Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1520787
J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 4 4 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M O P I N I O N MATT HERB M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M I t's probably intrinsic to human nature that no amount of money ever feels like enough. What makes that feeling different in college football these days is that it's not just a feeling. Thanks to the sport's current economic model, pro- grams can be flush and cash-strapped at the same time. At Penn State, athletics director Pat- rick Kraft would probably not use the word flush to describe his department's balance sheet; PSU, after all, reported a net loss of $126,000 for the 2022-23 fis- cal year. Nevertheless, the university is getting ready to spend $700 million to essentially rebuild a large portion of Bea- ver Stadium, and that massive undertak- ing comes on the heels of a multimillion- dollar, multiphase renovation of the Lasch Building. It also bears mentioning that Penn State is part of a conference that last year sold its media rights for $7 billion. To judge by those metrics, the Nittany Lions are doing just fine. The problem is that the funding for facilities, coaching salaries, administra- tive support, etc., is entirely separate from the pool of money that's needed for roster management. At schools like Penn State, it's up to NIL collectives to keep the coffers filled. And while the col- lectives' negotiations with recruits and would-be transfers tend to be shrouded in mystery, there have been indications that PSU is not as competitive as it will need to be in order to contend at the sport's highest level. First came the departure of senior wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, a player who, despite his well-docu- mented inconsistency, led the Nittany Lions in receiving last year and might well have done so again had he stuck around. Instead, he skipped the Blue- White Game and signed with Auburn less than two weeks later. Next came a wave of exits at the end of the April transfer window. Most of the departures involved players who didn't appear destined for big roles at PSU, but there was one exception: sophomore safety King Mack. A year ago, Mack played in 12 games. He would have been a key reserve this fall and probably a starter in 2025. Instead, he'll suit up for Ala- bama this fall. King's reasons for leaving were unknown as of early May, but when a player with a bright future departs just as he's seemingly on the verge of a breakthrough, it's only natural to wonder whether NIL considerations factored in. Beyond the player-retention concerns, there are questions about the recruit- ment of both high school players and transfers. Penn State has surely missed out on some quality prospects simply because it got outbid. This is of particular concern because there's a school on the upcoming sched- ule with exceedingly deep pockets: Ohio State. Galvanized by their three consec- utive losses to Michigan, the Buckeyes went on a spending spree this offseason. They brought in All-Big 12 quarterback Will Howard from Kansas State, All-SEC running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss, and two standouts from Alabama: safety Caleb Downs and center Seth McLaughlin. In addition, Ohio State convinced Chip Kelly to leave his head coaching post at UCLA to become its offensive coordinator, and it retained nearly every player with a stay-or-go NFL decision to make. The Buckeyes had only four players drafted this year, their lowest total since 2013. That wasn't a reflection of any talent deficiency; it was because their two primary NIL collectives were able to convince likely high-round draft- ees such as defensive end JT Tuimoloau, running back TreVeyon Henderson, re- ceiver Emeka Egbuka and others to stick around for another shot at winning Big Ten and national titles. Ohio State's free-spending ways are going to be a problem for Michigan, and they're going to be an even bigger prob- lem for PSU, which has beaten the Buck- eyes just once in the past 12 meetings. That said, the Lions have come a long way from the first few years of the NIL era when the administration felt as though it could hold some financial liter- acy classes for student-athletes, maybe throw in a personal-brand-building we- binar, and call it a day. It's also possible that some of the changes coming to college sports in the years ahead will help level the playing field. There's been talk, for example, of absorbing the collectives into their respective universities so that they're subject to some form of regulation. Ad- ditionally, the push to classify student- athletes as employees could change col- lege sports in profound ways. But those measures are likely years away, and even when implemented, the collectives will be able to funnel addi- tional money to high-priority players, above what those players might collect in salaries. Schools like Penn State will have to find a way to level the playing field themselves by raising the kind of money they need in order to compete with the best teams in their conferences. The Nit- tany Lions are going to have a much nicer stadium in a few years, and they are go- ing to want the show to be as appealing as the venue. ■ Ohio State coach Ryan Day was the beneficiary of an offseason spending spree by the program's NIL collec- tives. James Franklin's Nittany Lions will welcome the Buckeyes to Beaver Stadium on Nov. 2. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL In NIL Era, Penn State's Challenge Is To Keep Pace VARSITY VIEWS