First take is it was all about money as Vanderbilt was terrible last season
Rumors are Vandy gave him $400K
Vandy was 9-23 (4-14) so pretty clear it's not about winning
NEWS: Virginia Tech transfer wing Tyler Nickel has committed to Vanderbilt, he tells @On3sports. The former 4⭐️ averaged 8.8 PPG this season. Began his career at North Carolina. https://t.co/XYeZIYonm4 pic.twitter.com/3O3j5JTRNr— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 10, 2024
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SEC TV revenues run circles around anything we can do
Vandy can afford to pay more. That's what this is all about
We're a #football school.
See him August 31st!
We lose one 6'7" forward for another 6'7" forward in Ben Burnham.
The guy must long for Hardee's coupons
Vandy hired the coach from JMU who Nickle had a connection with during his high school recruiting process.
Tyler's dad is an employee at JMU with deep connections within the athletic department. I'm sure it was more than a connection during the high school recruiting process (I'm not disagreeing with you, simply adding to your already good point).
I think his mom and dad both have significant roles at jmu
You might know better than me about his mom. I played basketball with his dad for a few years over at UREC (Tyler showed up a few times when he was in high school). I can't speak highly enough about the kind of person his dad is.
First thought...I wasn't particularly high on Nickel. His ceiling seemed to be a 6th-7th man who could help spread the floor some on O because teams had to have some respect for him from 3. He wasn't nearly good enough defensively to play big minutes without a big sacrifice.
Overall, if we had any depth whatsoever, he's the type of player whose loss could be absorbed.
Second thought, the fact that the dregs of the SEC can afford to buy out our players speaks awfully for the future. The NIL market in basketball seems levels of magnitude worse than football even (although that may change soon too) and seems a very slight step up from a livestock auction at this point.
At this point looking at rumored NIL deals it appears the going rate is about ~$40K per point per game. At that rate if you want a roster that scores 80 ppg you would need $3.2M in NIL
Eh, guess I'll keep my money and retire at 50
Depending on what part of the country you live.
So if we increase the fees students pay, $2700 instate, $3400 out of state by $100 and we have enough for a basketball team!
If the new Virginia NIL law goes into effect then maybe. Still not sure how that law will be applied.
we just have donors donate differently
The lack of discussion in this thread says 1) we've given up caring, or 2) Nickel's departure isn't a loss for us (addition through attrition), or 3) both.
Personally - I think it's both. Nickel was extremely underwhelming from what I was able to watch last year, and his stats speak for themselves. Far below what I would expect from a 4-star regardless of the system he was working in.
This is a big part of it for me. I will also join the group who is not so slowly being disillusioned from college sports by the pay to play days. I am actually pretty pissed that Tech decided now would be a good time to pass on significant increases in costs to football, men's basketball, and women's basketball tickets. Especially as the product in two of three seems like it will be significantly less than that it was last year. There is a good chance this is my last year as a ticket buyer.
He was a one year rental, barely got to know him so, no I don't feel much need to comment about it.
This is going to become very common for many college sports fans, I am afraid.
And that will be the end of college sports - way to go ESPN - you created a self eating watermelon. I hope E$ECPN rots in hell.
As someone with no interest in basketball, it's easy for me to ignore all the basketball losses. But reading through and seeing the comments about things shifting to football and prices going up and the like, I wonder if we are doing what some on here recommended and imitating Clemson. Clemson cut back on others to focus on football knowing many fans really only care about football. Improve that, much more money to sports programs and then it helps others down the road.
Anyone know if we are intentionally focusing on football with NIL money and other funds? If yes, could be that hope is short-to-intermediate term losses in other sports will lead to long-term gains. No idea, was just curious if others had any inside knowledge.
Keep seeing people mention this... is there a source for this? Or is the thought that Clemson has already successfully executed this strategy and now the non-rev sports are reaping the benefits? Clemson recently became the only school in the country to have a dedicated women's lax PRACTICE facility. They also built a dedicated women's lax stadium.
https://upstatetoday.com/sports/college/clemson-unveils-new-women-s-spor...
My intuition is that they executed the strategy and are now reaping the benefits - the rising tide is now lifting all boats. But I don't have any data to back that up.
I was just repeating what I had seen on here. And several people were suggesting that we follow that path. Was wondering if we were trying to do that now (even if Clemson did or did not do it).
They have two less sports than the Hokies right now but back in the 2014-2016 time period I believe they did shutter like 6 or 7 sports. Not sure the timeline on bringing them back. Then in 2020 they decided to shutter men's track and field and cross country. It got challenged so I believe it didn't happen until 2023. They added women's lacrosse and gymnastics in 2021.
They opened new women's sports when they increased funding to the men's programs again in accordance with Title IX.
The bigger issue for VT is that the pie is bigger at Clemson, regardless. TV money might be the same, but they have won 2 football national championships the past 10 years and won a bunch of straight ACC football titles, their hoops team with one of the worst coaches in America just had a horseshoe up their ass and made the Elite 8. They have much more success momentum to beg for money right now than VT does. Also their budget for athletics is higher than ours - so they can divert booster money for locker rooms to NIL. Different ball game
True NIL for him would be minimal and about the same at VT or Vandy- maybe a few jersey sales, maybe a small amount from a local business. Not much. But of course there is no such thing as NIL. What we DO have is pay for your roster with psuedo booster money. Furthest thing from true Name Image Likeness. If Caitlin Clark scores a million dollar deal - good on her- that makes sense. If Zach Edey is on commericals?- no shit. If someone wants to put LeBron's kid on TV? duh.. If Nike wants to shoot a commercial with the back to back champs UCONN? makes total fucking sense. Tyler Nickel? A bench player on a mid NIT team in Blacksburg, Va? Not one of the top 50 players in the ACC? What fucking NIL?
here's my 2 cents:
