Fresno State trying to build NIL reinforcements, after close calls in transfer portal

Yahoo

18-05-2025

Before the spring transfer portal closed, Fresno State had a few players receiving lucrative offers to play their college football elsewhere. Those offers ran into the mid-six figures, according to multiple athletics department sources. Those offers, between $100,000 and $450,000, were coming from Power Four conference schools.
Coach Matt Entz was able to keep the Bulldogs' top players, but he has been on the recruiting trail ever since meeting with key players in the Valley. Those players don't show up on national recruiting lists, but they are essential to the future successes of a program that will be built on player development.
With the university cutting back on financial support to the athletics department due to budget cuts within the California State University, NIL (name Image and Likeness) and future revenue sharing payments to recruit and retain players will likely fall to external sources. Donors, in short.
'The two things that are critical for us moving forward are going to be player acquisition and then player retention,' Entz said. 'It's going to be very important for a place like Fresno State in the future, because nowadays there is always the possibility of earning more somewhere else.
'The retention piece is going to be big. Every time you get a kid who is starting to come into his own, to put himself out there and make plays, become a consistent starter, a consistent producer, you're going to have to, as a staff, worry about keeping them.'
It's not all that new, but it is reality. Is the Valley ready for it?
That is at least part of the reason Entz, basketball coach Vance Walberg, women's basketball coach Ryan McCarthy and women's volleyball coach Leisa Rosen took part in a Rally the Valley coaches caravan this week, making stops in Kingsburg and Visalia, Firebaugh and Hilmar.
The game has changed considerably, with NIL and in the near future, revenue sharing, where schools can share up to 22% of athletics revenue with their student-athletes. Fresno State fans, who clamored in the past about playing in the Pac-12, are a key part of the revenue equation now that they are headed there.
'Our biggest thing right now is we have to show progress,' Entz said. 'We can't stay the same, because if we stay the same we're moving farther away from our peers.'
Marcus McMaryion, the former Fresno State quarterback who runs the NIL collective Bulldog Bread, said they are able to be more aggressive in efforts to retain players, as their program develops.
But Fresno State is also playing catch up, and revenue from donations to the athletics department has been relatively flat for years. Fresno State in 2024 reported $5.4 million in contributions, according to the financial disclosure report it filed with the NCAA. That includes money received from individuals, corporations, associations or other organizations designated for athletics operations.
In 2019, that number was $7.9 million. In 2014, $4.9 million.
'You're either growing or you're getting worse,' McMaryion said. 'In the new reality of football, there's no such thing as staying the same.
'The last thing we want is to be that premier development program that coach Entz is talking about and be OK with just being a stepping stone, build these kids up and allow everyone to take them. It makes it tough. Obviously, we're doing everything we can to keep our guys, but it'd be exciting to get to a point where we have a surplus to where we could be more aggressive in the portal and keep our guys.'
It is a model that has proven to work, even with the costs of recruiting and retaining players rising through NIL; just last season Boise State, a largely homegrown team led by running back Austin Jeanty, was the No 3 seed in the College Football Playoff, losing to Penn State in quarterfinal matchup in the Fiesta Bowl.
But Jeanty, who finished second in balloting for the Heisman Trophy, also had a package of NIL deals that surpassed $1 million, according to some reports.
That would have accounted for a large chunk of the NIL funds Fresno State had last year, and several schools in the Mountain West or a rebuilding Pac-12 are believed to have NIL budgets between $5 million and $8 million.
'It's a never-ending cycle trying to figure out creative ways to get people involved, and then when you think about those creative ways, getting people to support it,' McMaryion said. 'But things are slowly trending in the right direction.'
Bulldog Bread is turning Valley Children's Stadium into a nine-hole golf course on May 31, with proceeds from each round played going to support Fresno State student-athletes. There is a Bulldog Bread Collective vodka, made in partnership with Lake Bottom Brewery and Distillery; a Bulldog Bread Victory Vibes beer, brewed by Full Circle Brewing Co., the largest Black-owned craft brewery in the country.
The collective has a number of corporate partners, and there are also a number of ways for fans to donate to the collective.
'I think we have some things in play that we can get some traction with, but it's really going to come down to how much we can get the fans to buy in,' McMaryion said.
'The expectation is to be a Top 25 program every year. It's almost challenging the fans: Are you a Top 25 fan? What does a Top 25 fan look like nowadays? A Top 25 fan is in the seats at kickoff, is screaming loud and is supporting the program. Maybe you don't have an extra $20 a month to give, but maybe you have five friends that give 10 bucks a month, and they found two or three people and they found two or three people. We have the best fans in the nation, but it's, 'How do we get them to support and have a sense of ownership in how well the team does and keep the best product on the field?''