LSU football calculated with NIL money under Brian Kelly | LSU

Earlier this year, LSU football coach Brian Kelly spoke at an event hosted by Bayou Traditions, the athletic department's official name, image and likeness collective. Kelly discussed the direction of the team and the hiring of new staff, and provided an overview of the state of the program for some of the school's largest donors.

During his speech, Kelly discussed his philosophy on building and maintaining a squad in the NIL era. Kelly believes in recruiting and retaining high school prospects, adding transfers when necessary to fill gaps. To emphasize his point, he referenced the New England Patriots.

The Patriots are ranked last in the NFL cash expenses according to ESPN's over the past decade at $1.62 billion Schedule management system. They won three Super Bowls and played for another during that span, maintaining their dynasty until missing the playoffs in three of the past four seasons. Kelly used the franchise approach to money as an example.

You don't have to spend the most to be the best, he said, according to several attendees.

LSU football does spend money, a necessity to stay competitive. Bayou Traditions has budgeted $8 million for the roster this season, although it is not expected to reach that number, according to a source with knowledge of the collective who was granted anonymity to speak freely. Last year, the outside group allocated about $4 million to the team.

We have a number we feel comfortable with, Kelly told The Advocate before spring training. Some others will be a little higher than us, but they operate in a different way.

Jason Belzer, whose company Student Athlete NIL helps run 62 Division I collectives, including those at Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, said the average amount SEC collectives will spend on football teams next season is $10 million. He estimated the top end will be $13 million to $15 million, while the median will be $4.5 million across the Power Four conferences.

In this era, LSU football has operated with less NIL money than some of its peers due to philosophy and fundraising. Staff have resisted overpaying what they consider market value, and while Bayou Traditions has increased its funding in the past year, it doesn't have as much as some rivals and needs to tap another potential revenue source to be sustainable.

There is no perfect model, said Austin Thomas, LSU's senior athletic director for football administration. It's no different than the NFL. Those organizations all build their rosters and their teams differently, and the construction of that looks different for every NFL franchise, right? I think the biggest part of all this is that you first have to understand who you are.

In January, Thomas returned to LSU after two years as chief of staff of Ole Miss Football. Although Thomas was present for Kelly's opening press conference, he was not retained during the 2021 coaching change. At Oxford, Thomas helped oversee contracts, budgets, hiring, roster management, personnel, NIL and scheduling.

Back at LSU for the third time, Thomas has many of the same responsibilities. He serves as the general manager of the football team while also participating in administrative duties, which may help him achieve his goal of becoming an athletic director. Thomas said he is taking guidance from Kelly and LSU athletic director Scott Woodward.

While Thomas' duties are similar to those at Ole Miss, the teams construct their rosters in different ways. Ole Miss has leaned into the transfer portal, signing 46 freshmen and 61 transfers over the past three cycles. LSU added 16 transfers in its first year under Kelly and seven so far this offseason, gradually withdrawing from the portal as it built the roster.

For us, we have to go out and evaluate and identify the right people that fit for us, and then recruit and retain those guys here, Thomas said. Retention, in my opinion, is the biggest key in all of this. At LSU, we're going to build that foundation through the high school recruiting base and then supplement it as we may need it in other areas.

LSU believes this approach offers an advantage because of the talent in Louisiana, a state with the second-most NFL players per capita behind Georgia last year. It wants to recruit local areas and neighboring states and then look nationally for certain positions. In the 2024 cycle, 26 of the Tigers' 29 signees came from Louisiana, Texas or Mississippi.

The approach will continue in the incoming class of 2025. Eleven of the twelve committed candidates are from the same three states, with five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood (Michigan) being the lone exception. According to 247Sports comps, the group is ranked third nationally, with Thomas partially contributing to relationships and trust.

“We can get guys who want to be here and be a part of it,” Kelly said. It's not like they get a discount on where they live, but they want to be here. It's not like you try to get them out of California, and then you have to pay for all the expenses and family to visit, and then that NIL goes up and up and up and up.

Instead of spending a lot of money on the transfer portal, LSU focused its money on freshmen and players who remained in the program. It invests in those who stood out for their performances and actions, and tries to keep talent on the roster. Players can also make money through separate endorsement deals, and LSU is trying to provide education on how to market themselves.

For us it comes down to: how do we want to strategically distribute our NIL package? Thomas said. This is mainly due to the maintenance of our selection. What happens is that you have to be very careful not to get too far ahead of yourself, where the value of a player or certain players in your squad becomes so high that you can't catch up to the rest of your squad. and suddenly it becomes a runaway train and it is not sustainable.

But after spring training, LSU had to search the transfer portal for defensive tackles, a depleted position after the team failed to retain starters Maason Smith and Mekhi Wingo during a defensive staff overhaul.

The Tigers targeted TCU transfer Damonic Williams and Michigan State transfer Simeon Barrow. Belzer said Williams' market value would have been around $400,000 in the December transfer window, but low supply and high demand in the spring pushed prices up. Williams and Barrow both asked for seven-figure deals, multiple sources said, figures that LSU didn't come close to reaching.

We will pay players, and we can afford to do so, said the source close to the collective. But the player's philosophical mentality must match that of the coaches if we are willing to do that.

Bayou Traditions had enough money to meet their asking price, the source said, but didn't offer as much because of the amount of rights they had left (Williams two years, Barrow one) and concerns that those deals would disrupt locker room chemistry. Williams chose Oklahoma, Barrow chose Miami and LSU stuck with its philosophy.

There's a bigger picture behind it all, Thomas said. It doesn't come down to one player, does it? It comes down to a holistic, comprehensive approach: if you mismanage the funding and go ahead and overspend in some areas of your team, how do you come back and build the rest of your roster around that because the word gets out round, right? ? Suddenly you may face many problems.

Those close to Bayou Traditions emphasized that it has the resources to compete with other teams. Thomas said, “our collective is very healthy.” A source added that the group now has nearly 1,000 members after improving its donor base over the past year, but conceded that they need to do a better job of crowdfunding, an area where Ole Miss and Auburn have flourished.

Bayou Traditions has contribution options ranging from $20 to $100 per month, but without a strong marketing presence and inconsistent messaging, it has failed to convert the average fan.

In February, RC Porter struggled to donate $50 a month after getting a new credit card. Porter, a retired intelligence officer living in Virginia, sent four emails asking the collective for help before receiving a response last week.

Because of what I've been through, Porter said, I don't plan on donating now unless they get new management.

A possible solution could come soon. Sources said LSU is expected to launch a fundraising campaign Wednesday in which two anonymous donors agreed to match up to $2 million in donations. If the initiative were successful, it would bring in new members and provide the collective with an influx of cash that could fund multiple teams on campus.

We're trying to lower the barriers to entry, so to speak, and let the everyday person who only wants to give $50 a month can just help and be a part of it, said personal injury attorney Gordon McKernan, whose firm is a corporate sponsor of Bayou Traditions. Once the average fan joins the collective, I think everything changes and it becomes much broader, much deeper and much healthier.

The current setup may change soon. Under one amended law Under consideration by the state legislature, University of Louisiana employees would be allowed to participate directly in name, image and likeness efforts. The NCAA said that starting Aug. 1, schools can facilitate deals for players who make their NIL deals public, allowing LSU to bring the operation in-house. There are still conversations going on about how that would work.

Another seismic change in college sports distribution of profits looms on the horizon, but some believe collectives and NIL can still influence rosters without guardrails. Belzer predicted that the collective dollars will be the ones that separate those who have from those who don't, as a differentiator on top of the base salary players would receive from schools.

For the time being, LSU wants to stick to its approach, focusing on talent from the area and the belief that development and retention will create a successful football program.

If we weren't recruiting in the state of Louisiana, if we were somewhere else that didn't have this base, we would have to have more money, Kelly said. We have such a great foundation here. With this kind of philosophy we can make it work better. So we're stretching our dollars more this way.