Because he's at PSU this weekend, then Nebraska and ISU last. That number is only going to grow, it sure as hell ain't shrinking
2023-2024 Recruits & Transfers
- Thread starter cywr89
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this really has nothing to do with common sense. Whole system is a house of cards.
I am told that those numbers are close to true also.
I don’t think you see many people out publicly sharing their salaries. That’s weird to think people would be out bragging. We typically don’t even know the vast majority of athletes scholarship percentage, yet you think they’re all going to post their income on social? Very weird though process there.
I’ll sit here and wait for any shred of evidence.. if I’m Big Cass I’m entering the transfer portal tonight. Will ISU pay $250k for a 3x AA hwt? Sorry, peace out hawks - you’re paying a guy $250k who hasn’t even earned 1 single point for our team and I’m not getting that money? Every single AA on every single team would be entering the portal if true. Again, common sense man.
Who's to say Cass isn't getting money? Or that he doesnt have a plan in place to get HWC money after graduation to stick around? I'm not saying the numbers are correct (they could be inflated) but there are RTCs/Collectives at high profile wrestling schools raising seven figures annually. Why wouldnt they be in a position to dole out six figures to high profile athletes.
EDIT: Also, common sense does NOT apply in the current NIL world. Got to come to terms with the fact that none of it is rational from a return on investment perspective. If you can raise millions, you might as well spend it if you're the big hitters of the NIL world.
Based on the numbers people are throwing out… that’s nearly $500k wrapped up in 2 guys to wrestle next year. Neither of which are guaranteed to win a title. Now big Cass getting $200k also? That’s $700k. Aren’t they still trying to raise money for a new stand alone arena? $700k out of that budget takes a long time to backfill. And not to mention they all 3 graduate next year. And even with those guys the best iowa does is runner up.. absolutely none of that adds up. But I’ll wait for everyone to prove me wrong with the evidence that’s fine.
I don’t know if any of this is true or not but none of this “comes out of the budget” for anything at the school. It can’t. This is private money however much it is.
If you're waiting to see a wrestler directly acknowledge how much they're being paid, or wanting to see tax returns etc then i think you're going to be waiting a long time for evidence. I will trust people with direct knowledge of the situation (And no I am not referring to Mineo lol).
This particular case isn't that hard to figure out. Bernie just visited Iowa, and has since told people what the offer was.
The fundraising for a stand alone facility from donor money/Hawkeye RTC slush fund is what I’m talking about. Not school money.
Is a Nagao worth $500k? Carr is worth $500k? If I’m Carr no way I stick around. $500k is life changing for my whole family. O’Toole worth $750k? Got to be, he’s a 2x national champ with 2 years left! If I’m O’Toole no way I’m staying at Missouri now knowing this. I’m going to get that money!
A few leaps in there. First, has anyone said Real was getting $250k a year? Or that he got $250k to come to Iowa? Also, nowhere did I say Cass was getting $200k, I said how do we know he's not getting something or that he doesn't have a promise of something as a senior level athlete. On the wrestling facility side, haven't they raised virtually all that separately (https://www.weareiowa.com/article/s...gn/524-c257d1bd-4926-4677-a234-928149869bb4)?
If you look at the publicly available financials of some of these RTCs, they raise seven figures annually with low expenses. I'm saying it's not insane for them to go "buy" a top level transfer annually with six figures. Doesn't mean they are paying them that annually though. **** look at NLWC. In 2020 they listed over $8 million in assets (https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/251408517). Just the investment income on that could fund multiple six figure NIL deals every year. HWC I'd assume is the next richest RTC, so why wouldn't they be playing that ballpark.
I don't think enough details are publicly known to draw many conclusions but I think you're too easily dismissing the fact that there is a lot of money at the top few programs to throw around.
The guy who should really be looking at the portal after seeing Bernie get offered $250k is Parker Keckeisen. I really hope he doesn't, because the sport is better when the studs are at smaller schools too, but if Bernie is worth $250k, Keck would be worth at least that much if not more.
They're "worth" whatever someone is willing to pay to get them to come to their school. It has turned things into the wild west,.
Makes a real challenge for the coaches. I agree in that I don't know how you maintain a culture within a program, or what coaches are saying to guys like Cass or O'toole. But I do believe this number and the people I've talked to with direct knowledge of the situation.
This doesn't prove anything other than they do a great job of fundraising and investing that money. In 2020 they paid their NLWC athletes and coaches a total of $851,469. Those coaches included Cael Sanderson, Cody Sanderson, Casey Cunningham, Jake Varner and Mark McKnight, unless I'm missing someone they had on staff in 2020. Maybe Eric Thompson too? Now after paying their coaches, they are paying their athletes in the RTC like Kyle Snyder, Zain, Cassar, Gilman, Vincenzo Joseph, Nolf, David Taylor, Franklin Gomez... Anyone else I'm missing? So all of those guys, plus college athletes for doing camps and clinics, as is the purpose of NLWC.. Got a total of $851k. Tell me where I messed up? Seems like the figures can't be crazy like everyone assumes if everyone listed made a total of $851k.
Briefly describe the organization’s mission or most significant activities: SUPPORT & PROMOTE AMATEUR WRESTLING BY CONDUCTING WRESTLING CAMPS, TOURNAMENTS, CLINICS, AN OLYMPIC REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER, AND RESIDENT ATHLETE PROGRAM. |
Isn’t being great at fundraising kind of the whole point we’re talking about though? But I’ll poke a few holes. Why would we assume Cael, Cody, or Casey get any significant money from NLWC when they are the Penn State coaches? Of course they coach at the RTC but doesn’t mean that’s where their salary comes from. The most recent numbers were 2020, so Gilman wasn’t there for the entire year and Dake wasn’t at all and you’d assume they are two of the top earners there. Also Varner was on PSU staff at the time until Jimmy Kennedy came and he moved to being under NLWC so Varner wouldn’t have been in that bucket.
So $851k for McKnight coaching and partial year of Gilman, Snyder, Zain, David, Nolf, Cassar and Gomez. Are we really thinking guys like Cassar, Gomez are getting much? Doubt it. Nolf in 2020 probably not either. So you could pay six figure salaries to the top 4 guys, say another $150k for the other three. A few bucks to coaches and still have $100-200k for general expenses. Seems doable to me and this is before NIL came in an changed the game of course.
Also, for the senior level guys I think it’s more about annual salary type of situation, where it seems like the athlete NIL deals are reported more like a total value of the deal. So there is some apples to oranges comparison. So a guy like DT might be getting getting significantly less than $250k annual (let’s say half for fun) but he’s collecting that for 5+ years.
Again, all conjecture but dismissing it out of pocket is silly.
Good list! Gioimo from CRP was a senior this year, class of ‘23.