Josh Delander

The enrollment cliff. NIL. The portal. It’s all colliding — and the stress at the mid-major level and below has never been greater. Sports will be cut. DI schools will continue to drop levels. ADs are battling with Presidents, Chancellors, and Legislators. Coaches are taking subpar talent just to field a team. Frustration is everywhere. There’s plenty of blame to go around… But the NCAA and four commissioners are holding up meaningful change. They might be right that congressional help is the only path forward for every level — but they better get it because the frustration is real, and it’s mounting. So many talented, well-intentioned people in college athletics are feeling burn out. Kind of a depressing post, but these topics keep coming up again and again in conversations the past few months.

You never know how things will play out, but it’s clear @RHiggins_USF can hire really good coaches. Hired the top assistant in college football, poached an SEC WBB coach that was just a 6-seed, and now a proven MBB coach. Impressive work after 7 months on the job.

Adidas making a splash. Four of their headliners coming from Nike schools. Something to monitor moving forward as schools continue to lean on their apparel partner for above-the-cap money.

@achristovichh And the inability to enforce House as it was originally sold to everyone.

The reason it's harder for mid-majors to compete is NOT NIL. It's the UNRESTRICTED transfer portal. NIL and the one-time transfer rule have existed for several years. The unrestricted portal is new in the past 2 seasons. That's what allows P4 to pick off mid-major players.

Deep pockets, yes. But that’s only a discussion point due to the inability to enforce House the way it was originally sold to all involved. If the settlement and its mechanisms had teeth, the story today would be about the dominance of the Big East and the mid majors.

@WinterSportsLaw Further proof “NIL deals” are for athletic ability, not individual marketing ability. I’m not in favor of eliminating the cap, but the reasoning is right there.

When created, the CSC expected only 10% of disclosed third party NIL deals would be with associated entities. Over the last two months, for athletes at P4 schools that number has been 69% of deals and 81% of deal value. Huge difference.

@kysilvercreek There’s always money to fight over.

@Josh_Delander @AthletesOrg @jimcavale No problem the B1G & SEC spin their teams off into a pro league and lease the stadiums from the University. Then there is no money to fight over.

As predicted. This went completely off the rails. Talk of returning to the old days of a scholarship as the only form of compensation for athletes. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” @AthletesOrg @jimcavale

A Hawai‘i lawmaker said NIL funding is important to maintaining UH’s R1 research status and national presence. A successful athletics program impacts visibility, enrollment, fundraising, economic development, and more. College sports is messy right now, but that’s also why I love working in it so much. When the impact is that wide, all the decisions around it matter.

@nickatnocap @LSU @WoodsideEnergy Flywheel effect. Hard to create, but very powerful when it’s in place.

Last week, @LSU revealed a viral jersey patch deal. A multi-year deal with @WoodsideEnergy across all 21 sports. The #NCAA approved commercial patches in January. Starting August 1, schools can put up to two sponsor logos on uniforms. LSU had their deal done a full year before the vote. This is going to be a massive revenue unlock. But here's what I think will separate the winners from everyone else... The schools that just sell ad space will leave money on the table. The ones that build a business-back strategy around the patch will create something much bigger. College sports has something pro sports doesn't. Millions of alumni who self-identify with the brand for life. They're executives, business owners, consumers making purchasing decisions every day. A patch sponsor isn't just buying impressions. They're buying access to a built-in, emotionally loyal customer base. If I'm an athletic department, here's the machine I'm building: Patch on the jersey drives awareness --> School turns alumni events and hospitality into the sponsor's sales floor --> Development team empowered to connect donors and boosters directly to the sponsor's business --> Athletes amplify the brand through #NIL deals --> Sponsor wins new customers. School shares in the revenue --> More revenue funds more NIL --> Roster gets strong --> Championships are won The sponsor that gets this right won't just be on the jersey. They'll be embedded in the alumni network, the local economy, and the culture of that program. That's what turns a $2M patch deal into a $15M patch deal. And eventually...Conference-level patches. Imagine one brand across all schools in a conference every Saturday. The economics are staggering. The patch is a 4 square inch piece of fabric. The strategy behind it is worth tens of millions. Who's building the machine? Link to Woodside deal: lsusports.net/news/2026/02/1…

@KcSmurthwaite And then call it revenue!

I believe some industries would call this "money laundering." 🤣 ... it's all redirection ... smoke and mirrors! Throw in how the IRS removed tax-exempt status for collectives, but if it's a donation to the school, then moved ... I'll leave that there!

@tripleplay32 Two good points… 1. The CSC hasn’t been challenged yet. 2. Generate “new” money, don’t just redirect existing dollars

@Josh_Delander Let's just be honest. There is no enforceable cap. The limit are the financial resources available to each program -- which I think is your point. Creativity, innovation and long-term outlook for both revenue and expense management are more important than discussing the cap.

I hate the phrase “above the cap” NIL. It’s just money washing 2.0. MMR redirecting money. Apparel partner redirecting money. While begging for real ad spend that is slow to arrive. Creativity, innovation, and a long-term outlook is where “above the cap” $ will come from.

@Genetics56 Whack-a-mole isn’t a sound strategy. Solving one problem at a time is why college athletics is what it is today. Come together to fix ALL the issues.

I have long posted that college athletics should remove the revenue share cap. I will make a post tonight explaining why this is the smart thing to do and why it fixes antitrust issues and why it makes "cheating" irrelevant.

@pitt323 No salary cap

Los Angeles Dodgers

@lukebogus lol I just want programs/ADs to give their coaches the best chance to be successful.

Invest in winning strategies, please. EIU 🏈: 3–9 EIU WBB: 3–18 EIU MBB: 9–12 A marketplace doesn’t contribute towards winning. If you’re going to spend $, make it something that can potentially impact winning. Winning makes a player, team, and program more marketable.

The press release states that “EIU has built a forward-thinking NIL program.” Yet, they’re doing something in 2026 that everyone did in 2023. Many athletic departments are *still* so far behind on NIL eiupanthers.com/news/2026/1/29…

@jacksettleman Congrats. Football only? Or all sports?

Just so we have the receipts

Just got our first verbal from a D1 program. Excited for everyone to say “but they’re not that big of a school”

@jacksettleman $100k is too low. Try to quantify the media value you would also provide. Might help get you in the ballpark.

Snapback Sports is committing $100,000 to the top CFB program that will take our $ If you’re an AD or in charge of NIL, my email is at the end of the video Also, I’m committing $25,000 to an athlete at whichever school we sponsor to partner on them becoming a Snapback Sports athlete for the season