LOS ANGELES — When dressing for pre-practice media availability, Mick Cronin is about as casual as they come. But on Oct. 3, the UCLA men’s basketball coach made a conscious decision with his outfit.
He sported a black T-shirt with blue-outlined lettering, reading “Men of Westwood” – the Bruins’ affiliated NIL collective, which he believes will soon regain the freedom to facilitate lofty deals to transfers and recruits without heavy resistance.
“That’s why I’m wearing this shirt,” Cronin said, chuckling as he pointed to his Men of Westwood threads, indicating it was a deliberate act of support.
Because of frustration and backlog with NIL Go, Cronin is aligned with others believing a return to a previous reality, where collectives can facilitate business-oriented deals without having to run them through a clearinghouse system, is imminent.
While that remains a rumor, there is strong reasoning behind Cronin’s conviction.
He’s well aware, he said, of deals being offered to high school recruits that would exceed an amount proportional to the portion of revenue-sharing funds that schools have allocated to their basketball programs.
“There’s people out there that are recruiting freshmen that I know have $3 million in revenue share – they’re committing right now, and have been offered $1 million,” Cronin said. “If you only have $3 million, how did you offer the 50th-ranked guy in the country $800,000? You must be thinking you’re going to be able to spend $10 million.”
Essentially, under the original ruling of the NCAA’s House Settlement, Division I programs were permitted to share $20.8 million – 22% of their annual revenue – directly with student-athletes. Many schools sent over two-thirds of their budget to football, leaving a comparatively minor amount for men’s basketball and other sports.
Therefore, if men’s basketball programs are offering lucrative deals to players who aren’t deemed five-star recruits, it indicates they’re confident they’ll have more cash flow from the collective in the near future.
If UCLA men’s basketball wants to remain competitive, it’s crucial Cronin stays fresh on the ever-changing landscape, evolves with the times, and goes above and beyond to fund his roster. Cronin knows that and has displayed a constant awareness of current NIL happenings and has attempted to maximize his budget.
During Friday’s press conference, he even name-dropped a colleague and donor.
“I need him to donate more money,” Cronin said. “I’m going to send this [press conference] to him.”
Cronin’s candor incited a roar of laughter. While he was intending to be funny, the sentiment was clear: If Men of Westwood are going to be allowed to spend more money, let’s get that money to spend.
And some donors might want to know what Cronin and the Bruins would do with that money.
Well, they could offer it to Christian Collins, a five-star recruit out of Bellflower’s St. John Bosco High, who reportedly took his official visit to UCLA on Saturday.
But Cronin may have additional plans:
“Re-signing Tyler Bilodeau and Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark and Steve Jameson would be much more important than signing 18-year-olds, if you’re trying to win,” he said, alluding to another potential evolution – a class-action lawsuit in Tennessee that could result in all student-athletes receiving five years of eligibility.
In UCLA’s case, that would mean seniors such as Bilodeau, Dent, Clark, Jamerson and Anthony Peoples Jr. would be granted another year of eligibility. Cronin’s belief is that retaining those players would be a better investment of the men’s basketball portion of UCLA’s rev-share money and Men of Westwood’s funds.
At the epicenter of all this drama are the players, who are trying to achieve competitive success, while supporting themselves and their loved ones. However, when asked about how often he informs or concerns his players with litigations, court decisions, rule changes and other issues that directly affect their everyday well-being, Cronin said, “We’re just trying to win games. They’re just trying to get better. We’ll worry about that when the time comes.”
Well, the time is now. In fact, in this era of college basketball, the time is always. And, yes, the players are trying to improve their individual game and win as a team. But to play college basketball is to be concerned with ever-changing federal laws, alternating sources of cash flow, advertisement opportunities and the chance to gain another season of eligibility.
And, whether Cronin likes it or not, his players are interested in it, as they should be.
“A few of us, some of the guys that are getting to that [fifth year], are talking about it,” Clark, a senior guard, said on Oct. 3. “I love this place. I love everything that we’re building here right now and I’d love to continue to keep that going.”
Despite his commendable ability to keep track of most NIL news, Cronin even admitted he’d love to just “know what the rules are.” But that’s the issue. There are rules. They’re just being challenged each day, altered in some cases, and unchanged in others, with no consistent explanation for each outcome.
For now, UCLA’s basketball program is aligned. If Men of Westwood regains freedom and cash flows increase, the Bruins intend to primarily spend it on their current players, including seniors who could get the chance to return, with the goal of winning now.
“The only investment I’m interested in,” Cronin said, “is having enough money to compete with whatever these rules are next spring, to get the players we need. And in our case, with the rules, it could retain our entire team. Because if they give guys an extra year, that’s all we’re going to need to do.”
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