MORGANTOWN — By now, you’ve either grown weary of hearing about the colossal game-changer in college athletics that is the House settlement or you’re simply ignoring it altogether.
There is no blame here today placed on you no matter which camp you reside in.
But, since we are now officially a few days into colleges and universities legally being able to cut a paycheck to its student-athletes, it is time to discuss one cold and hard truth.
And that is to simply say the overall state of WVU athletics is not going to elevate itself just because millions of dollars — beginning at $20.5 million now, which increases annually — are suddenly changing hands and headed to the athletes.
That is something all WVU fans truly need to get their minds wrapped around right now, because in the months and years that follow, you’re going to see a ridiculous amount of money thrown at high school recruits, transfers and athletes already on WVU rosters, all while the teams themselves basically remain at the same level of competition they historically were to begin with.
We’ll focus this theory mainly on football and men’s basketball, because that’s where the bulk of the money will go.
There are going to be some fantastic seasons ahead, where conference titles can be won. There are also going to be some real stinkers, too.
There are going to be years when WVU is nationally relevant and others where no one outside of the state pays any attention.
Those statements basically sum up the first 132 seasons of WVU football and 116 seasons of men’s basketball, all of which came before college athletes were legally being paid a salary.
To think that’s suddenly going to change now is not only naive, but also a little dangerous.
The difference now for the WVU fan base, is its level of financial investment, which is about to reach an all-time high and will only grow in the years to come.
Let’s use the WVU Basketball Practice Facility as a simple way to explain this thought.
That facility was built on the backs of little else than donations from donors and boosters, who shelled out the majority of the $24.1 million needed to construct it.
The selling pitch made to those donors was how this facility was going to greatly improve WVU’s ability to compete nationally and recruit at a much higher level.
Here’s the truth: Since that facility opened in Feb. 2012, the men’s hoops team is 272-197, a 58% winning percentage.
In the years before the facility, WVU was 1,602-991, a 62% winning percentage.
In the 12 1/2 years since that facility opened, WVU has signed just a single 5-star recruit — Oscar Tshiebwe — and he left after a year and a half to go to Kentucky.
Those donors were sold a $24 million promise that has yet to pan out 13 seasons later.
If that $24 million had been invested into Apple stock in 2012, it would be worth approximately $607 million today. You tell me if that practice facility was a good investment.
So, now we get into this new financial level of investment WVU is asking from its student enrollment and fan base.
Before we get off the rails here, WVU had no other choice than to make the decisions it’s made and is going to make in order to compete in what has now become the ultimate arms race in college athletics.
Those decisions will include future hikes in ticket prices and hikes in the donation prices to the Mountaineer Athletic Club for the premium seats at Milan Puskar Stadium and the Coliseum.
It includes a new $125 Mountaineer Athletic Advantage Fee as part of the school’s tuition every semester.
That fee is for students on the Morgantown campus only, which constitutes roughly 90% of the school’s overall enrollment, according to historical enrollment data.
For decades, there was already an athletic fee tied to tuition, which made up a percentage of WVU’s athletic department’s overall budget.
This additional fee, which we estimate will generate somewhere between $5.5-6 million per semester, or at least $11 million per school year, will go directly into the hands of WVU athletes and to the newly formed Gold & Blue, Inc, the school’s new initiative to work with WVU athletes on their NIL endeavors.
That constitutes roughly 54% of the $20.5 million that will go to WVU’s athletes this year.
Additional fundraising will come with selling naming rights, so don’t expect the WVU Coliseum to be named that for too much longer.
In any case, the bulk of WVU’s ability to meet the House settlement requirements will come from the fans and the student body.
And WVU athletic director Wren Baker can’t honestly give you a detailed description of what they’ll get in return.
He can’t say, “nothing more than the norm,” or he’ll quickly become the most hated athletic director in the school’s history.
What he did say: “I want to let Mountaineer Nation know that our tradition and place on the national stage is at the forefront of our decision-making process.”
Here’s the thing, Mr. Baker, WVU’s current place on the national stage is not exactly upper tier. True, it’s no dumpster fire, but still stretching its neck to look up at the elite.
If you’re basically asking the people to pay more for the same type of results and the same level of recruiting classes that WVU football and men’s basketball have historically produced, that’s just not going to work anymore.
They did that for the basketball practice facility. They did that for major renovations at Milan Puskar Stadium and the Coliseum.
Seriously, did the football and basketball programs truly benefit or suddenly take off after millions were spent on those facility and locker room renovations?
You can make the argument those programs only got worse or, at best, remained the same.
Baker can’t come out and say that, but if he doesn’t recognize there’s a certain level of danger that comes with continually upping the ante without producing better results, then he’s an athletic director heading for a heap of trouble.
Simply competing in the arms race just to be able to say WVU is competing in the arms race, there’s no way that can be the status quo anymore.
This is a new time, a time where real individuals are going to be on the hook even more than before to sustain college athletics at WVU.
If there is not a better return on their investments than previously, does anyone even want to fathom the hell that may follow?
