McFeely: NDSU does Alston payments, as needed, but there's still a pecking order

NCAA v. Alston, 2021. Opened the door to college athletes making money off their name, image and likeness (NIL) and Alston payments for their performance in the classroom.

Bison athletic director Matt Larsen and some of his administration were in Arizona in late February to woo big donors and convince them to sign the checks to underwrite what will be called the Graduating Champions Fund. He succeeded. The number Larsen wanted to hit to endow this endeavor is large, we're told.

This is a good day for Bison athletics.

A press release Thursday said the awards will be supported by "an endowment established by several donors and annual, private donations." When the payments start next academic year, the fund is expected to pay out $1.5 million total to Bison athletes. All NDSU student-athletes will have the opportunity to earn the dough, regardless of sport or scholarship status. Full-ride kids can get Alston money, as can walk-ons.

Annual amounts ranging from $3,000 to $5,980 will be determined by academic performance with award levels based on semester and cumulative grade-point averages. Those standards were not revealed in the release. It's up to the school to decide.

So athletes at NDSU now have the ability to earn a full scholarship covering tuition, room and board, books and fees; cost of attendance money to help pay some of the ancillary expenses like food and gas; NIL money from the Green and Gold collective; and now Alston money.

The Bison have all the monetary tools available, the same ones as USC or Georgia. The numbers are vastly different, but the tools are the same.

In NDSU's world of the Football Championship Subdivision and Summit League mid-major sports, it's likely only a small handful of schools can offer the financial incentives now available to Bison athletes. Shout it from the mountaintop, coaches.

Will it be enough to keep athletes from leaving?

Because there remains a pecking order in college athletics.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference and Summit League are not the Big Ten or Big 12.

NDSU is keeping ahead of their level, but there's always another level. And then another.

There is an arms race in college athletics to make sure you can offer student-athletes everything your competitors are offering their student-athletes, financially speaking. Yes, it matters in recruiting. It also matters in retention.

NDSU has famously been stung by the transfer portal the last few years. Jabril Cox left the football team for greener pastures. Josh Hayes, ditto. Jasir Cox, same. Marques Sigle, Courtney Eubanks, Dom Gonnella, D.J. Hart. All left. In men's basketball, Grant Nelson and Andrew Morgan transferred. Just a week or so ago, Elle Evans left the promising Bison women's basketball team.

And the Bison wresting team? Uff da. Gutted.

Some top football players famously stayed last winter, helped in part by the NIL collective. That can't be ignored.

But the fear of losing players, of losing ground, is what drives this.

Here is a line from Thursday's press release: "Qualifying student-athletes would receive half of their semester award during the following term, and the other half will be deferred until after graduation or exhausting eligibility as an incentive for student-athletes to complete their degree at NDSU."

Notice those last 11 words: An incentive for student-athletes to complete their degree at NDSU.

Please stay. At least until you get your degree.

Will this help?

A source sent me the transfer portal totals as of April 1, long before the spring window opened for football transfers. As of that day, there were 20,579 college athletes in the portal from all sports, men and women, all divisions. That included nearly 10,000 Division I athletes, 7,000 in Division II and almost 4,000 in Division III.

Yep, 4,000 Division III athletes were in the transfer portal.

There can be no argument that NDSU is doing what it needs to do under the current rules, in the current college athletics world. If you aren't moving forward, you're moving backward. The Bison are keeping pace. That's good. No problems there.

But those sitting in the seats of the Fargodome or Scheels Center need to temper their expectations as to what the cash flowing to the athletes means. Will the Bison football team keep its dudes if Ohio State or USC come calling? Seems unlikely, even with Alston payments.

Six grand for getting straight A's is good. Six hundred grand for playing in the Southeastern Conference is way better. Sorry to be that guy. Alston will help, but it won't close the portal entirely.

There was good news out of NDSU on Thursday, but the pecking order isn't changing.