UConn HC Slams Ridiculous NIL Recruiting Demands
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The Huskies are undefeated this season and look like a team that intends to stay winning through March. While on the side, the Huskies continue their 27–0 journey; on the other hand, Geno Auriemma and his staff are building a roster for the coming years.
In a recent interview with HQ Hoops, Auriemma pulled back the curtain on what roster building looks like now. As college sports shift into a revenue-sharing era, Auriemma shared that, in his opinion, recruiting is no longer just about fit. Instead, it's all about price tags.
"It’s almost like human trafficking, in the sense that you’ve got a kid who plays on a certain team and this person runs the team during the summer and they may have three or four really high-level players. They go to college and get paid to go to that school. Does that person get a piece of it or not?
"By January, there’s already plans for that kid to go somewhere else. And so those people are on the phone with representatives of schools, or the coach at that school is on the phone with somebody. And they’re already talking about where this kid is gonna go next. So the whole system kind of smells of, we’re all in it for the transaction, the transactional fee, and how much money we’re gonna make," he said.
Auriemma’s frustration is almost justified. During the 2025 cycle, more than 2,320 men’s Division I basketball players, about 41% of the entire player pool, per Front Office Sports. At the high school level, the stakes have climbed even higher, especially for top recruits.
In men’s basketball, five-star prospect AJ Dybantsa reportedly got around $5 million in NIL-related opportunities that included a Nike and Redbull deal. Now, that is a number that would easily consume a significant portion of most women’s basketball budgets.
In fact, the highest NIL earner in women’s basketball, per On3, is LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, who is valued at $1.5 million. Johnson is followed by Juju Watkins, Jada Williams, Deja Kelly, Shelomi Sanders and Azzi Fudd at No.6.
“Is it as prevalent as the men’s side? Yeah. Is there as much money in it as the men? No, I don’t think there’s a women’s basketball player coming out of high school that’s going to get five million. I don’t think there’s a college player that’s going to leave one school and go to another school for five million. However, what some of these kids coming out of high school are asking for is so stupid. It’s so ridiculous,” Auriemma added.
“Let’s just say it’s in the $300,000 range. Then you hear, you know, $200,000. Then you hear that now, this kid’s getting a million to go to this school. And I’m like, how?”
The question is valid, considering that most colleges, after the NCAA Settlement, allocated their funds in a way that gave a bigger slice of the pie to sports like football and men’s basketball. Auriemma pointed out that most women’s basketball programs, even ones like UConn that top NIL sales, operate at a loss once the travel, scholarships, and staffing costs are factored in.
"Okay, kid’s going to Ohio State to play football. Kid’s going to go to Indiana to play football. And they’re going to generate $200 million in revenue. And they’re going to give this kid $4 million to play quarterback. Fine. So you’re to pay a million dollars to have a kid go to school to go play in a women’s basketball program that’s going to lose money," he said. "It doesn’t make any sense. If that becomes the driving force. then it’s gonna lose the one thing that has drawn people to the game, that it’s still, somewhat, being played by so-called student athletes.”
What’s Next for Geno Auriemma and the Huskies?
After taking down Marquette 71–56 in their last match, the Huskies will look to extend their 43-game win streak. Next up, the Huskies face Villanova at Finneran Pavilion. UConn has won the last 10 meetings against Villanova and holds a 48–7 advantage in the all-time series dating back to 1988. In fact, the Huskies faced Villanova early this season and won 99–50.
After Villanova, UConn returns home to Gampel Pavilion for a matchup against Providence, followed by a return to Hartford to face Georgetown at PeoplesBank Arena. The regular season ends with a road clash against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.