Jay Bilas defends rising roster costs in college basketball, calls out coach salaries
Last month, Michigan coach Dusty May said the Wolverines’ roster cost is likely going to increase after this past season’s national title. On3’s Pete Nakos reported the championship team cost more than $10 million , but May expects that number to grow even more in 2026-27. Speaking with Front Office Sports this week, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas defended the amount of money athletes are making in college basketball in the NIL era.
But as he assessed the landscape, he pointed out how much coaches are earning compared to the players. SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter Bilas directly addressed May’s comments, which he said he had not heard. While looking at the cost of rosters in college basketball, he argued that in other major sports, the players make more than the coaching staff.
That’s why he questioned people the criticism about the surge in athlete earnings. “What I would say in response to that is their coaching staff makes more than that,” Bilas told Baker Machado . “So what’s the problem?
Do we think the players are worth less than the coaches? They’re not. So when you look at their coaching staff and their support staff, they make more than the players.
In no multi-billion dollar sport do the coaches make more than the players. Is it going to cost that? Yes, and it should.