Here and There in Friartown: On NIL, Recruiting, Scheduling, and Ed Cooley's New Contract

Craig Leighton touches on a variety of topics in his latest "Here and There in Friartown" article

NIL Implications

There may be a new powerbroker on the scenes in college basketball. High school players are now starting to sign with NIL marketing firms before they ever get to college. The end result of this is going to be that these firms will eventually have a major influence over where the high school players sign to go to college.

This will open up another huge can of worms, as marketing firms will align themselves with certain schools and deliver their players to these schools. 

The NCAA has a lot of work to do to clarify exactly what these firms can and cannot do, and who can actually sign with them.  

PC’s 2022-2023 Basketball Schedule

A few things popped out to me after a first look at the Friars’ basketball schedule:

• Providence doesn’t have a non-conference home game against a Power 6 conference team. Part of this is because PC is not in the Gavitt Games this year, but the school should try and get home-and-home contracts with one or two major conference schools every year so they don’t have to rely on the Gavitt Games or the Big East-Big 12 Challenge for major conference opponents at home.

• I was really looking forward to PC hosting UConn at home in front of fans for the first time since the Huskies rejoined the Big East. Some of the luster was taken off when I realized the game was going to be on Jan. 4th while the students are still on vacation. It would have something having the students going crazy at both ends of the court. Oh well, maybe next year. 

• The game of the year is going to be on Saturday, Feb. 18th when PC hosts Villanova at the Amica Mutual Pavilion (AMP) at 4:30pm. The game will be broadcast on Fox and the 4:30 tip is ideal for maximum student turnout on a weekend. They will also have plenty of time to party before the game. 

• It is good to see the return of the Mal Brown Scrimmage after several years absence. Many old-timers, myself included, look back with fond memories of prior Mal Brown games. This year’s scrimmage will be played on Saturday, Oct. 15th at the AMP at 4:00 pm. Providence hosted an intra-squad scrimmage at Alumni Hall last year that was open to students and media.

• The Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at the Mohegan Sun on Saturday, Nov. 19th and Sunday, Nov. 20th will provide an opportunity for PC to play two quasi-home games against big-time major conference competition. Friar fans have taken over this arena in years past.

Recruiting

This past weekend PC hosted Class of ‘23 prospects Curtis Williams, a 6’8 four star top 100 prospect out of Bloomfield Hills, MI and Michael Nwoko, a 6’10 four star top 150 center.

At this point, national pundits believe Williams seems to be a strong lean for Louisville, while Nwoko has not really eliminated any of the schools from his final list of nine.  

PC’s top target could be Drew Fielder, a 6’10 power forward out of Boise, ID currently going to school at Southern California Academy. He has all the tools and would fit beautifully into Ed Cooley’s system. Fielder will be taking an official visit to PC next weekend, and has seen a rush of big-name schools visiting him this week.

What is certain is that PC will need to bring in at least two big men next year, and at least one of them should be from the high school ranks in order to foster stability in the program. 

Ed Cooley’s New Contract

I was very pleased to see that PC Athletic Director Steve Napolillo extended Ed Cooley’s contract once again this past week. It is important to be proactive for the stability of the program. Although terms of the contract were not disclosed, one report said it could approach four million dollars a year by the end of the contract. Commitment like this is what will keep Cooley at PC for as long as he remains a college basketball coach. It is also important that Cooley’s assistant coaches are taken care of, which I am sure the contract extension addressed.