Over the past month, Athleticism spoke with more than 30 women’s college basketball coaches on a range of topics from name, image and likeness to athletic directors to X’s and O’s. These coaches, from power conferences and high mid-majors, were granted anonymity to allow them to speak openly without fear of reprisal from their own programs or the NCAA. Throughout the week, we’ll share coaches’ thoughts on the most pressing issues in their sport. Although not all answers to each question are included, the answers represent all opinions expressed.
It’s no secret that former NCAA President Mark Emmert – even before the weight room debacle at the 2021 NCAA Bubble Tournament – was not well liked by many coaches in women’s college basketball. That moment, when Oregon Prince of Sedona posted on TikTok expose the disparities between the men’s and women’s playoff facilities, went viral and shed light on how the NCAA treated its women’s hoops teams, but coaches and players felt that disrespect long before. So to say some women’s basketball coaches are skeptical about what they can expect from new NCAA President Charlie Baker and his vision for the sport is an understatement.
So we asked coaches from around the country about their hopes — and reservations — for Baker’s role.
What question would you like to ask new NCAA President Charlie Baker?
“I wouldn’t want to ask him anything because the NCAA is full of bullshit.”
“Why would you take this job?” …Will there even be an NCAA in five years?
Other coaches had more substantive questions about women’s basketball they’d like to ask Baker, and those fell largely into three categories: the future of women’s basketball and the NCAA; gender equality; and regulations regarding name, image and likeness, and transfer portal.
The future of women’s basketball and the NCAA
“I think the model will change in the next five years. And I think that will totally change. I think conferences will change. I think the governing bodies will change. So, I just want to know: what is the overall plan? »
“Is college athletics sustainable?”.
“What will the landscape of this sport look like in five years – transfer portal, NIL, conference alignment, tournament? Where are we going?”
“How will we evolve as an organization? … It seems like the more they remove the rules, the less amateur we are. Are we a professional organization? Are we an amateur? So how will we evolve?
“How does he see the place of women’s basketball in the sport in the future compared to men’s basketball and football? What is his vision? Are we all trying to move forward together? In fact, the question is probably simply: what is happening in football and how will it impact us?
No one thinks the role of NCAA president is an easy job, but women’s basketball coaches have many legitimate complaints about how this role could have better served women’s basketball and women’s sports over the of recent decades.
Two coaches brought up the unequal revenue distribution model and the television contract, two issues that many believe would be the biggest catalysts for women’s basketball to make significant progress.
“When and how will the ESPN contract be bid for independently and how will a meaningful distribution model be associated with this contract for women’s basketball?
“When are you going to make units for women’s basketball?”
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NCAA Misses Chance to Gain Social and Financial Capital
Some explanation as to why coaches are particularly curious about this: The television rights to the women’s NCAA tournament were bundled with 28 other NCAA championships and only cost ESPN $34 million a year. However, in the Kaplan report, an independent financial consultant estimated that the television rights to the women’s tournament – if sold as a single entity – could bring in between $81 million and $112 million per year. Additionally, “units” are awarded to each conference for the number of appearances their men’s teams have made in the NCAA Tournament. Thus, a men’s team that reaches the second round brings two units to its conference while a men’s team that advances to the title game. wins six units for its conference. These units translate into millions of dollars. However, women’s appearances count for nothing in this manner, meaning that a No. 16 seed that is eliminated in the first round of the men’s tournament is considered far more valuable than South Carolina in the women’s tournament.
Gender equality
“When are you going to consider women’s basketball a sport?”
“What are we going to do about the inequalities between men’s and women’s basketball at the national level? How will you help Lynn Holzman?
“Equity issues, I would definitely ask about that. How does it improve? What are the real changes we are making? What is the five-year plan?
Given the missteps of Emmert and the NCAA, it’s no surprise that gender equality is a priority for many coaches. Coaches wanted to know, specifically, how the sport would benefit from the same opportunities and investments as football and men’s basketball rather than remaining on the back burner.
Asking for details about gender equity changes would be a cautious question, as would asking about Holzman, the NCAA vice president of women’s basketball. Many coaches believe that the fact that she reports to Dan Gavitt, the senior vice president of basketball and oversees men’s basketball, has put the sport at a disadvantage compared to men’s basketball within the NCAA because she did not have a direct connection to the NCAA president. .
Regulations around NIL and the transfer portal
“What kind of guardrails are you going to install around the transfer gate and NIL? »
“What is the plan for NIL and how can the NCAA make it a level playing field?” »
“What will be the rules around the NIL space? »
“Would you ever reconsider the portal? Would you like to go back to having children who have to sit still for a year? »
While all three of these topics prompted questions from coaches, this one had the least benefit in terms of how often coaches brought up name, image and likeness, and the transfer portal. This isn’t really surprising. While the future of the sport and gender equality are two broad issues for women’s basketball that impact everything that happens in the sport, NIL and the transfer portal are two topics that impact live on the daily lives of college coaches and women’s basketball programs.
Over the past year, several coaches have referred to the new era of NIL/transfer portal college sports as the “Wild West” in that the rules are fluid or differ from region to region, or that everything is so new it seems like the rules. it will take years to catch up.
Most Power Conference coaches expect to lose at least two players per year (if not more) to the transfer portal, which means they in turn must look to recruit transfers in order to replenish their team with talent. talent and depth. What made these changes most drastic for most programs was how quickly some changes came about, often as the NCAA reacted to government actions.
NIL has been such an important topic in college sports that one of our polls this week focuses exclusively on the topic, but NIL was also an area that several coaches wanted to address with Baker. Athletes have been able to enter into NIL deals in multiple ways: through their personal agreements with major brand partnerships like Nike and Gatorade, through their own brands on social media platforms, and through collectives, which are often groups of donors based around a university that offers offers to specific athletes or teams.
NIL has already changed the recruiting space and coaches want to know how Baker plans to institute some level of NCAA-wide regulation. Currently, with rules that differ by state and a lack of transparency, many coaches feel like they are in the dark when it comes to NIL, even though it is now a recurring topic in most recruiting conversations.
These questions don’t just exist in women’s basketball. These are issues facing all NCAA sports. And Baker ascends to the NCAA presidency at a time when many questions remain to be answered, including whether the organization he leads will even exist in the future. But as long as the NCAA exists, women’s college basketball coaches will continue to fight for representation and equality on the national stage.
(Photo by Charlie Baker: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
