Badgers Coach Sends Strong Message on NIL Situation

Wisconsin isn't standing idly by; Badgers coaches are working around the clock to compete in the NIL era.

There is no offseason in college basketball, especially not in the NIL and transfer portal era. Nobody knows this better than Wisconsin Basketball head coach Greg Gard — who has essentially had to become a CEO and general manager for the Badgers due to how the game has evolved. 

"We have become professional sports," Gard said on 97.3 The Game. "But we don't have the guidelines of free agency, of salary caps, of players unions, of arbitration. We're in that world without any guardrails."

While some of the blue bloods may have been quicker to establish the necessary funding to compete in the NIL landscape, the Badgers have been proactive in their efforts to provide Wisconsin basketball with the resources needed to compete at the highest level. From all indications, their endeavors have yielded positive outcomes.

"My staff and I, led by Coach Krabbenhoft, started this initiative over a year ago of our 'sixth man society' as part of the Varsity Collective," Gard said. "Put a lot of boots on the ground raising funds. We've been able to almost triple our NIL collective in terms of men's basketball in a year.

"We've had a lot of generous donors that have stepped up that want to keep us at the forefront, but that's what it takes."