South Carolina women's basketball head coach Dawn Staley pulled back the curtain on the realities of revenue sharing, NIL, player NDAs, and keeping the balance in the locker room during a candid conversation with Michelle Obama on The Light Podcast, which aired on August 13.
The episode, which was originally recorded on June 10, marked Staley's first in-depth public discussion of the new revenue-sharing era of college athletics. The recently passed House settlement allowed schools to begin paying athletes up to $20.5 million annually beginning July 1, in addition to their NIL earnings.
On the podcast, Staley revealed that her players are required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements regarding the money they receive. The move is aimed at preserving harmony in the locker room and creating privacy among players.
“Now whether they can stick with that or not, some of them get disgruntled and maybe transfer and just say, ‘I was making (amount),’ and it can stir up the pot,” Staley said. “But I’m very honest. I’ll tell them, there’s a reason why you get paid this and you get paid that. I’ll explain that to them.”
Former First Lady Michelle Obama agreed with Staley, stating players don't need to be in the business of knowing what each other makes. Staley added that she tries to handle most of the financial discussions directly, although some players share the same agent, which can increase the likelihood that details of pay becomes known among teammates.
As of now, South Carolina has not publicly announced its revenue-sharing distribution plan, but Staley shared her understanding of the general landscape of things. “Probably $20 million per school, but that’s football, that’s men’s basketball, and maybe sprinkling women’s basketball and other Olympic sports,” she said.
Obama asked Staley how these particular changes have affected recruiting for the program. “That’s the difficult part,” Staley said. “The market says that if you’re a non-contributor and you go into the portal, they can go ask a school like us for $100,000. If I entertain that, they’re going to take it to another school, [say] ‘Hey, South Carolina offered me a hundred grand, you got $150,000?’”
Staley also emphasized that she works within a set budget to avoid overpromising when it comes to recruiting. “I don’t overpromise, but I do innovative things to help our players out in that space,” she said.
Prime example is the inaugural Players Era Women's Championship in November, where teams will have access to $1 million in NIL opportunities. South Carolina will face Duke on November 26, then either Texas or UCLA on November 27 in Las Vegas. “I’m supportive of it, I really am,” Staley said. “I think it’s long overdue — but keeping control is necessary. We got to find a way to balance, to keep it an amateur sport while allowing young people to go out there and benefit from their name, image, and likeness.”