In today’s current era of Name, Image and Likeness in collegiate sports, programs which are historically successful with large alumni backings and a dedicated administration are able to turn things around quicker than places where that may not be the case.

According to a new report, that may be the case right now with the North Carolina Tar Heels, one of the most iconic brands in all of college basketball.

A report by Inside Carolina states that that UNC’s payroll for its roster this upcoming season has exceeded a mark of $14 million, a number which would be more than triple what was spent on last season’s roster.

The Tar Heels massively underachieved last season and though they were granted a spot in the NCAA Tournament, they were eliminated in the first round after a 23-win season.

Clearly committing to major changes, the program had already hired longtime NBA agent Jim Tanner to be the general manager back in February and better help head coach Hubert Davis to navigate the difficulties of this current era and the chaos it brings.

Spending this kind of money on the roster is part of the investment that bringing in Tanner — who is set to make $850,000 this season — came along with.

Not only did the Tar Heels bring in a top-15 recruiting class from the high school ranks, they also took in four transfers from the portal in order to try to regroup and get things right.

With guys like Jarin Stevenson of Alabama and Henri Veesaar of Arizona, there’s no question a huge chunk of those funds were spent in the portal.

Notably, the high school class is headlined by one of the top players in the nation in big man Caleb Wilson, who is already featured by On3 on their NIL 100 list as the No. 81 highest paid athlete in college athletics.

Davis is headed into his fifth season as the head coach for the Tar Heels and this is not a program that is used to losing.

A massive budget for the upcoming season is only going to bring more pressure upon Davis as he tries to figure out how to turn this ship around.

UNC is making a commitment to getting back to being one of the sport’s premiere programs, and they are putting up the cash to show it.

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One college basketball insider blasted a rumor of Duke’s NIL deals with future NBA prospect Cooper Flagg on his podcast.

Cooper Flagg’s Alleged Deal Compared to Caitlin Clark’s Nike Deal By Aaron Torres

College basketball star Cooper Flagg’s future appears to be in the NBA as the presumptive number one draft pick. But a recent report about his NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals while at Duke University has caught the attention of insider Aaron Torres, who ridiculed it on the latest episode of his podcast at the 47-minute mark.

Torres cited a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Legion Hoops which claimed that Flagg reportedly made over $28 million in NIL deals. “When I saw that, I was genuinely blown away by A),” he began, “how many people don’t understand context, or two, how many believed it as factually correct. Well I’m here to tell you, it is the dumbest NIL story I’ve ever seen…it’s not factually correct, it sort of is but it isn’t factually correct.”

Torres continued, “Okay, so let’s just pretend that there’s a scenario where this Cooper Flagg thing could be real. So I went and looked it up, to see “Okay, what are realistic NIL numbers for athletes?” He soon came across former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball star guard Caitlin Clark. “Caitlin Clark signed a $28 million, eight-year deal with Nike. This is after she left college. Caitlin Clark signed for $3.5 million a year. Great money…but it ain’t $28 million.

“Zion Williamson…this was after his season at Duke, signed a five-year, $75 million deal. That’s $15 million a year. Again, not $28 million,” Torres said, adding: “Again, this is what annoyed me because nobody understood the context. And the context was very, very, very simple. The context was this…the contracts signed while you’re at Duke, the totality of them don’t mean that you made all that money while you’re at Duke.”

He would go on to illustrate his point, referencing a quote from a conversation between writer Howard Bryant and iconic sports host Bob Costas where Bryant stated that Flagg had a $13 million deal with New Balance and a $15 million deal with Fanatics. Torres asked how no one accounted for Flagg being in an AT&T commercial that ran during the NCAA Men’s Tournament or what he might’ve received from the collective at Duke.

Torres concluded by conceding that Flagg might’ve made some substantial money during his freshman season with the Blue Devils, but not that reported amount. He also stated that we could see a top prospect declare for the NBA Draft and then return back to college for the NIL deal.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — J Batt said Michigan State has a top-10 athletic department in the country.

The school’s next athletic director made it clear that the football program must lead the way to make his statement ring true.

The Spartans have been shaky in recent years in the sport that pays the bills in college athletics, losing seven games last year in coach Jonathan Smith’s debut season.

“It comes down to resources and across the board, we will provide him and his staff with resources,” Batt said Wednesday when he was formally introduced.

Batt left Georgia Tech, where he was its athletic director since the fall of 2022, to take on the challenge of raising money and turning around a football program in the highly competitive Big Ten.

The university’s Board of Trustees, which approved the selection, is scheduled to vote on Batt’s hiring on June 13 and his first day on the job is June 16. Batt replaces Alan Haller, whose last day was May 11.

Batt helped Georgia Tech bounce back in football.

He hired coach Brent Key, who led the program to consecutive bowl games for the first time in a decade and earned a spot in The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in nine years.

In Batt’s first season at Georgia Tech, 14 of 17 teams were in a postseason tournament.

Before leading Georgia Tech’s athletic department, he was executive deputy athletic director at Alabama and served as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer in the athletic department.

Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo reached out to his friend, former Alabama and Michigan State coach Nick Saban, as part of the school’s search.

“Nick had great comments about him,” Izzo said.

Batt recalled Saban speaking so fondly about Michigan State.

“He’s always been so positive about this place,” Batt said.

Batt also worked in athletics at East Carolina, Maryland, James Madison, William & Mary and North Carolina, where he played on the 2011 national championship soccer team.

Batt is regarded as a strong fundraiser, an asset for any athletic department in this era of college athletics.

At Michigan State, his top priorities will be to raise money and help the football program win.

Universities will be allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes next year. Direct payments will be in addition to third-party name, image and likeness deals facilitated by school-affiliated collectives.

“We’re going to be extremely successful and competitive in that space,” Batt said.

Just last week, Georgia football missed on the No. 1 tight end in the country. That player is Mark Bowman, and he made his commitment to USC official over the Bulldogs and many other elite programs.

This news shocked the college football world because many believed Georgia was the team to beat in his recruitment. Experts also didn’t even think USC was in second place in Bowman’s recruitment either. But experts sometimes get it wrong, and that appears to be the case here.

So what led Bowman to spurn Georgia and pick USC? Sure Bowman is from California, so staying home to play for a program like the Trojans is pretty enticing. But On3’s Scott Schrader detailed the large NIL package USC offered Bowman that likely played a huge role in his decision as well.

“We are told the NIL opportunity could provide Bowman an opportunity to earn $8-10 million in a three-year deal at USC.”