Will Georgetown Adjust to the NIL Era?
Comments made by athletic director Lee Reed in Nashville this weekend are another sign that the university isn't comfortable embracing NIL yet.
As Georgetown looks to make a major splash in the coming weeks in the transfer portal, one major question that looms is how the program plans to attract top-flight talent as Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) sponsorship opportunities play an increasingly major factor in student-athlete’s recruitment decisions.
Compared to its Big East rivals, and other comparable schools on a national scale, Georgetown continues to drag its feet with NIL. With the Hoyas eyeing elite players like ex-LSU Tigers Brandon Murray and Efton Reid in the transfer portal, this laissez-faire approach to a significant new part of the recruiting equation will not fly for long. If Georgetown wants to make “necessary changes” to get this program back to even a semblance of national relevancy, they better wake up, fast.
Alumni, faculty, and university leaders that spent the weekend in Nashville for Georgetown’s John Carroll Weekend had a chance to attend a panel called “The Blueprint: A Deep Dive into Georgetown Athletics” on Friday, headlined by Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed and former NFL commissioner and Georgetown alumnus, Paul Tagliabue.
A source that was present for the conversation, which was attended by a small group of about 25 or so people, comprised mainly of large donors to Georgetown athletic programs, provided highlights of the panel to Hilltop Hoops.
Reed began the event by addressing “the elephant in the room, men’s basketball”, saying that Georgetown “operates differently”, as evidenced by having only four coaches in 40 years. He then went on to say that both he and President Jack DeGioia “are very invested in the program” but are “concerned with last year”.
The most concerning part about the panel, according to the source, was when the discussion shifted to NIL. Tagliabue “hates it” said the source, and asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was seated in the front row of the audience, to have Congress fix it.
Reed called NIL the “wild West” multiple times, and complained about Kentucky center and Naismith Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe getting a major NIL deal even though he’s a foreign student, because students on foreign student visas aren’t supposed to be allowed to sign NIL deals based on Reed’s interpretation of the current rules.
Reed went on to lament how parents of recruits are asking for money to have their kid come play for certain schools. He wrapped up by saying that Georgetown recognizes that bolstering its NIL offerings is now “essential”, but that they are still figuring out how that looks doing it “the Georgetown way”.
The comments made by members of the brain trust of Georgetown athletics in Nashville this weekend won’t do much to ease the concern that Georgetown is turning its back on NIL, and in doing so, wasting a prime opportunity to turn its program around.
Georgetown was late in creating its NIL program to help facilitate opportunities for its student-athletes, and it doesn’t appear to be that invested in catching up to the rest of the pack right now.
The university’s NIL program, called “The Blueprint” is still light on content, despite launching in October 2021. It reads, in part, “Georgetown is committed to educating student-athletes on their NIL rights and offering a comprehensive educational program to serve as a roadmap for student-athletes looking to take advantage of new opportunities.”
In a press release announcing the new program, the athletic department also wrote, “Partnerships with Athliance and INFLCR will bolster the comprehensive program into one of the most innovative in the country.”
And yet, while Big East rivals announce exciting and innovative partnerships, such as St. John’s new partnership with Kevin Durant’s sports business media network, The Boardroom, all Georgetown seems to be interested in doing is putting on hour-long virtual Zoom webinars for its student-athletes to educate them about the rules pertaining to NIL compliance. That’s not going to cut it.
In talking with local DMV coaches for another recent story, the topic of NIL came up several times.
“You got to come with the full package, unfortunately, because of NIL,” said Lamar Butler, who coaches at Paul VI and for Team Takeover. “You can’t just recruit for basketball. Because I can go somewhere else where they have an NIL package, and basketball is basketball. This coach is going to help me get paid on the court and off the court, so Georgetown, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know the NIL situation [there], but you got to, it’s part of the conversation now. These kids care. Their peers are getting paid.”
“I think it’s huge. That’s what everybody else is doing,” said Osman Bangura, Director of Team Durant. “You look at all these other guys, they’re able to build a brand, so NIL is huge. So if Georgetown wants to compete, that’s what they are going to be competing against with other schools.”
There isn’t time anymore for Georgetown to figure out how to do NIL “the Georgetown way”— whatever that means. If they are going to turn this thing around, they need impact talent now, and it’s hard to envision them beating out better teams who also have more NIL opportunities and assistance to offer transfers and high school recruits.
If Georgetown CAN get these players to bypass more lucrative NIL opportunities to come play for a team that went 0-19 in the Big East this regular season, good for them. But logic tells us that’s not going to be a sustainable, long-term strategy.
The clock is ticking for Georgetown, and the train is close to leaving the platform when it comes to NIL. Fail to get with the times here, and the hill to climb to get back to being a competitive program will only get steeper.