Monmouth athletics readies for pay-to-play NCAA sports: 'Monmouth is going to compete'

WEST LONG BRANCH – The winds of change that have whistled through college athletics for several years have reached hurricane force with the so-called House vs. NCAA settlement expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, paving the way for a pay-to-play revenue sharing model that alters amateur sports inexorably.

House v. NCAA is the name of a lawsuit brought by Arizona State swimmer Grant House. House sued the NCAA over its refusal to share TV revenue with college athletes, among other issues. The settlement would end prohibitions on schools directly paying athletes - compensating them for use of their name, image and likeness.

The new era is causing schools to grapple with tough fiscal decisions as the cost of Division I athletics skyrockets. St. Francis (Pa.), with a football team that beat an FBS foe in the fall and a basketball team that just played in March Madness, announced it was dropping down to non-scholarship Division 3.

Monmouth University Athletic Director Jennifer Sansevero doesn't mince words about her school’s place in all of this.

“We are going to continue to compete in the current landscape of college athletics,” she said in an interview last week. “We have made some decisions and we have made some strategic maneuvers to be able to do that, to recruit and maintain quality student-athletes. The CAA (Coastal Athletic Association) said, ‘hey, if we want to be Division 1, if we want to have access to championships we have to do this.’ And Monmouth said ‘yup, we have to do this.’ “

So Monmouth is opting-in to the settlement. But the Hawks ability to succeed on a dollar-driven landscape was immediately put to the test, with men's basketball point guard Madison Durr transferring Saturday to CAA champs UNC Wilmington, considered to currently have one of the league’s best NIL collectives, and with the Seahawks expected to receive among the CAA’s top revenue sharing dollar amounts moving forward.

A week earlier it was Kansas State nabbing Monmouth’s 6-7 sophomore guard Abdi Bashir Jr., who led the nation with 127 three-pointers, underscoring how difficult it will be for mid-major programs to keep the talent they develop.

“Are there going to be schools doing more than Monmouth? Yes,” Sansevero said. “Schools like Wilmington and Charleston just have a greater capacity given where they are, given their current sport makeup and matrix, given collectives they have already established. But Monmouth is going to compete. We have figured out ways to strategically position ourselves to do that. We are going to have resources to give our kids and our programs an opportunity to be successful.”

A heavy lift

Consider that Monmouth’s transition from the MAAC to the CAA over the past three years has gone pretty smoothly, despite not having the same resources and facilities as some rivals. The women’s basketball team won the CAA Tournament in 2023, the men’s basketball team has steadily risen in the standings and the Hawks are expected to be one of the favorites in football in the fall.

But that David vs. Goliath role could get a whole lot tougher in the coming years, depending on how the settlement dollars eventually measure up.

Take a school like Charleston, with the College of Charleston Athletic Fund reportedly raising $1.9 million in 2023-24, with a stated goal of helping with scholarships throughout the school’s 19 sports, while the athletic department having raised over $1 million in corporate sponsorship dollars.

And Charleston is expected to be near the top of the heap among CAA teams when it comes to revenue sharing payouts to players, along with schools like UNC Wilmington and Towson.

William & Mary is the only CAA school to opt-out, with the school saying it was still trying to understand the financial ramifications, and that it could opt in in 2026.

“If you look at schools like VCU (in the Atlantic 10) and Charleston,” Sansevero said. “VCU has come out and said we are going to do $7 million in revenue sharing. I think Charleston came out and said anywhere from $1.5 to $3 million. Monmouth is still in the process of figuring that out and reallocating resources, and strategically positioning to get new outside resources.

“We want to make sure we’re in market. We want to make sure that we remain competitive. Many are very close to the vest in what they are doing. But I think institutions are looking to do what they can and they are still trying to figure that out, especially because we don’t have the final settlement yet.”

Among other New Jersey mid-major programs, the Ivy League opted out of the settlement, so Princeton is not involved. NJIT, which competes in America East, is opting in.

It’s unclear what other Garden State programs will decide. There appears to be a split in the MAAC, with Canisius and Siena reportedly opting out, while Niagara, Marist, Mount St. Mary’s and Merrimack are opting in. Rider and Saint Peter’s have yet to publicly say what direction they will go. Nor has FDU, which plays in the Northeast Conference.

While most teams are opting in, not everyone is. North Dakota State, with 10 FCS national championships since 2011, is not opting in.

'Monmouth is going to be competitive'

Monmouth football competes against a lineup of big-school associate members, including New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Albany and Villanova, all expected to get substantial revenue sharing money. But unlike FBS football, where a high percentage of the settlement dollars will be spent, the financial impact on FCS football has yet to felt in a big way.

The Hawks return their entire offense, which was top-ranked nationally last season. But a year earlier they lost record-breaking receiver Dymere Miller to Rutgers.

What’s clear is that Monmouth will have to overachieve off the field in the coming years, if it hopes to win championships in major sports on it.

“We made the decision to go into the CAA for a lot of different reasons,” Sansevero said. “The basis of the decision was to associate with high quality academic institutions and to rebrand Monmouth from Maine to Charleston. And to have an opportunity to engage in a linear TV network like we have, and that has just been unbelievably successful. The competitive piece is a byproduct of that decision and now obviously it’s a decision we have to make given the current landscape.

“Based on my understanding in conversations with folks in the CAA, Monmouth is going to be competitive.”