FGCU athletic director speaks exclusively on House v. NCAA settlement

Florida Gulf Coast University athletics have been a constant on the national stage in recent years, especially in sports like women’s basketball and volleyball. In both sports, the Eagles are fixtures in the NCAA Tournament.

But when it comes to Division 1 college athletics, the only constant is change. One of the most significant changes comes from the House v. NCAA settlement.

“It’s going to create a new dynamic for college athletics,” FGCU athletic director Colin Hargis. “It’s going to create a new dynamic for Division 1.”

Last week, a judge gave the settlement preliminary approval. If finalized, it would force the major conferences to pay $2.78 billion to current and former student athletes, who couldn’t profit during their playing days. It would also set up a revenue sharing system that allows schools to distribute more than $20 million to student athletes as early as next year.

When asked by WINK Sports Reporter Zach Oliveri if this is an opportunity where the rich are only going to get richer with this settlement, Hargis responded, “it could. You know it could. I think we’re, it’s going to be really interesting. When you look at college athletics at the highest level, when you look at the Power Four conferences, the interesting dynamic for them when you talk about revenue sharing, you talk about the House settlement payments, things of that nature, they’re potentially staring down 20-30 million dollars a year that they’re going to have to generate.”

Hargis added, “the rich are definitely going to have the opportunity. The Power Four are definitely going to have an opportunity to generate and do more. But it’s also going to cost them much more to operate at that highest level.”

Even though FGCU is not in a Power Four conference, they are still included in this settlement. Division 1 schools that don’t have football will pay 12 percent of the damages.

According to Hargis, FGCU’s contribution is just shy of $300,000 a year for 10 years, which adds up to a total of approximately $3 million.

When asked how does that factor into the athletic department’s budget, Hargis answered, “we have to plan for it. And it’s unfortunate. In a perfect world we wouldn’t be part of that, right? We wouldn’t have to pay the debt of others. When you talk about the House settlement, it’s roughly 90-95 percent of those back payments are going to football players and men’s and women’s basketball players at the highest level from 2016-2021. So on one hand its unfortunate, right? I’d love to keep those resources in our pocket and be able to utilize it to help our athletic department and what we’re doing here for our student athletes.”

Hargis went on to say based on conversations he’s had with his peers and the conference offices, “the settlement will provide stability for us on a national landscape, right? From a FGCU perspective, a Division 1 athletic department perspective, it can provide us a little bit of stability for the next decade.”

That stability comes from preventing any future lawsuits from former student athletes against the NCAA.

To account for their settlement contribution, Hargis said their plan is becoming more fiscally efficient while increasing revenue efforts such as sales and fundraising.”

When asked if there are programs on campus that make money for the athletic department, Hargis responded, “overall, I mean we have, right, your men’s and women’s basketball programs generate revenue. Our ticketed sports bring in revenue. But in general, no we’re not a self sustaining athletics department. And nearly every college athletics department in this country you know most of us are in that same boat. There’s very few that truly generate resources to be self sustaining. But what we do is working in part of this university. Right? Working as part of our university, part of this community. That’s how we support ourselves.”

In a landscape of uncertainty, Hargis sees opportunity. He said, “it’s not a matter of surviving. It’s how do we thrive.”

Hargis elaborated, “You look at those universities and where they’re going to have to divert those resources and specifically into football, what does that mean? Is there an opportunity for FGCU athletics and our athletic programs to gain ground in this landscape? And for me that answer is yes. This is where we make our move.”

Hargis’ plan to captilize on that is to provide stability and resources for student athletes.

“You talk about funding our scholarships becoming fully funded, especially in this new landscape when you’re potentially looking at roster limits rather than scholarship limits,” Hargis explained. “That’s a huge opportunity for us.”

It also includes student athlete well being and coming up with a facilities and infrastructure plan.

“We have great facilities at FGCU most of which are over 20 years old,” Hargis said. “That’s the life cycle. We have to think about our experience for our students athletes on the field on the court as well as the fans. So we have an opportunity to look at that.”