20.5M is the cap for all sports but that doesn't necessarily mean all schools will fund it up to the cap and frankly sometimes you might not find the value in players you come across that make it worth it to spend up to cap. So even if you have money some may get pushed to future years. Pro teams have a minimum threshold they have to meet but it doesn't mean all teams are spending up to the cap every year. College there are no minimums so it could be anything. If you can find the money in the budget you can spend up to the cap. It would be a good question to ask KZ. Are we able to spend up to the cap and if not are we able to spend up to the cap at least for football and MBB.
The only thing I ever say is that the floor was raised and I'm pretty sure just about everyone is spending more on players post revenue sharing vs pre revenue sharing. How much for each school, who knows. I wish there was more transparency but there isn't so who knows.
The other thing I say is if you're in the B10 or SEC it facilitates finding that money in the budget for revenue sharing because you get 10s of millions more in conference distribution compared to the other conferences.
3rd party NIL will likely shrink somewhat when these front loaded deals (designed to beat the July 1 deadline) wear off. 3rd party NIL will still exist and you can go over the cap but since they have to be "legitimate" deals you'd expect some shrinkage. Most players probably don't have the ability to generate legitimate 3rd party NIL opportunities on a big scale...and that comes from the billionaire spearheading TT spending spree of front loaded deals this year. Revenue sharing will be the biggest thing in the future (assuming no lawsuits that change the rules again).
Quote from him in an article I posted:
Campbell vows Texas Tech will pay up to the cap and work hard to get as much third-party NIL as possible but said it’s unlikely to see those numbers skyrocket nationally.
Except for a very few marquee national players, there isn’t a whole lot there on the (true NIL) front,” he said. “There is some. But it doesn’t compare to the amount that is being paid out through revenue share.”
So the floor was raised for everyone and the ceiling is somewhat dampened so it levels the playing field more than before but it'll never be perfect.
As to coaches coming here or any lower status P4 job, sure there will always be qualified guys worthy of an opportunity that will take them. It's just likely such people might not be known to the typical fan and they would sneer at the name. It doesn't mean the name is a bad one. Anyone can have success or fail. Big name, hot name, retread, unknow, overlooked, it's all a crap shoot. Make your best educated guess and hope for the best along with a little luck. If it works great, if not try again.
Could you attract the hot names like Sumrall or Golesh this year, probably not names like those but names like Lewis or Eck or Huff etc.. sure why not. Ash was a DC on a national champ team. Locksley the OC of a national champ team at Alabama. They're not good HCs but the resume was there. I prefer guys who have demonstrated more with less and keep up good performance when faces of players change but nonetheless those 2 had resumes worthy of a shot.
Just being the hot name doesn't make you good. Herman, Frost (undefeated at UCF and going back home, could you ask for a better fit), Napier, Fickell (took a G5 to a 4 team playoff) have failed to date so who knows how things can turn out. But outside that with other G5 names, sure lower status P4 schools would have a shot. Who wouldn't want to make multiples of their salary (even 4M is a lot more than they make and incentives can make it a lot higher) and have an opportunity to coach at the highest level in college. People assume that everyone can be picky. Some can but not all. They may not get another shot if they don't strike when the iron is hot. Look no further than when GS was first hired decades ago. He was like the 4th-5th choice of BM iirc. Who was the first? Gary Darnell. Have we ever heard of him again? Nope. So if you don't take the opportunity when it comes along you may not get a shot again to set up your family financially and also coach at the highest level of your profession in college.