NC State is at a crossroads. And I am not talking about the basketball season. While the basketball season has been up and down, I am talking about a much grander scale. To be honest, it is a much grander problem. NC State has an identity crisis on its hands. NC State’s athletic department does not know what it wants to be. And it is becoming a problem.
We see on social media, the twitter polls “What type of school is NC State: Basketball, Football.” When in all reality, the answer is neither. You want an apt comparison? NC State belongs in the Pac-12, the Conference of Champions. Champions in every sport but the 2 that pay for everything else.
Over the last 15 years NC State has won 4 ACC Championships in Wrestling (along with 4 National Championships), 6 in men’s Swimming and Diving (1 National Champion), 2 in women’s Swimming and Diving (1 National Champion), 2 in Softball, 3 in Cross Country, and Women’s Basketball. Notice anything glaring?!?!?! I do, not one ACC Championship in a revenue generating sport. Tell me my Pac-12 analogy is wrong!!!!
The ACC is trailing behind the B1G and SEC in revenue generation. In 2018-19 the B1G paid out $56 million to each school, the SEC $45 and the ACC paid out $29 million. That was last in the Power 5, behind the Big 12 and Pac-12. Because of when those contracts are up and the way they are structured, the ACC will always be behind those other 2 conferences. So, the ACC will always be in a financial disadvantage.
This is where we come to my argument. My friends and I have been going back and forth on this for awhile now. What do you do? Do you take the Clemson model? Sink everything into football and raise all of your other sports off of that revenue? Do you funnel all of your money into basketball and put more resources there?
Or, do you leave everything as is, and continue being middling in the revenue sports while only hoping to compete in the big one’s occasionally?
The basketball situation is tricky to invest in. Mostly because NC State is locked into playing its home games at PNC Arena. The money that it would take to buy themselves out of that lease, could preclude any investment in an on-campus arena. So, if you can’t upgrade facilities, what can you do to invest in the basketball program? Well, you can do what football does and hire a bunch of analysts.
Hire guys who’s job it is, to just find players. Hire guys who look at tape of high school and AAU teams. Hire guys who look at tape of every D-1 basketball player and possible transfers. Invest in the infrastructure of the program.
Investing in the football program is a little easier to define. To take the next step from a football standpoint, is going to be expensive. There are numerous things that need to happen in terms of facilities.
Starting with upgrading Carter Finley Stadium. The entrance needs to be redesigned and improved. The sound system, the video board, the hallway, WiFi all need to be addressed to enhance the game day experience. Adding on to the practice facility also needs to be done. NC State needs to funnel more money to their assistants. Last year NC State didn’t have an assistant coach who’s pay was ranked in the top 75.
The closest coach on that list? Tony Gibson at 88, making $700K a year. To put this in perspective, Rutgers, Illinois, Kansas, Cal, North Carolina, Utah and TCU had guys higher on that list. To increase the quality of coaches, you are going to have to up the pool from which these guys are being paid.
Doing all of this is not going to be cheap. However, that requires sacrifices that the athletic department seems to have passed on in recent years. It would require investment to be shifted from the nonrevenue sports to football.
Does NC State want to invest more into basketball or football? Who knows. However, until they decide to do one or the other? NC State will continue to lag behind in both.
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