Notre Dame HC Mike Brey’s advice for coaches on transfer portal, NIL: ‘Shut up and adjust’

Notre Dame men’s basketball head coach Mike Brey is tired of the complaints from his coaching colleagues about NIL and the transfer portal’s impact on college athletics. He spent the two April recruiting evaluation periods in gyms with them and urged them to cease the grumbling. Tuesday at ACC spring meetings in Florida, he offered a public suggestion.

“[Coaches have] got to stop complaining,” Brey told reporters. “This is the world we’re in. Last time I checked, you make pretty good money. So everybody should shut up and adjust.”

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The last few weeks have added some wrinkles to the still-evolving NIL era, specifically involving the ability to transfer schools once without sitting a season. Two of them have involved members of the conference in which Brey coaches.

In late April, Miami basketball guard Isaiah Wong’s agent told ESPN that Wong would enter the transfer portal if the value of his NIL deal didn’t increase. That demand came a few days after Miami landed Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack and prominent university booster John Ruiz announced Pack was receiving $800,000 over two years and a car to promote his startup, LifeWallet. Wong previously signed an NIL deal with Ruiz’s company. He later denied the demand made on his behalf and did not hit the portal.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison entered the transfer portal May 3 following a few days of rumors that he was mulling a departure and USC was a potential destination. Multiple reports suggested a seven-figure NIL deal awaited if he transferred to USC. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi accused the Trojans of tampering.

Earlier this year, a five-star class of 2023 football recruit signed an agreement with an NIL collective worth up to $8 million. Tennessee-affiliated collective Spyre Sports Group is widely believed to be one side of the deal and Volunteers quarterback commit Nicco Iamaleava the other.

More Notre Dame football:

• Notre Dame post-spring position outlook: running back

• Notre Dame post-spring position outlook: Quarterback

All told, it makes for a frustrating time to be a college football or basketball head coach. There are significant occupational challenges that didn’t exist a year ago. Roster retention, once an afterthought, is at the center of the job description. The ability to recruit a player can come down to how strong an NIL deal a school’s boosters can offer that prospect.

Still, Brey wants no more complaining. He and his colleagues are paid millions of dollars per year to figure it out. Easy for him to say as a 63-year-old coach in the twilight of his career who works at a high-major program and with a massive brand like Notre Dame on his side? Yes. Relevant to any coach no matter their longevity? Yes.

“I’m not in it as long as the [Georgia Tech coach] Josh Pastners and some of these young guys,” Brey said. “So good luck to y’all, I’ll be back in five years to see what’s up. Just remember, man, we’ve had it pretty good out here and it’s a great job. It’s high-risk, high-reward, but we all know what we signed up for.”

Reaching this free-for-all that’s rooted in well-intentioned player freedom but clashes with the original intent of NIL is hardly a surprise given the lack of rules in place when the NIL era started last July. Monday, the NCAA released new NIL guidelines designed to crack down on booster involvement in organizing thinly veiled pay-for-play contracts that can pass as NIL.

“The guidance defines as a booster any third-party entity that promotes an athletics program, assists with recruiting or assists with providing benefits to recruits, enrolled student-athletes or their family members,” The NCAA’s release read. “The definition could include “collectives” set up to funnel name, image and likeness deals to prospective student-athletes or enrolled student-athletes who might be considering transferring.

“NCAA recruiting rules preclude boosters from recruiting and/or providing benefits to prospective student-athletes.”

The reaction from coaches, administrators and others in the industry was confusion and skepticism that any real change or curtailing comes from it. Count Brey among the skeptics the NCAA can successfully restrict pay-for-play masquerading as NIL. He believes conferences will ultimately bear the responsibility of coming up with NIL regulations. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips’ initial guidance, per Pastner, was that NIL isn’t going backward or adding guardrails.

Shut up and adjust, indeed.

Maybe even lean into it.

“One of my assistants came in and said, ‘Hey, Coach, I want you to know, I get up every morning, I read the Bible and then I check the portal,'” Brey told reporters. “I said: Switch the order, my man.”