Just my 2 cents on this situation. I will preface this by saying my 2 cents isn’t worth anything and is only my opinion, but I am taking a look at this from a different perspective. One thing I have seen almost everyone agree on is that the current model for college athletics is not sustainable and now with schools having to pony up an additional $20 million per year to even begin to compete, many athletic departments are going to find themselves in a huge financial hole potentially.
We want a bigger payday and want to remain in a power conference when another alignment happens. Football drives the bus hands down. Our funding is limited at the moment I believe our decision makers would rather focus those dollars toward football and do not want their hands tied with a massive obligation to the basketball program with big contracts, high NIL demands, etc.
At some point, sooner rather than later in my opinion, the Wild West of college athletics will come to an end. The insanity of NIL and free agency with no rules will not continue as there is no guarantee of any sort of return on investment as it currently stands. While I don’t disagree that SU is historically “cheap” with our spending, I believe they want to set us up for long term sustainability, as opposed to spending lavishly for the next few years until the madness ends. If they are going to spend, it will be on football which could earn us a seat at the big boy table, and the lucrative tv contracts that come along with it. Then when your AD is cash positive, you can invest in all the other sports, starting with college hoops.
Let’s say BH does end up at providence because they offered him something better. They are all in on hoops bc it is their ticket to a better conference for bball only when realignment happens again
Again, just my opinion and I am not stating anything as fact. That’s my 2 cents
