I know there's no love for Stanford here, but this recent piece in the Chronicle is probably worth reading and given Cal's excellence as a university, there may be some concepts here that could apply for our recruiting efforts to some degree. The piece also mentions Cal's having made NIL payments, while Stanford thus far, has not...At any rate, some food for thought: Gift link-Stanford women's basketball's big bet? Degrees over dollars will buy blue chip talent

Here's a short excerpt (gift link above)

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However, two sources close to the program said no women's basketball players have received payments yet and have been told payments would not begin until next season at the earliest. When asked about these claims, a school spokesperson declined to tell the Chronicle whether payments would be made this season, saying only: "I can confirm that funds for women's basketball are part of our institutional NIL budget. Per department policy, we do not disclose specific details regarding programs or individuals."
The Bay Area's other Division I schools with football teams, Cal and San Jose State, have said payments to their women's basketball players have begun.

While most schools haven't finalized revenue-sharing structures, the prevailing model allocates roughly 75% to football, about 15% to men's basketball, 5% to women's basketball and 5% to other sports. Cal's athletic directors told the Chronicle the school is paying 5% to women's basketball, and a San Jose State spokesperson said the Spartans are paying a combined 15% for men's and women's basketball.

"We're transitioning from this (NIL) collective model to an institutional model; there are a lot of things that are still kind of working themselves out," Paye said. "You have to be competitive in the NIL space, too. Stanford is the first to say, when all these changes happened, we were kind of, as John Donahoe would say, caught on our back foot a little bit, but we're in a great position right now."

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