Hill: New NCAA rules far from perfect, but could work for UNLV

There are plenty of problems with the House vs. NCAA settlement that was finally approved Friday night.

The deal could very well widen the divide between the haves and have-nots. It still leaves the door open to some manipulation for schools that desire to spend their way to success. It gives a pretty big edge to Big East basketball, as the league doesn’t have football and can spend freely on the hardwood.

It will create a ton of new lawsuits, including Title IX challenges. It could take away some opportunities from athletes who may have been walk-ons in the past.

The list goes on and on because the historic agreement is far from perfect.

But the tradeoff is that there is at least some set of standards in place for athletes to get fairly compensated in a way that is better regulated and monitored than the previous system, which left the door far too open for rogue boosters to simply get annoyed at their archrivals winning a national title and throw a bunch of money at transfers to win their own championship the next season.

It’s a start

The whole point of name, image and likeness deals was for players to be able to be rewarded for the value they generated through their performances or popularity. Instead, it became a way to lure recruits with — literally — no enforcement mechanism.

Now, the revenue-sharing piece of the new rules will serve as a way for schools to allocate funds in whatever way they wish up to the spending limit and then allow players who are worth more to earn more through NIL deals that will now have oversight to ensure they fall into fair market value.

Sure, that still creates the potential for exploitation. But at least it’s a start.

The system will undoubtedly change over time, either due to lessons learned throughout the process or further court rulings.

But fans in Las Vegas will get a firsthand look at one of the fascinating elements of how schools will respond to these new rules.

The, for lack of a better term, salary cap will be set at $20.5 million to start and escalate each year. Power Four schools, especially in the Big Ten and SEC, will certainly spend right up to that number.

It will likely create an even bigger separation between those schools and the rest of college sports. That’s the sad reality.

But a big question will be how much money can that next group of schools generate to bring in high-level talent. Sure, their success will also be dependent on finding that next level of player who is overlooked by the big programs. But resources are going to be important.

UNLV is not going to spend all the way up to the cap. It’s unlikely any Group of Five school will even approach that number.

The schools that thrive will combine an ability to generate the resources to be competitive with continuing to excel at finding gems in recruiting.

Rebels can compete

So the door is certainly open for UNLV, an institution that has at least given the appearance it is going to shoot for being a power at the Group of Five level — at least until the Big 12 comes calling.

That means there is a path to the College Football Playoff, an accomplishment that would be a game-changer.

Budget issues have been well-documented. However, UNLV athletic director Erick Harper was able to make coaching hires in both of the major revenue sports in the span of a couple of months, and both were big names with big checks.

Plus, the department still hopes it has a bag of cash coming from the Pac-12 and the departing Mountain West schools, though the amount is still in mediation.

Coaches Dan Mullen and Josh Pastner are also very good at connecting with people and should be able to find some money in the community.

There has been recent success in football and a strong tradition in basketball. The school has phenomenal facilities and every reason to believe it is a better position than most at this level to find a way to compete under these new guidelines.

That won’t guarantee any victories. But it will give UNLV a chance.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.