(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
PHOENIX — When Willie Bloomquist was named head coach of Arizona State baseball in June of 2021, the entire landscape of college sports was rapidly changing. He knew this but probably couldn’t fathom the extent to which they would be altered so quickly.
Naturally, the former Sun Devil shortstop’s paramount goal was to return the program to what it was when he played for it in the late 1990s: a perennial College World Series contender. But Bloomquist soon realized that recruiting players, developing them and making them pro athletes is no longer the way of doing things in collegiate sports, making the process of bringing ASU to the back to the top of college baseball one with several unknowns.
On July 1, 2021, several state laws and NCAA rule changes went into effect, allowing athletes opportunities to make money off of their name, image and likeness (NIL). This didn’t mean institutions were suddenly allowed to directly pay their players, rather that schools could offer athletes sponsorship deals with outside organizations.
However, not all schools are created equal when it comes to NIL, and while efforts have been made at ASU to grow its own collective, Bloomquist indicated that far more development is still needed to bring the Sun Devils onto a level playing field.
“(ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham) has done a great job trying to rally the Valley and get people involved,” Bloomquist said following ASU’s 11-6 loss to USC on April 25. “It’s going to be awful hard for programs to be successful without it. And right now, we need help. That’s just me being real and that’s not me crying, but if we don’t get some NIL help it’s going to be awful tough to be successful in this landscape moving forward.
“It’s just where we’re at in college sports.”
While much of the focus on NIL has been in football — by far the biggest sport and largest revenue-driver in the NCAA — other programs, like baseball, have also felt the effects of the changing landscape. According to Bloomquist, there were multiple players his administration had targeted that chose to play elsewhere over ASU simply due to a disparity in financial opportunity.
Look no further than left-handed pitcher Matt Wilkinson, who committed to ASU from Central Arizona in 2023 but chose to sign after the MLB June Amateur Draft, where he was taken by the Cleveland Guardians in the 10th round. That selection looks to be a steal, as he has a 0.44 ERA in four starts for the Single-A Lynchburg Hillcats, but had the Sun Devils possessed the means to offer Wilkinson more than what he’d make in the big leagues, he could have very well been the team’s Friday starter.
“I won’t share the amount he got, but it was for what the type of talent he is… he should’ve gotten a lot more than that,” Bloomquist said. “But had we (said),‘Hey man, there’s other schools that are matching that and then some,’ to say,‘Hey, forgo the draft come here, we’ll pay more.’
“If we could’ve done that and that kid’s on Friday night for us, we’re sitting pretty right now. But that’s just an example of what you can do if you have those funds to do that. (I’m) not going to give any other programs props, but there’s plenty of other ones out there that have those kind of pockets.”
Bloomquist spoke on the current state of ASU’s NIL extensively on Sunday, a surprise for a coach that has mostly remained tight-lipped on the matter, but it wasn’t the first time he reacted to the changing landscape in college sports. After retaining the majority of his eligible 2023 roster for 2024, Bloomquist again highlighted the challenges of NIL, stating how it’s become far more difficult to establish a culture with players often leaving programs for more money.
“Sensitive topic… in general, I think (NIL) is going to destroy college baseball and college sports just because there’s no cap on it, it can’t be regulated,” Bloomquist said in a press conference in July following sophomore shortstop Luke Hill’s departure to Ole Miss. “It’s getting to the point where it’s out of hand and people are offering players behind other programs’ backs, it’s turning ugly.”
The Sun Devils’ bench boss might not be a fan of NIL, but understands that it isn’t going anywhere and will only become more of a factor in college baseball as time goes on. So, instead of being against financial compensation for athletes, Bloomquist has decided to adapt to the current landscape, but can’t fully do so without increased support from the community.
“We can continue to cry about it and whine about it,” Bloomquist said. “Or we can continue to not get the players that we need because other schools can and we can’t. So we need help. People that can help, we need it… (I’m) laying myself on the cross, and we need help in the NIL department, we need some funds to be able to go get the players we need if we want to continue building this program the way we want.”
