Baylor's NIL Spending Has Bolstered Key Areas — But Success Isn't Guaranteed
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During Monday's Media Availability, as with every Monday, Coach Aranda was asked the usual barrage of questions. Normally with these press conferences, not much of substance tends to get said as most answers are the same generic coach-speak that are the mad-libs of the sports media world. Valuable information? Maybe, but that doesn't make the coach-speak any less of what it is.
Examples of Coach-Speak
Stop me when I bring one up that you haven't heard before: Taking It One Week at a Time, "We're just focused on [Upcoming Opponent]." "It's a one-week season." " We need to win the day." "They are a much better team than their record indicates." "They do a lot of things that stress you schematically." "They're a physical football team." " We'll look at the tape." " We have to clean up the details." "It comes down to execution." "He's a competitor." "Next man up." "He's a high-motor guy." "Control what we can control." "It's a process." "Complementary football."
Aranda on Money Equaling Results
Coach Aranda: "I think we got to get it offensively where it kind of gets in phase of it. But that toughness thing, man, we've been talking about that since January. And this was all based upon, hey, here's the money that we can spend. I hate bringing up money, but I think that's where it starts, guys. It totally starts there.
"You look at the offense in the last two years, well, we spent a lot of money on that offense. And we're spending a lot of money on this defense right now. And so I think if you just follow the money, you see where things are at. And so that doesn't mean that you can't play well if you're not spending. And that doesn't mean that you can't play poorly if you are spending. I think that's where you start. And so knowing we're, hey, this is what we're spending and everything else, we're going to have to be tough."
Our Take: What Coach Aranda said here simply can not be understated. The old adage is that "you get what you pay for" and look around the league, that seems to hold true for many of the teams. The top five schools in the A.P. poll: Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami (FL), Ohio State. All of those teams have spent a minimum of $30 million this season on their teams and in the case of Texas, nearly $50 million, per NIL Standard. Baylor spent just around $19 million, by comparison, a number that all other Big 12 teams either meet, nearly meet, or exceed entirely.
It's not that Baylor isn't willing to spend the money to attempt to get the players they need to help the team, however there are definitely teams with deeper pockets. A novel concept isn't it? The team that spends the most money on the best players tends to have better results than the teams that don't spend the most money.
More Money Doesn't Equal More Results
Take the Bears' most recent opponent, the Colorado Buffaloes for example. It's estimated that Colorado spent more than Baylor this past season to get all of their pieces in place ($23 million for Colorado compared to $19 million for Baylor), but Baylor just beat them on Saturday to drop the Buffaloes to 2-2 and lift the Bears to 3-1. Obviously every outcome and every situation is unique to each team, but while more spending often leads to better results, similar spending seems to level the playing field.
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Brad is a writer and contributes to the Baylor Bears on SI, with aspirations to share his own unique thoughts and perspectives with fans. Whether through the facts and figures of the past or the untold potential and triumphs of the future, sports have always been a large influence on Brad's storytelling and life overall. His inspiration to write began while watching sports when he first noticed the highs and lows of each game, each quarter, each play; there's a story in each of them worth telling, and he wanted to tell them.
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