NIL and ‘pay-to-play’ has changed college athletics. But for Mike Woodson, his recruiting pitch for ‘why Indiana basketball’ is quite unordinary in today’s game

Mike Woodson spent 34 years in the NBA as a coach and player and now enters his fourth season on the sidelines for the Indiana basketball program. He’s experienced a lot of success and also struggles at times, but the last few years in college have — in his words — been the biggest learning curve.

Not due to the talent. Not even necessarily due to the style of play. But the massive changes to the game — including NIL, the transfer portal and recruiting. The game of college basketball has drastically changed over the last three to four years, with seemingly another change every season.

Mike Woodson understands the game he previously knew at this level is no longer. But, while the game changes, the way he recruits will likely stay the same and that’s not leading with NIL or NBA aspirations.

“It’s a new era now in college sports, no doubt about that. My approach has always been and it won’t change — I’m selling you on education and it’s up to you to buy in,” Woodson said on the Bossman Show this week. “I’m selling you on education and selling you on playing for a great program in Indiana University basketball. Playing for a guy that is going to be in your corner in Mike Woodson and the money is what it is. The NIL and collectives, that’s part of the game, I get that. But if you’re coming to me thinking, ‘coach I just want to get paid’ and thinking about chances to getting to the NBA, you’ve got the wrong coach.

“My experience in the 34 years I spent in the league, and I’m not trying to bust anyone’s dream … your chances in playing in the NBA are very slim, it really is. And if you don’t have education or something to fall back on to extend your life and career, it’s going to be tough out in the workforce. And that’s how I view it.”

Related: Mike Woodson continuing to navigate ever-changing landscape of recruiting as he builds each Indiana basketball roster

However, now more than ever NIL will be involved and it’ll be tougher and tougher to sell education over money. Last month, college athletics won a legal case in the House v. NCAA settlement that is set to unveil $2.8 billion to athletes in a revenue-sharing model.

While the exact dollar amounts and other specific details as it related to power four programs are still to be determined, it is expected that ‘upwards of $22 million in revenue’ could be shared between the richest and most powerful programs and universities in college athletics, according to a CBS Sports report.

Despite NIL not being the main recruiting pitch for Mike Woodson, these transformative changes were a topic of discussion for the Indiana basketball head coach at a recent fundraising event.

“It’s gonna help. I think anytime you get additional money that goes towards recruiting, it’s going to help,” Woodson said. “We’re in different times now, man. This summer was a busy summer for me and my staff in terms of entertaining the portal and it’s just a lot of work and it’s not going to change. It’s going to be that way for years to come. It is what it is.”

Indiana basketball has been listed, unofficially, as one of the top NIL programs across the country. This offseason it showed by securing commitments from extremely notable players in the transfer portal, including a consensus top-2 player in Oumar Ballo.

So while Mike Woodson doesn’t want to put it as the forefront of his recruiting pitch, it’s involved. It has to be. Whether it is Hoosiers Connect or Hoosiers For Good, the two official NIL collectives for Indiana University, fundraising events in an official or unofficial manner are becoming more frequent over the last few years.

At the end of the day, Woodson is going to continue to preach relationships, education and then basketball — with everything else coming together at one point or another.

“That’s one thing I vowed when I took the job (at Indiana). Take care of my players. On and off the court to make sure when they leave me, they’re in a better place to survive in our society,” Woodson added. “That’s important to me. You don’t play in the NBA? I’ve developed enough relationships and connections over the years that I’ve spent in the NBA, I can help get you a job doing something you might love to do. That’s kinda my selling pitch as well when I’m recruiting these young men because it is important.

“When they commit to Mike Woodson they’re basically committing for the rest of their lives … even if you left me, bad or good terms, I’m going to tell you, ‘hey my phone is always open if you need me’ because it ain’t about me, it’s about these young men as they move on in life.”

The nature of college athletics, especially revenue-generating sports like football and basketball, is changing and it’s more than just ‘here to stay’.

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