10 million on up if you want to be competitive. Mid majors simply can’t compete with this, other than very rare exceptions, especially if you also fund football and hockey.
Multiple coaches said that the starting rate for a high-major center was roughly $1.5 million, with some of the top earners set to make triple that.
“There’s guys that can barely walk and chew gum at the same time that are making like $2 million,” said the SEC assistant.
As for how much individual players are making, you don’t surpass $30 million as a team without several highly priced talents. One Big 12 head coach said the most expensive player he’s aware of will earn roughly $4.8 million next season. Another Big East assistant said he knows of at least one player who will earn more than that.
“You can tell how much money people have by their bench,” said a second ACC head coach. “If they have a bench with guys that can start other places, they had a lot of money.”
The good news is - this will probably include us (as far as non-powers go). Getting 2 Horizon league starters and a MAC starter to add to our returners feels like a great outcome. I am in the chorus hoping we return woolfolk
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I thought we did well in the portal. Give it a B+. We didn’t need as much as we retained so many. To me, the star of the portal class is Elam. I haven’t heard a peep on the Woolfolk front since the ruling so I am assuming he isn’t coming back, although I would love if he did!
I should know better than to put faith in Congress or the NCAA, but if the PCSA somehow passes and sets transfer limits it’ll probably curb roster hoarding based on season-to-season economics at least a little.
I’m all for paying players, but is there any way the NCAA can impose a salary cap of sorts?
We could have signed Lebron James for 3-3.5 mill. 
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So let’s say UNLV could do this. Generally, the owner of the team, has the final say on everything. How does that work for a college program? Does the owner trump the AD? President of the University? The Board of Trustees? And those are just a few questions. But leaving that aside, give Josh Pastner credit. He has sports talking heads across the country now talking about his program, which likely was what he wanted.
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If schools, through the NCAA, reach a collective bargaining agreement with players, yes. Otherwise it’s an antitrust violation. Since that isn’t going to happen, the only way there’s going to be a cap is with federal legislation.
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Coach Martin talked about this exact same concept at an event in Chicago last summer. Used the $10M number too. Said owner could do whatever they wanted. Call plays, fire him, whatever.