The Big Ten has officially sealed its status as our new overlord. Not only has the league bumped the SEC off its longtime perch on top of college football. The league this week became the first to see three different members win national championships in football (Indiana), men’s basketball (Michigan) and women’s basketball (yes, UCLA counts) in the same school year.
Indiana and UCLA had never done so in their sports. Michigan hadn’t in 37 years.
As if that’s not enough, Big Ten members have also won titles this year in women’s hockey (Wisconsin), men’s soccer (Washington), field hockey (Northwestern), wrestling (Penn State) and men’s water polo (UCLA) and have two schools (Michigan and Wisconsin) in this week’s men’s Frozen Four.
It’s no coincidence the league’s ascendance began around the same time NIL and the transfer portal completely transformed the way championship rosters are constructed. The obvious question is, why?
It can’t just be that the Big Ten has more money than everyone else, because the Big Ten has always had more money than everyone else. The dollar figures have just grown bigger. And its schools are limited to the same $20.5 million rev share cap as everyone else. Far more of those TV billions go toward paying the coaches than the players.
Also, if money were the only reason schools have success, then Texas Tech would be your reigning champ in football and Kentucky in men’s basketball.
And stop with, “Now the SEC isn’t the only one buying its players.” If you honestly believe everybody in the other conference was squeaky clean pre-NIL, then please don’t respond to texts from random numbers inviting you to dinner.
The explanation may be as simple as this: Big Ten schools hired Curt Cignetti and Dusty May, and the rest of you did not.
College sports have changed dramatically since 2021, but one thing remains as true today as it ever has: You’ve got to hire a great coach. Arguably, now more than ever, because constructing a championship roster is so much more complicated.
While Cignetti and May are not the only elite coaches in their sports, they serve as the walking embodiment of the new-age coach. They embraced the new model with full rigor. Cignetti jump-started the Hoosiers’ turnaround two years ago by identifying overlooked G5 transfers (including several who came with him from James Madison) and prioritizing production over potential. May literally built a national championship roster overnight, trotting out an all-transfer starting lineup against UConn.
At a press conference the day before the championship game, May likened criticism of his roster approach to knocking the Oklahoma City Thunder because they landed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in a trade.
“Whatever the rules are, we’re going to go at it,” May said at the Final Four. “Our job is to put a competitive roster/team on the floor that represents Michigan the way we think they deserve to be represented.”
UCLA’s Cori Close has been on the job for a decade longer than those two but jumped on NIL nearly as soon as it became a thing. Cornerstone recruit Kiki Rice landed a Jordan Brand deal as soon as she arrived at UCLA (a Nike school) in 2022, and the Bruins made waves when they landed former No. 1 recruit Lauren Betts from Stanford in the portal the following year. Close’s program reached new heights shortly thereafter.
While many coaches around the country have wasted time complaining about the new world order, the Big Ten has attracted a lot of early adopters.
Back in 2023, then-Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh seemed like a contrarian when he said the transfer portal was fine as it is. While his national title team was largely homegrown, he identified key transfers to plug some holes. Much like Ohio State’s Ryan Day did the next year. Also, early on board and winning big: Oregon’s Dan Lanning. Meanwhile, Iowa hired a basketball coach, Ben McCollum, who took practically his entire team from Drake and reached the Elite Eight.
Conversely, there’s been a lot more whining and griping in the Southeast, where they got used to stockpiling elite recruits and beating people’s brains in. Alabama’s Nick Saban detested NIL so much that he retired. Clemson resister Dabo Swinney has driven his program into the ground. LSU’s Brian Kelly proclaimed, “We’re not in the market of buying players” in 2024 and was out of a job by the end of 2025.
One notable exception: Former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, the one-time “Portal King,” who elevated the program’s ceiling by going on an NIL/transfer rampage. LSU swooped in and poached him pre-Playoff and is now fully in the market of buying players.
Of course, all of this requires a school giving a coach the necessary resources. May reportedly had a $10 million payroll at Michigan this year. Indiana football wasn’t likely spending in the same ballpark as Texas or Miami, but it has deeper coffers than most realize.
But again, championships aren’t as simple as outspending your rivals. You have to deploy the funds wisely.
The earliest of early NIL adopters actually came from the SEC. Remember back in March 2022 when Tennessee shocked the world and gave then-high school junior Nico Iamaleava an $8 million contract? Or two months later when Saban got so upset about Texas A&M buying the No. 1 high school class that year that he got in a war of words with Jimbo Fisher?
Those were back in the early, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants days of NIL, before collectives got lawyers and coaches hired GMs. The best-run programs today approach evaluation and roster allocation with the same sophistication as the pros.
“We’re a professional organization now,” Close said after Sunday’s rout of South Carolina. “We’re building front offices. We have roster construction. I have GMs. It’s a different landscape.”
The Big Ten was quicker to adapt to the new world than its competitors. That doesn’t mean others can’t catch up. But they’ve got to hire the right coaches.
And hiring the right coach in 2026 doesn’t mean “great motivator” or “defensive genius.” Get someone who spends more time trying to master the new model than whining about it.
