When Indiana coach Mike Woodson took the microphone for Senior Day festivities in March and addressed the crowd, he gave thanks to those who had contributed to the program’s name, image and likeness (NIL) endeavors, including even one individual by name.
“I’d like to thank (Cook Group President) Pete Yonkman of Hoosiers for Good, and all the NIL participants who’ve given money to keep our program where it should be,” Woodson said.
And in the weeks that followed, the Hoosiers signed one of the top transfer portal classes in the nation, including Arizona center Oumar Ballo, Washington State guard Myles Rice, and Stanford guard Kanaan Carlyle.
While the specific dollar amounts are unknown, it is widely understood that group, along with Indiana’s other offseason roster additions, fetched a hefty sum of money.
Just a coincidence?
College basketball coaches around the country think not.
In CBS Sports’ “Candid Coaches” series, Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander asked more than 100 college basketball coaches which programs they think have the best name, image and likeness war chests in place.
Specifically, coaches were asked to name just the top three programs they believe have the best NIL situations based on what they are hearing on the recruiting trail and beyond.
Indiana was the fifth most popular team named by the coaches, and the top school in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers appeared on 16.9% of the responses.
Illinois, Ohio State, Oregon and Washington were the only other Big Ten schools that earned votes.
Here were the top five schools, and the percentage of ballots they appeared on:
Indiana athletes enjoy a wide range of NIL resources, including the school’s officially sponsored collectives Hoosiers for Good and Hoosiers Connect, merchandise sales, commercial endorsement deals, and much more.
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