Michigan basketball: Wolverines need to help players with NIL

Michigan basketball star Hunter Dickinson opens up about NIL and it shows the Wolverines have work to do. 

When news that NIL was finally going to happen in the world of college sports, it generally received a mixed bag from media members, administration, and old-school fans and coaches.
One thing is certain though: NIL can be used as more of a recruiting tool to benefit a school, and help players already on a school’s athletics roster.

So, what happens when an athlete (and probably multiple athletes) on a college team that you love is unhappy about the level of dedication to NIL that a school is giving to satisfy them?

Hunter Dickinson is unhappy with U-Ms approach to NIL

It never bodes well for a school when one of their athletic stars literally calls out that school if they feel unfair treatment or don’t feel like they are valued enough.

Such is the case with Michigan basketball’s Hunter Dickinson,  who, in a basketball podcast with former Michigan basketball star Stu Douglass, didn’t let up on the fact that Michigan is very obviously trailing other big-time schools in their efforts with NIL.

This is not good news at all. It would be different if a recruit was saying these things, that they didn’t like the plan that Michigan has for its recruits, but one of the most well-known athletes at Michigan is saying all of these things.

Michigan needs to mend the fences quickly

None of this falls on Juwan Howard and his assistant coaches. None of this is their fault. Hunter Dickinson has a great relationship with Howard. He knows Juwan will always try his best to look out for him and help him out (within the confines of Michigan’s rules). There is only so much though that Juwan can do to help these recruits and these athletes get their NIL deals.

The blame falls solely on Michigan’s administration. This is their mess-up. And they need to resolve this issue as quickly as possible because if they don’t, Michigan will start missing on recruits that they could be getting and some more athletes might start voicing their displeasures, and it will all start to become more of a distraction to the coaches and the players.

Michigan’s athletics pays for most of the things that function on campus. They also help pay all of the administration’s salaries, so the least they can do is help out these athletes when they say they need help.

And, this doesn’t just fall under basketball. It falls under football and all of the other athletics departments as well. Michigan needs to start making it a priority to help out these athletes if they want to use NIL.

And don’t get it twisted, a lot of other athletes at Michigan feel the exact same way about this, but they just haven’t said anything about it in public.

It just doesn’t look good from a PR standpoint in recruiting when one of the stars of the school is publicly calling out that school. Look at Ohio State. Look at Alabama. Look at Notre Dame. Look at Oklahoma. Look at Miami. Look at Clemson.

All of these schools have athletes that have signed huge NIL deals.

I know these are all football examples, but still. Some of these high school basketball recruits are signing major deals and they aren’t even in college yet! Master P’s son signed the richest contract ever for a high school recruit (as if he needs the money anyway).

https://twitter.com/fos/status/1410965448385089541?s=21

Heck, even Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon signed a nice deal with The Player’s Trunk:

https://twitter.com/jordanbo_3/status/1410422921550520325?s=21

As of right now, Aidan Hutchinson, and Hunter Dickinson should be the athletes with the most name recognition on campus. Yet, they had to settle for average NIL deals. What is up with that?

Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer knows Mark freaking Wahlberg. And guess what he got?! An NIL deal with Mark Wahlberg and got a nice truck to go with it!

Hunter Dickinson has practically nothing compared to that. You’d think an All-American like Hunter would be able to sign a lucrative NIL deal with Nike, or Adidas, or Gatorade, or something bigger than what he got (Cameo).

None of this even mentions Adrian Nunez, who for barely getting on the court, has the most Tik Tok followers on the team and should be a multi-millionaire right now. Yes, he has his own clothing merchandise, but I just feel he could get even more deals.

All in all, Michigan needs to get its act together. Juwan Howard can only do so much to help out. One of the things recruits will be looking into from now on is how much money they can make at a school from NIL.

If Michigan keeps being stubborn and/or not really trying to help the athletes, then recruits will start to look elsewhere. Maybe Dickinson will sign more deals in due time, but right now, the treatment he has gotten is unacceptable.