to work with them.

According to Bernabei-McNamee, every player on her team has some kind of NIL deal, but they don’t come close to the money that can be made at other schools.
Through a partnership with Opendorse, BC advertises its athletes on the athletics department website. JoJo Lacey, a senior shooting guard, offers social media posts starting at $243. LSU guard Hailey Van Lith offers the same service, but her posts start at $985.

Eventually, Anderson anticipates, legislation will be passed that allows schools to be involved in distributing collective money, providing a more even split among male and female athletes.
But leveling the playing field when it comes to commercial NIL is an impossibility, leaving schools like BC on the outside looking in.

“It used to be that we could outwork anybody in the recruiting process,” Bernabei-McNamee said. “Our personalities could shine through, and so could what Boston College has to offer. Now, one of the top five questions that we are asked is, ‘What does my check look like?’ ”
It doesn’t look the same as it does at established programs, that’s for sure.
And ultimately, as Bernabei-McNamee said: “Money talks.”

Wanna go?

Fr Brooks when it can to athletics was an idiot.

I'll go.

How many women's programs are going to pay anyone big money in the first place? At BC, women's basketball has no record of success nor interest.

I think we'd all be shocked to know how much some schools are paying women bball players - so much revenue is generated at the ACC schools such as UNC / Duke / Va Tech and those places are simply college-oriented. no doubt BC lost those two starters to significant NIL deals.

Fair enough. Looking at that sentence you might want to pull back a bit in calling anyone else an "idiot."  I believe some of Fr Brooks basic ideas were incorrect when it came to sports, but can't one be wrong without being an "idiot." At least that is what I believe.