How Laird Veatch, Eli Drinkwitz Plan to Lead Mizzou Through Upcoming Changes

Eli Drinkwitz doesnt know what the crap is going on.

That crap is what the NCAA and congressional staff members have spent the last week discussing in the nations capital.

The NCAA vs.

House settlement began Monday, April 7.

If approved, the possible changes could take place as soon as July 1.

The most significant change the settlement would enact is revenue sharing, where athletic departments will be able to directly financially compensate players via revenues the program receives.

Revenue sharing, on paper, balances the issue of competitive imbalance across NIL payments, and allows programs to actually sign financial contracts with student athletes.

However, like any of the other changes that have gone into place over the last few years, the new model would take some adjusting.

"At least stop changing the rules every day, Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in a press conference April 8.

But well adapt.

Whatever they say, well figure it out.

Well find a way.

Director of athletics Laird Veatch, along with university leadership, has begun the evaluation process of what would be an overhaul of its budgeting techniques in preparation for possible changes.

"We're gonna need to do our part internally, Veatch said in a conversation posted by Mizzou Athletics.

We are doing a real deep dive into our budget process to really reduce expenses in some areas so we can reallocate those to the revenue share dollars.

The new model would also introduce a salary cap of sorts, with each program being able to share up to $20.5 million of its revenue with student-athletes.

Each program would have the choice of how much to allocate to each sport.

Missouri is in the process of finalizing those plans, according to Veatch, but most of the cap would be allocated to football and mens basketball.

We need to do all we can to utilize what is already a very advanced NIL structure to shift gears into this revenue sharing model which will essentially be a lot like what the professional sports leagues operate, Veatch said.

With a layout and financial model closer to that of the professionals, many programs have adopted a key cog of a professional sports organization by hiring a general manager to be in charge of roster construction.

The Tigers havent looked for someone for that role yet, but there are plenty of examples of the role being fillef across the country.

Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is the general manager of his alma matter, Stanford.

Former NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski is now the general manager for Saint Bonaventure mens basketball.

For now, however, Missouri football remains without the position.

"If thats the direction we go, then yeah I think it could make a lot of sense to have a partner who could work alongside me and handle more of the business structure side of it, Drinkwitz said.

But until I know what that looks like, I just think theres no reason to rush to do that.

Not yet." A lack of clarity on what rules come along with hiring a general manager seems to be whats holding Drinkwitz back from being more open on the idea.

Its a big step for a program and is also a new concept, making the decision of adding one for Missouris football team a potential risk.

"That kind of environment, if you dont do it right, can go south quick.

But again, it goes back to the same thing I dont know what the rules are.

I dont know if thats the structure were going to end up with because of the new settlement thats in place.

Without any rules or structure to govern who does what, questions are constantly thrown around and teams and players can, to an extent, do what they want.

That might not be sustainable, a reason that Drinkwitz is hesitant to go out and add a position on his staff.

"I dont even know if we have a structure in place, Drinkwitz said.

I was waiting.

Honestly, I havent made any of those decisions yet.

Roster construction and budgeting have become more complex with each year since the implementation of NIL.

Veatch believes the proposed model would be a simplified combination of players earning money through revenue sharing, traditional NIL (such as sponsorships) and scholarships.

Missouri will also look to give its programs a competitive advantage with the Mizzou Leadership Circle, a membership that would serve as the core group that helps drive (the program) financially.

The membership starts at $5,000 a year, and includes exclusive benefits such as travelling with the team or special access on game day.

There would be added benefits for sports that arent a primary beneficiary of the revenue sharing budget too.

Another proposed element of the house settlement is significant additions to roster limits .

Missouri plans to add 60 scholarships to its budget, which will cost around $3 million.

Most of that investment for Missouri in roster expansion will go to womens sports, according to Veatch.

Missouri, like any other program around the country, will look to get over the learning curve of adjustments as soon as possible in order to turn the complete overhaul of the infrastructure of college athletics into an advantage.

The program has done that in the early years of NIL, being able to significantly improve its ability when it comes to recruiting.

Legislation in the state of Missouri has also played to the programs advantage.

Candidly, some of our peers are kind of just now figuring out some of this, Veatch said.

For us, if you step back and just think about all that's happened, particularly in the last year or so, the momentum really is undeniable.

Even with the recent success for Missouri, the current state of college athletics is troubling.

With constant roster movement, the tenants of what make the college level unique appear to be crumbling each day.

"So please, whoever is in charge and I dont know whos in charge, nobody knows can we get a structure in place? Something sustainable, Drinkwitz said.

So we can keep providing scholarships, keep bringing joy to the fanbase, and keep this awesome thing going." The hope is the settlement would at least add more uniform rules and fairness to chaos.

To Drinkwitz, all of the madness is worth preserving a crucial cultural touchstone.

"My hope is we all remember this is an unbelievable game.

College athletics are a meaningful part of the culture in the U.S.

Drinkwitz said.

"We need some sort of governing structure that doesnt involve a lawsuit every single day.

We cant keep shifting the rules that drastically all the time.

Read more Missouri Tigers news:.

This article has been shared from the original article on si, here is the link to the original article.