That is coaching and execution but can you really sit there and say NIL has nothing to do with the state of things
Forget NIL for a second (& yes, it is important)
Talent truly does matter on any team. The issue I have and from what I have seen is that we have had talented kids on these team. Coaching matters a lot as to what you do with that talent though and many fans and outsiders saw what happened last year with Ace/Harp and not even sniffing the NCAAs. Losing to a team like CCSU where we were 15.5pts favorites and we all clearly know NIL does not come into question makes you really think hard as to what the root of the problem is.
Again while NIL matters its all about where you spend it also and many people are just not good with money. We clearly didn't get the right supporting cast last year in any money we spent.
There is no money going to schools. This is their own $ that they are allowed to use to pay kids. They aren't receiving $21M to use for it.
NIL has changed since July of this year. No longer can the average fan "pay" for designated talent. The average fan can contribute to the school to offset the $21mm of revenue sharing that is capped for each school. Also that $21mm does not NEED to get paid out rather a cap for how much should be used for revenue sharing and its truly an expense for the school to manage across sports. So the Big East teams may decide to give less based on earned revenue or expenses but they SHOULD have more money to go towards basketball without a concern on football.
Additionally, Corporations can still contribute to NIL for qualified transactions for player involvement (supposedly "qualified transactions" are checked by a clearinghouse to avoid pay for play scenarios) and this is the only other way student athletes can get paid unless black market dealings. This should help level the playing field some but the more prestigious schools will still have an advantage with corporations due to their brand.
So Rutgers falls squarely in the middle:
-> disadvantage towards "brand" schools in both sports
-> disadvantage to BE schools specifically on spending in bball
We have to be very smart where we spend our revenue share (should only go towards Fball, Bball, and maybe wrestling)
And we need to raise corporate money (one of Keli's main goals)