ALBANY, NY — Hidden in the far corner of a locker room at MVP Arena sits a 21-year-old college basketball player worth $800,000. Across the room is his teammate, whose agent has threatened to fire him if he doesn’t get a pseudo raise.
This may be a somewhat simplistic — even a little unfair — summary of the Miami men’s basketball team, but it’s not inaccurate either. Nowhere in the Sweet 16 is the new world order of collegiate athletics better represented than in the Hurricanes’ locker room. While the NCAA hesitates to regulate NIL and other coaches wring their hands over the impact, Miami has pitched in uncompromisingly.
Backed by a brazen billionaire booster who has no qualms about sharing his financial investments, the No. 5 Hurricanes travel to Kansas City to meet with leaders Houston in the regional semifinals. Leading them are Nijel Pack, the diminutive Kansas point guard transfer who reportedly netted the Northside three-quarters of a million dollars, and Isaiah Wong, the aggressive top scorer who used Pack’s luck to improve his own situation.
There’s nothing wrong with what Miami is doing. While the NCAA sanctioned the women’s team for improper contact with John Ruiz, the booster/owner of LifeWallet, and his very public promotion of the Cavinder twins with the TikTok stars, the men’s team wasn’t even involved in the investigation.
And so it boils down to a really simple question: Is Miami a renegade or just ahead of the curve? “I use that analogy,” says head coach Jim Larranaga. “I asked our players if they’ve ever seen Steph Curry in a Subway commercial and everyone has. i said ok This is ZERO.’ You can earn some extra money. That’s what NIL was created for, and that’s what they do.”
Born to Cuban immigrants who arrived in Florida shortly before he was born, Ruiz grew up near the dog track in northwest Miami and dropped $49 million three years ago for a home in Coral Gables, the second-most expensive single-family home purchase in affluent Miami . History of Dade County. In between, he spent four years at the U during Jimmy Johnson’s football heyday, graduated from nearby Nova Southeastern University Law School, founded a Medicare default recovery company, and became a very wealthy man.
His bank account may have swollen, but Ruiz remained at heart the same devoted Miami Hurricane who arrived on campus at 17. He sent his three children to his alma mater — both boys played baseball and his daughter was a Sunsation — and even now, at 56, his social media feed is peppered with videos of celebratory canes and promises to be giving away NCAA tournament tickets . He was at the Albany games, and while work for Friday’s regional semifinals will keep him away from Kansas City, he’ll be in place Sunday if Miami pulls off the upset.
All of this serves, for lack of a better word, as an explanatory backdrop to Ruiz’s hobby and why he found a new way to spend his money just as states began to tear down the final walls separating college athletes and pay. He committed $10 million to Miami athletes during NIL’s first year. “Obviously the University of Miami was good for me, but it was great for a lot of kids,” he says. “You want to do good in your community. This is my community.”
Nijel Pack was relocated to Miami from the state of Kansas at the same time as news of a NIL deal took place. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Ruiz’s NIL bankrolling is not fundamentally different from the various collectives sponsored by graduate schools across the country; it happens to be financed by a man. Rather, it is the very public way in which he publicized his investments and the implications of his methods that made people hackle. According to NCAA language, “While opening name, image and likeness opportunities for student athletes, the policy maintains a commitment in all three divisions to avoid pay-for-play and improper incentives associated with the decision to create a to attend a specific school. These rules remain in effect.” And this is where things get messy. The language is nebulous at best and subject to many interpretations, but there seems to be at least a consensus: actively and publicly courting players with deals is not common.
And yet there was Ruiz, who was at least believed to have headed straight for the line – and in one instance perhaps even went beyond – during the rather busy three weeks at the start of the 2022/23 pre-season. On April 13, 2022, Ruiz posted a picture outside his home with Haley and Hanna Cavinder, the social media famous basketball twins who have been relocated from Fresno State. Ten days later that same day, Miami announced that Pack (an All-Big 12 first-team guard) had moved in. Ruiz tweeted his own ‘breaking news’ He not only announced his company’s NIL partnership, but also the terms of the deal.
A week later, Wong’s agent, Adam Papas, threatened a transfer if Wong’s comparatively low $100,000 NIL pot was not sweetened (Wong later distanced himself from this threat). Ruiz initially played hardball and told ESPN that he “didn’t renegotiate,” but later tweeted that he’s looking forward to helping Wong, who led the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight a year ago, find more deals.
It all ended up in the NCAA crosshairs, but only dinner with the Cavinder twins was considered improper behavior and the chef-prepared dinner Ruiz served that night as an incentive. “Neighboring the NIL” is how the national umbrella organization described the whole case.
Ruiz then insisted, reiterating in a conversation with The Athletic on Monday that the NCAA was wrong on two fronts – that the dinner took place after the twins were under contract and therefore wasn’t an incentive and that it shouldn’t be viewed as a booster . since he was acting as a businessman, not a school donor. He also pointed out that Florida law does not prohibit a person who contributes to the school from discussing NIL. “We’re ahead of the curve,” he says. “That always happens in every industry when things change. There are bumps in the road and then eventually things settle down.”
Ruiz sees himself as both a savvy businessman to partner with the athletes and a beneficiary. He speaks extensively about exposing college kids to the necessary experiences – from managing finances to interacting with adult professionals – and believes that helping them understand and realize their market value will prepare them for their own future . He has since vowed to increase the pledge from his initial $10 million, which has already been distributed to about 150 Miami athletes.
This all happened in Miami, a school whose track and field history has always been a breakaway program unafraid of the NCAA. From Catholics vs. Convicts to Nevin Shapiro, the school hasn’t exactly softened the edges of its historical imagery. Usually, the scandals lived on the soccer grate, but that’s mainly because the basketball team was barely counted. The university discontinued the program in 1971 after moving it to a variety of “home” venues, including once the Coral Gables High School gym. The 1985 resurgence was an exceptionally smooth start, the Hurricanes going 13 years without making the NCAA tournament. Leonard Hamilton and Frank Haith have had some success, but not the consistency that has brought Larranaga to campus since arriving in 2013. The Hurricanes have received six NCAA tournament bids, including three Sweet 16 runs and a trip to the Elite Eight, under the ever-pleasant Larranaga.
But six years ago, Miami became embroiled in the FBI investigation — where Adidas officials went to jail for doing essentially the same thing as Ruiz — and the gold medal faded a bit on the lily. The school’s name was eventually redacted from the NCAA case, but Dewan Hernandez eventually retired from the school after being benched for the remainder of the 2018-19 season and 40 percent of the next. Mix in the cheekiness of Ruiz’s NIL deals, and it all didn’t sit well with some traditionalists in the game. Before he retired, Jim Boeheim made a mini-tirade about it. “Pittsburgh bought a team. … Wake Forest bought a team. Miami bought a team,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Really, here we are?’ This is really where we are and it’s only going to get worse.”
Boeheim received all kinds of criticism for this and later apologized. The truth? Boeheim said only what many of his peers whisper softly, and saw Miami as more rules than forward-thinking.
However, like Ruiz, Larranga has no plans to change. “Nobody’s going to tell me how to run my basketball program,” he says. “When you get to the gym, you play Miami style. If you’re working with someone else willing to sponsor you, great. It’s like college basketball coaches who have shoe contracts.”
Veteran coach Jim Larranaga brought Miami back to the Sweet 16. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
They didn’t walk down the hall. They jumped, even danced a bit. Their 85-69 thorough dismantling of Indiana was mere minutes over, the Miami players sprinting out of their celebratory dressing room, freed for a few minutes of interviews to visit their families. Arms slung over shoulders, phones ready to take selfies or check text messages, they dashed down the hallway, slipping past the pep band to give eager high fives before receiving bear hugs from administrators, parents, and pretty much everyone greeted who was ready to offer some love.
The post-game celebration mirrored how the Hurricanes played in their second-round game: genuine rejoicing. While Indiana played flat, seemingly overwhelmed by the moment, the canes played loose. They had boasts. Miami waved 3s and posed in front of the crowd; The canes corralled rebounds and bowed. They actually smiled throughout the game – huge grins spread across their faces as one player after the other made a simple bucket. “I would say we’re a team with great energy,” Wong says as he walks down the hall after dropping a combined 27 points to Indiana. “We always have fun. That’s what we’re about. We love playing together and it shows on the pitch.”
So where’s the disagreement and the chemistry gone? This is supposed to happen when changing rooms are divided according to relay salaries. At the very least, people thought that by inviting very public finances into the very private team retreat, Miami would erupt from within. Many felt that Wong’s agent’s demands only expressed the animosity and jealousy that NIL deals would bring. “No, it wasn’t like that,” says Wong, who has rented a nice, practical apartment near campus with part of his money. “It’s never been like this.”
If so, the Hurricanes did a good job of hiding it. They won a portion of the ACC regular-season title that year for the second time in program history, finishing the league 15-5, their best ACC run since 2013. Their 27 wins that season set a school record.
Instead of giving in under the pressure to perform, both have achieved higher goals. Wong is the ACC Player of the Year averaging 16.1 points and Pack, now surrounded by better teammates, has efficiency packed into his game bag. He averages fewer shots but still shoots plus 40 percent from the ground. Neither of them have developed into ball pigs either. Wong is dishing out 3.3 assists per game and pack 2.4.
There is no fear of a performance-related salary cut, nor does Ruiz act that way. “You have good days and bad days like everyone else,” he says. “The most important thing to me is that they stay clean, do what they’re supposed to do and set an example for other kids.” The Canes also don’t think fan expectations are any different than they’ve ever been. Long before NIL, many disgruntled bettors came to Pack’s mentions to express their displeasure when he didn’t play to his snuff. “The next level, where I want to go, people will know your contract,” says Pack. “You’re going to make triple that in the NBA, so that’s like a stepping stone for me. It helps you develop the thick skin you need to be successful and that mental toughness.”
Some might say why? pack is only 21; Wong is 22. He has plenty of time to chase money and get paid. To which Ruiz replies, isn’t that what college is for? “It’s important for youngsters to understand the value of a dollar,” he says. “They have to learn to market themselves and understand their value. It’s just different. People always have something to say when they don’t understand something. They will catch up.”
By the time they do, Miami will be in the money… all the way to the Sweet 16.
(Top Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images)