College basketball has seen some coaches walk away because of their inability to handle the new landscape of NIL and the transfer portal. Tom Crean is not one of them. In fact, he is ready to make a comeback.
In an appearance with Kay Adams on Up and Adams, the former Marquette, Indiana, and Georgia head coach said there was “no question” that he would coach again. Crean currently works as a television analyst with multiple networks.
And as someone who left the sport when NIL was just getting started, Crean sees an opportunity now that the marketplace has been fully established and things are wildly different than his last year of coaching in 2022.
Tom Crean’s last year coaching was the first year of NIL:
💰 $4,200 total
💰 $600 for seven guys to do a six hour clinic
💰 $1,000 for two others to do Crystals social media ad
💰 Today, SEC teams are spending $3-4 million in NILNow he wants back in with more money available… pic.twitter.com/SWrOlCh9Iz
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) March 18, 2025
“There’s no question. I’ll coach again. I don’t have any doubt about that. I don’t know where or when yet, but my last year at Georgia was the first year of the portal and the first year of NIL. We had $4200 in the NIL. We had seven guys go do a three-hour clinic for $600 each. We had two other guys make $1000 each from Crystal that year for a social media ad. That’s $6200. There’s very few teams in the SEC that are under $3-4 million right now in NIL. I would like to do that again,” Crean said.
While some voices have railed against what college basketball has become, Tom Crean seems more than ready to adapt with the times and get back in the game. Coaches go into the media world all the time, but it’s always fascinating to see who is willing to return and who is content to stay in front of the cameras. Jay Wright has made no secret that he loves his television work and can’t envision a coaching return. On the football side, Bill Cowher had rumors circle around him for years after leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers for CBS, but never returned to the sidelines.
Crean seems to enjoy his television work, but any athletic directors with an opening this coming offseason have now been advised that they can give the former Big Ten Coach of the Year a call.
