Last month, Michigan coach Dusty May said the Wolverines’ roster cost is likely going to increase after this past season’s national title. On3’s Pete Nakos reported the championship team cost more than $10 million, but May expects that number to grow even more in 2026-27.
Speaking with Front Office Sports this week, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas defended the amount of money athletes are making in college basketball in the NIL era. But as he assessed the landscape, he pointed out how much coaches are earning compared to the players.
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Bilas directly addressed May’s comments, which he said he had not heard. While looking at the cost of rosters in college basketball, he argued that in other major sports, the players make more than the coaching staff. That’s why he questioned people the criticism about the surge in athlete earnings.
“What I would say in response to that is their coaching staff makes more than that,” Bilas told Baker Machado. “So what’s the problem? Do we think the players are worth less than the coaches? They’re not. So when you look at their coaching staff and their support staff, they make more than the players. In no multi-billion dollar sport do the coaches make more than the players. Is it going to cost that? Yes, and it should. They’re making a boatload off these players and the players deserve to bargain for their fair market value just like everyone else, including every other student.
“There’s no student that’s told if they have a talent that’s going to make them money that they can’t make money while they’re in school. The only one that’s ever been told that is an athlete and those days are over. Still, the athletes don’t get their value. They’re not allowed their value yet. They will be in the future. I don’t have any problem with it.”
Last season, while leading Michigan to a title, May earned $4.6 million in base salary. Salaries for his three assistants were not publicly available. After the season, May and Michigan agreed to a new contract, though he not yet signed the deal.
Jay Bilas: Schools can afford to pay football, basketball players
As the NIL era evolved, athletes have also learned how to be smart with their money. Arizona Cardinals rookie Jeremiyah Love is an example. He told reporters he doesn’t plan to spend money from his first NFL contract because he benefited from NIL at Notre Dame.
While Jay Bilas noted there are also times where athletes might not necessarily save as well, he said that’s the case in any business. Still, with revenue increasing – Bilas specifically cited the Big Ten, which topped $1.3 billion in distribution during fiscal year 2024-25 – he doesn’t see an issue with athletes earning what they should.
“These young players are doing really smart things with their money,” Bilas said. “I’m sure we can find examples where somebody’s blown their money and done something stupid, but you can find that in any industry. The bankruptcy courts are not full of athletes. They’re full of non-athletes. I’m not worried about that and I’m also not worried about the cost of this. Michigan, I think the Big Ten just reported recently that in the 24-25 season, the revenues were over $1 billion. They can afford to pay their football and basketball players. That’s not a problem.
“Nobody’s complaining [about] how much Dusty’s making. Nobody’s saying, hey, how much did our coaching staff cost us this year? Because I can tell you this, the Ohio State football staff is making more than their players. Anybody who thinks that makes sense, raise your hand because it doesn’t make any sense.”
