Men’s Team Recruiting Expenses Doubled In Last Five Years, Harvard Athletics Data Release Shows

Recruiting expenses for men’s athletics teams at Harvard have nearly doubled since 2020, according to a data release filed by the athletics department in October.

Harvard released the data as part of the department’s mandatory annual Equity in Athletics Data Act disclosure. All co-ed universities that receive federal funding for financial aid programs are required to release data on athletic participation, staffing, revenues, and expenses for all teams.

Over the past five years, recruiting expenses for men’s teams have increased by $590,994, from $627,205 to $1,218,199.

The increase in spending came during the period after the National Collegiate Athletic Association first allowed athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness.

The College has been reluctant to embrace NIL since it was first allowed in 2021. Harvard recently opted out of a proposed settlement agreement with the NCAA, officially deciding not to directly compensate athletes via revenue sharing.

Last year, Harvard men’s basketball star freshman Malik Mack transferred to Georgetown, where he was expected to receive a significant NIL deal. The men’s basketball team also lost Chisom Okpara in the same year, who transferred to Stanford in the spring.

While Harvard has faced major departures in the past couple of years, coaches outside of the Ivy League have been able to use NIL to their advantage in the recruitment process. Harvard may have increased spending on recruitment to stay competitive in a cash-flush recruiting environment and counteract its losses.

Harvard athletics spokesperson Imry Halevi did not comment on whether the increase in recruitment spending had anything to do with NIL.

“Recruiting budgets are set annually based on the same process with each head coach,” Halevi wrote in a statement.

But recruiting expenditures for women’s teams increased from $321,318 over the 2019-2020 season to $575,585 over the 2023-24 season, a change that makes up less than half of the increase for men’s teams.

Certain sports have spent significantly more in total expenditures than others, with basketball, football, rowing, and ice hockey leading in cost.

This year, spending for Harvard’s two basketball teams climbed to $3,529,648, an increase of just over 26 percent from the previous year. Expenses for football saw minimal change from last year, with expenses totalling more than four million dollars. Rowing and ice hockey each spent upwards of three million.

Consistent with years prior, coaches on Harvard’s women’s teams were paid less in 2024 than their counterparts on male teams.

In 2024, the head coaches of women’s teams were paid approximately $33,000 less on average than coaches of men’s teams — averaging a salary of $125,557 compared to the men’s $158,633. The majority of the coaches for women’s teams are women, while most for the men’s teams are men.

While pay for both team categories has increased since last year, the gap between the two has still grown slightly.

Assistant coaches on women’s teams were paid an average of $54,117, while assistant coaches on men’s teams were paid $64,867 — an approximately $10,000 difference.

Halevi wrote in a statement that “all coaches for each sport are compensated based on the same criteria.”

Halevi did not respond to specific questions about the criteria Harvard uses in hiring.

In an interview with The Crimson in October 2023, Athletics Director Erin McDermott said the department uses “gender-neutral factors” to select its coaching staff, noting that varying experience levels could explain the pay differences.

Harvard increased its overall athletics spending to $43,636,552 this year, marking a $4,067,892 increase from the previous year.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.