Why Nebraska fans should be encouraged by new AD Troy Dannen's comments on NIL vs. facility upgrades

New Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen took the podium for the first time on Tuesday, officially introduced to Cornhusker nation after spending less than one year as the AD at Washington.

Dannen was asked a variety of questions, including ones regarding the topics of NIL and the program’s imminent football stadium renovations. Admitting to not really not knowing anything about the stadium renovations while also emphasizing the importance of Nebraska’s NIL collective, saying that the number one commitment to success is to the student-athlete in today’s college sports landscape.

Which On3’s Andy Staples believes is an extremely promising sign for the Nebraska program.

“The best way to improve your stadium is to put better players in it. If you think you need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on nicer seats, you’re wasting hundreds of millions of dollars,” Staples said on Wednesday. “Now, that doesn’t mean you should never try to improve your stadium, you should never do any of these projects… but if you’re building something that only helps you seven Saturdays a year, it doesn’t help you actually win the game. If it just makes somebody’s tushy a little more comfortable as they watch the game, that is probably not going to help you.”

Dannen emphasized that there was a time when spending on things like hiring top-level coaches, providing things like laptops for players, and top-of-the-line facilities were the main priority. But now sharing resources with players and directly investing in them is the key to recruit, retain, and compete at the highest level.

“Because winning football games with better players that you have to now pay for, that is the way you do it. That is the way you increase donations. That is the way you increase fan happiness. Yes, the tushy may be happy with the cushion seat and the chair back. But every part of the body is happier with a win and that is what Troy Dannen has to deal with at Nebraska,” Staples explained.

The sense of urgency to win immediately is high at Nebraska, with Staples pointing out that the program has not made it to a bowl game since 2017. As a program with a rich tradition, history, and a strong donor base will now have to play the game by new rules under a new athletic director in order to adapt and generate some newfound success.

“The passion is there, the money’s there,” Staples said. “They do seem to prioritize NIL and did before Trev Alberts left. But you’ve heard this from Troy Dannen now, they’re going to be putting the money into the things that matter or driving the money toward the stuff that actually matters. Because right now you’ve got to tell your donors, hey, don’t give it to us. Give it to the collective.”

Nebraska’s prowess in the NIL and recruiting space can be directly seen from the signing of five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola, one of the program’s highest rated recruits of all time. Flipping his commitment from Georgia in what many believe likely involved a lucrative NIL deal based on head coach Matt Rhule‘s comments regarding the price tag of a quarterback in college football.

But it will certainly take more than a big time quarterback and some stadium renovations to turn the Cornhuskers around.

“At the moment, the collectives are the ones that pay the players. If you want better players, your collective needs to be funded better. And so that’s how you got to figure it out, and if it means a stadium renovation project is not as grandiose as you expected, or gets put off for a little bit, or changes so be it. If the team in the stadium is winning you’ll have more money later on to do an even bigger stadium renovation project,” Staples said. “That’s the key.”