But like the NIL and transfer portal, they realize it’s not going away, and they’d better get on board if they want to keep their programs afloat. Adapt or die.
That’s the position second-year Wright State AD Joylynn Brown is taking. Though she’s dealing with perhaps the most tumultuous time in the history of college sports, she knows the only way to lead her staff and coaches into a new era is by outlawing pity parties.
“The way I feel about it is irrelevant — because it’s here. You either get on board or you’re going to be left behind. We need to embrace it,” she said.
The settlement means schools can dole out as much as $20.5 million to their athletes in 2025-26, divvied up however they want — think $3 million for a quarterback and $100,000 for a short stop — and the amount is expected to go up each year.
That’s not the kind of company Wright State will be keeping, of course, but all of the roughly 365 Division-I schools could opt in or out of revenue sharing, and 310 are making the plunge — including everyone in the Horizon League.
The rules also allow schools to give full scholarships to every athlete — many are on either partial aid or not getting anything at all — while increasing or at least maintaining roster sizes.
“When this all started, it was so different from anything any of us were used to. It’s almost the exact opposite of what we’ve been told for years (about amateur athletics),” Brown said.
“When I was a coach and now in administration, for years you’ve been told you can’t do this, and now we need to jump in with both feet.”
The Raiders are doing just that. Remember the 1903 Collective that raised NIL money for men’s basketball? It’s gone, having been turned into an athletic department initiative.
One of the benefits is that donations are now tax deductible. And Brown has even shifted staffer Zach Beal into the full-time role of NIL program coordinator, drumming up support and staying on top of the ever-changing rules.
“I feel like we have a little bit more control over it, where we know what’s going on, and we know what the expectations are,” Brown said.
Basketball players will still get the biggest piece of the revenue-sharing pie, but Brown has a plan for all athletes to cash in, at least a little.
She’s allowing donors to decide where their money goes … though, like everyone else, they’re still adjusting to the concept of paying college athletes.
“It’s a very polarizing thing. Some of our donors are all for paying players. They like the model. They understand it. Other donors do not. They do not want to give money directly to players, but they still want to be involved. We want to make that as easy as possible,” Brown said.
Donors can give to either Raiders Direct (and specify a sport) or the Excellence fund, which allows the school to decide where it goes.
“That was one fear people had of going in house with everything and not going through a collective. The donors felt like they maybe had a little bit more say with the collective. We’re trying to make it clear to them, ‘No, you’re still controlling where your dollars go,’” Brown said.
Though she wouldn’t say how much her department has collected so far, Brown did address some ways the school plans to generate money — like scheduling “buy” games.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
That means Raider teams will be seeking significant payouts by playing marquee away games — the men’s basketball team opened their season at Kentucky last year — without getting a home game in return.
“None of this has come to fruition yet because of where we are in our season. But if we tell our basketball coaches, ‘You have to bring in X-amount of dollars in game guarantees to help with your budget,’ they’re expected to do that. And the remaining money that is part of that guarantee can go to rev share,” Brown said.
“We’re trying to be creative. Clearly, ticket sales, if we blow it out of the water (can help). But we’re still having to support our department financially as well. We have to be fiscally responsible.”
Ticket sales mostly come from men’s basketball, though all other sports are requiring paid admissions for the first time this year. The Raiders are annual league leaders in hoop attendance, averaging 4,148 last season.
While all HL teams have opted in on revenue sharing — and it’d be catastrophic to the conference if they didn’t — some are already slashing sports.
Cleveland State has dropped wrestling, softball and women’s golf.
Wright State has 12 sports … and wants to keep it that way.
“I am committed to not eliminating any sports. That is not part of this. I look at how we can grow instead of what we can take away to make us whole,” Brown said.
“Now listen, we all know the landscape changes. But if you ask me right now if I have any plans to cut, I would say, ‘Absolutely not.’ In fact, what I’d rather do would be to add.”
Part of her rationale is that the athletic department also helps with the school’s enrollment numbers.
“Fortunately, as a university, we are doing well and are growing. We’re one of the very few schools right now that’s continuing to grow. That’s a big deal.”
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