The Morning Commute for Friday, April 18th, 2025.

Welcome to the Morning Commute

Today we’re talking about Transfer Portal dollars, but before we do that I’m going to post this because it’s awesome:

Mizzou Gym advanced to the National Championship on the back of Helen Hu’s beam routine. Hu won a National Championship herself for it as well. So good things abound, and Karen will have a full write up here soon. So I won’t spoil it anymore. But it’s super cool.

Now to what I’d planned on talking about, MOAR PORTAL THINGS, but this time specifically Matt Norlander’s piece from CBSSports.com on the drastic increase in budgets over the last few years:

While we can’t truly know the exact figure in totality, even the most sober of estimates across all 360-plus Division I teams would tally north of $325 million in NIL funds vowed for next season, give or take a nickel. If we could wave a magic wand and discover the true number and you told me it was north of $400 million that was agreed to, I would believe it. What a powerful set of circumstances. So much money promised. Come next year, will it all be delivered?

These are super high numbers, and if you read the rest of the article you’ll see there are 8 teams estimated to have around $10 million to spend, and around 14 or more sitting just beneath that around $8-9 million.

I’m not sure where Missouri sits, but I don’t think they’re in that range. They’re far from destitute.

I think the point of the article is more about how quickly this has escalated. The anecdote to begin the article starts with Nigel Pack signing for two years at $400,000 total a few years ago and now that same amount of money won’t buy you a role player off a mid-major squad who missed the tournament.

It would be nice to see real numbers for what everyone is making, but more than that the difference between what was promised and what was delivered. There are a lot of teams who will be paying a lot of money to miss the tournament. LSU opted not to fire Matt McMahon and instead infuse the program with NIL money. And they aren’t alone.

Kansas State notably paid Coleman Hawkins $2 million last year and they weren’t close to being a tournament team.

The portal is important, but you also have to have the right mix. Money doesn’t always mean you’ll have that.

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Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+

• If you’re in Gymnastics mode, Read, or re-read Karen’s preview:

“We’ve got an opportunity and we’re going to seize the day here, because this is tough to get to this point, right?” Mizzou head coach Shannon Welker said during media availability last week. “I think you just, you got to capitalize on every opportunity. And I think this is a huge opportunity from a personal standpoint, but also from a program. And for these young ladies that have worked so hard to get there.”

Wise words from the program leader, Welker’s been awesome. What a season it’s been.

• Rory’s Olympic Sports catchup includes the latest on Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Baseball:

Mizzou Soccer is in the middle of their spring soccer schedule. They’ve already faced kansas, Missouri S&T, Southern Indiana, and Central Missouri, though there don’t appear to be any scores or stats available from these games.

There’s also some positive news and notes on Golf if you’re into that sort of thing.

• Facing number 1, again, is never easy, and the Tigers were clipped in a doubleheader:

Both Julia Crenshaw and Kara Daly were back in the lineup after being cleared by the doctors and trainers. They were the only seniors out on the field, being able to play in front of the home crowd as we enter the final 10-or-so games of their college career.

• Over at Rock M+, we’re talking about the Transfer Portal, shocking enough. Most notably, some new potential targets the Matts have uncovered.

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