The Power of NIL: Josh Schertz
The Power of NIL: Josh Schertz
Josh Schertz was formally announced as the next Head Coach of the Saint Louis Billikens. How has NIL impacted coaching hires?
One of the worst kept secrets over the last few weeks was regarding whether or not Head Coach of the Indiana State Sycamores Josh Schertz had already committed to taking the new Head Coach position at Saint Louis following the end of the season. Saint Louis fired Travis Ford after 8 seasons where he had 4 20+ win seasons, however, they made the NCAA Tournament just once in the Atlantic 10.
Josh Schertz seemingly came out of no where. Having had a lot of success at Lincoln Memorial (DII) where he went 337-69 in 13 seasons with two DII Final Four appearances, he was hired as Indiana State’s Head Coach in 2021 following the contract expiration of Greg Lansing. In 11 years as ISU’s Head Coach, Lansing took the Sycamores to the NCAA Tournament just once, which was in his first year on the job in 2011 when the Sycamores upset #2 Wichita State and #1 Missouri State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Sycamores finished with 20+ wins just twice in those 11 years with Lansing.
Looking for some new blood, the Sycamores dove into the DII ranks to pluck Josh Schertz. In his first season, there were mixed results, but you could tell he was building something special. In year one, he finished 11-20, which is always difficult to win in year one. In year two, he flipped the script, finishing 23-13, including making an appearance in the CBI Quarterfinals. This past season was the true Cinderella story. The Sycamores finished 32-7 including a trip to the NIT Finals where they unfortunately lost to Seton Hall 79-77. This season marked the first time Indiana State had been ranked since 1979 when Larry Bird was on the team and their first 30+ win season since 1979 as well when they lost in the NCAA Tournament National Championship.
Needless to say, there was no doubt that Schertz’s name was going to become a hot commodity among the coaching carousel.
As we have seen NIL and the transfer portal rules change the landscape of college basketball for players, it’s also starting to impact head coaches at a greater level. There’s no more long leashes for coaches. With NIL, it’s crucial that a coach win within their first two/three years or they could be on the hot seat. Winning = NIL money. NIL money = better players. Better players = Winning. The cycle continues.
This hurts mid-major schools such as Indiana State and Drake where we have seen both school’s head coaches be plucked by larger schools. Darian DeVries was nabbed at West Virginia and now Josh Schertz at Saint Louis. You may be thinking, is Saint Louis really a better gig than Indiana State? It indefinitely is. Let’s look at the finances.
Schertz was reportedly making roughly $365,000 a year at Indiana State. That was a $65,000 increase from the year prior, with a $250,000 buyout in 2024. Allegedly, Indiana State offered Schertz a record contract which would have made him the highest-paid head coach in school history at $850k per year for 6 years, however, that was not enough to sway him. Ultimately, Saint Louis offered Schertz over $2 million a year per Matt Norlander. Per Rick Semmler of Sports 10, Saint Louis is giving Schertz a budget of $1m a year in NIL money more than he would have had an Indiana State.
Head Coaches like Schertz are learning quickly that the only way you can move quickly in this field with the current state of college basketball is through the power of NIL. So now, mid-majors and small schools don’t only have to worry about losing players in the Transfer Portal to NIL money, they now have to worry about losing coaches to the Coaching Carousel due to NIL Money.
Some leagues are going to be more prepared for this, look at the NEC for example. They are positioning themselves to become a “Minor League” of sorts for higher conferences. They recently expanded to add DII and Independent Schools like Merrimack, Mercyhurst, Le Moyne, and Chicago State. Knowing that they can’t compete at the same level, they can embrace the position they are in to fuel their own conferences.
For mid-major conferences like the Missouri Valley, it’s a blood bath. You are stuck in this grey area between power conferences and mid-majors. Conferences like the Mountain West are moving more towards the category of power conferences thanks to the power of both their recent basketball and football success. The A10 is starting to position itself as a mini Big East and a strong basketball conference. The Missouri Valley however is stuck. Coaches and players are going to be plucked constantly and now they are going to have to essentially completely rebuild rosters and coaching staffs year in and year out. Plus, schools are going to move out, Belmont was rumored for the A10, Missouri State and Illinois State have been rumored to be looking at other options due to their football programs.
With all of this being said, being a die-hard fan of a strong mid-major team is going to get harder and harder. NIL is running College Basketball right now and it’s getting out of hand. However, it might be too late to try and reel it back in. The mindset might need to move towards, “How do we shape the power of NIL?” rather than “How can we stop it?”.
For Indiana State fans, this hurts. However, maybe they can stop the bleeding. Assistant Coach Matthew Graves was announced as the Interim Head Coach of the team and he will reportedly be having team meetings next week with the players to discuss their future. Graves has strong Indiana ties and he has been rumored at several head coaching jobs previously, including schools like Evansville and IUPUI in Indiana. This is a great opportunity for Graves and my hope is when Indiana State gets their President and Athletic Director situations under control, that they leave Graves in the driver seat.