Leistikow: After Darian DeVries miss, Beth Goetz needs to address math problem for Iowa basketball

After a failed pitch to secure Iowan Darian DeVries as the next Hawkeye basketball coach, athletics director Beth Goetz has yet another decision to make.

Raise and organize enough funds to make an attractive player-acquisition package for Drake’s Ben McCollum … or risk losing the (perceived) next-best coaching candidate who might get Iowa’s fan base excited again.

Ben McCollum: A profile of the Drake men’s coach in Iowa’s basketball search

Player compensation – NIL funds – is the name of the game in college basketball now, and that’s undoubtedly the main driving force in attracting top coaches these days.

It doesn’t matter that Iowa might have an above-average basketball tradition. This isn’t the 1980s anymore. Money is the most significant ingredient in team success and the lack thereof.

When Iowa lost to Illinois, 106-94, in the Big Ten Tournament last Thursday, the Hawkeyes were competing with a payroll of no more than $1.5 million; it is believed the Illini roster was getting paid around five times that much, about $7.5 million.

So when DeVries opted instead to take the Indiana job on Tuesday after one year at West Virginia, that sent a loud and resounding signal that Iowa isn’t coming to the table with enough NIL reinforcements to compete in the Big Ten Conference or nationally. Indiana, with men’s basketball ticket sales of $15.2 million (compared with Iowa’s $2.9 million) in fiscal year 2024, has way too many resources that outdistanced anything Goetz could (or did) offer.

This is an important issue that fans – and, more importantly, Iowa’s administration – must understand. Iowa men’s basketball can’t compete at a top-25 level in the current landscape without a change in approach.

And the issue is quite easy to understand, actually.

It’s a basic math problem.

In the coming revenue-sharing era, Iowa simply isn’t going to allocate as much money to men’s basketball as its peers – and it will need significant outside support, from the Iowa SWARM Collective in particular, to be competitive. More on that later.

First, the math problem.

Goetz and all other Big Ten athletics directors are expected to max out direct-pay to athletes in the range of $20.5 million for the 2025-26 school year, a result of the House vs. NCAA settlement terms that is expected to be approved next month and begin July 1. Of that $20.5 million, schools can choose to use those funds however they want. Iowa, as part of the revenue-rich Big Ten Conference, is in a good position in that sense – to be able to afford the $20.5 million.

A minimum of $14 million (and up to $15 million) will go to football. Every power-conference athletics director, even at a place like Duke, must prioritize football. There is no short-changing the golden goose of college finances. Iowa is a football-first school, and that shouldn’t change. Barring Title IX lawsuits, the $14-$15 million range is consistent with what other Big Ten programs will pay players … before outside collectives up the ante.

But Iowa is unique with two other sports that command (demand) revenue-sharing dollars.

Let’s start with Iowa wrestling. The Hawkeyes have a new $30 million wrestling facility and have some of the nation’s highest-paid coaches. Every seat in Carver-Hawkeye Arena is sold every year. Goetz has not outlined her revenue-sharing plans publicly, but it’s a safe bet that wrestling will get high six figures if not $1 million – and most other universities won’t be making that type of commitment to a niche sport nationally. (Penn State is an exception – and in today’s NIL-centered world, is actually a decent comp for Iowa as a football-first school with a proud wrestling tradition and a weaker NIL program for men’s basketball.)

And then at Iowa (and not at Penn State, for example), there’s a top-shelf women’s basketball program that needs to be funded. That will remain a peak priority at Iowa, too. Goetz said as much in a late-December sit-down with the Des Moines Register, that she knows Iowa is competing for top-20 national recruits and can’t afford to lose the momentum created by the Caitlin Clark phenomenon. Women’s basketball ticket sales exceeded the men’s in FY2024 for the first time ever, and every seat was sold in Carver-Hawkeye for 2024-25. Goetz would be irresponsible to risk throwing that momentum away by short-changing Jan Jensen’s women’s program.

Thus, Iowa is expected to allocate $2.5 million in revenue-sharing toward men’s basketball. She hasn’t said that, but that’s the number going around. And that will be on the low end of its Big Ten peers. Then tack on outside NIL money via collectives, and any coach that comes to Iowa would be trying to win with a fraction of the payroll. Think of this as the Kansas City Royals vs. the New York Yankees. Any coach coming to Iowa − whether that’s McCollum or not − under the current structure might feel like he would be signing up to fail.

Unless …

Goetz acts quickly in response to the DeVries fallout and works collectively with Brad Heinrichs, the Iowa SWARM Collective CEO, to put together a promised package of NIL funds. Iowa will need a minimum of $4.5 million and probably at least $5 million – meaning $2.5 million in revenue-sharing, at least $2 million via the SWARM – to be able to attract a men’s basketball coach that can win. The money doesn’t have to be in place right this second, but the wheels need to be in motion to raise that money by July 1.

Want to cure fan apathy? It starts with winning. Maryland is a great example; it was 16-17 a year ago and struggled with attendance but aggressively addressed NIL, brought in top talent and went 25-8 this year and repacked the XFINITY Center in College Park. The coach (Kevin Willard) stayed the same but the roster got better and so did the on-court product and the fan support … all because of the money.

So, back to the fund-raising needs. Heinrichs bleeds black and gold and is more than willing to expand the SWARM’s efforts to support men’s basketball. Goetz needs to act quickly and aggressively or she risks fumbling her first major coaching search as Iowa’s AD.

The math doesn’t work otherwise.

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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