In the new money era of college sports, what’s the plan for St. Joseph’s, La Salle, and Drexel?

A postgame handshake between two veteran mid-major men’s basketball coaches last season, one coach saying to the other, “We’re [screwed].”

That’s the version told by one of the coaches. The other coach — the one bemoaning their common fate — wasn’t talking about the refs or that one game. He meant their whole level of programs in this age of name, image, and likeness collectives and the enticing door of the transfer portal.

Can schools without massive war chests compete?

A Big 5 athletic director, told of that conversation and those thoughts, kind of shrugged, saying, “I think coaches always think they’re going to be [screwed.]”

But is that coach right? He wasn’t from around here. But let’s keep it local. Can St. Joseph’s and La Salle in the Atlantic 10 and Drexel in the Coastal Athletic Association find a lane to compete? It’s a crowded space to begin with. The mid-major lane, even the fast lane dreaming of March Madness greatness in a particular season, is sort of like the Schuylkill Expressway, a narrow artery subject to slowdowns at every turn at any hour, with roving crews popping up trying to fill potholes.

Maybe an NIL collective can at least fill some holes. The Hawks and Explorers both have NIL collectives up and running. Drexel is “working on something,” according to Dragons athletic director Maisha Kelly, with alumni interested in contributing, she said.

“We have some of our most generous athletics donors that understand the importance of NIL,” said La Salle’s new athletic director Ashwin Puri.

At St. Joe’s, let’s go straight to one of those donors. The portion of the campus across City Avenue purchased from Episcopal Academy is named the Maguire campus. James Maguire also is a top donor to the athletic department, including to the current upgrading of a practice facility, with roughly $40 million going into that and other athletic facility upgrades, with $20 million of it from Maguire.

» READ MORE: From the Collective Effort series: Villanova basketball operates as a professional team. Why? Because it has to.

Given all that, maybe you’d expect Maguire to answer a query about NIL by saying, “I told the collective to get off my lawn.”

He didn’t. He won’t, Maguire said.

“I am familiar with the NIL collective and I support it,” Maguire said in an email. “In order to compete in college sports today we are forced to offer what the competition is doing. I’ve had extensive conversations with SJU and I intend to continue supporting athletes at SJU and also supporting the collectives.”

Maguire then added his alma mater has “a storied history of success and now is not the time to check.”

It’s not just the collectives that are factors at this level. Immediate transfer eligibility may be bigger. It’s become common across the country to see up transfers, as high-major programs begin to value mid-major stars over high school recruits.

You’re still competing against the same schools, however. This level of competition was a difficult one to succeed at before NIL came along. Transfers away have long been an issue. Everyone is competing for hallowed NCAA tournament bids when less and less of those go to mid-majors. And getting the big boys to come to your gym, which would be a field-leveler — good luck with that.

New wrinkles pop up seemingly by the hour as everyone deals with change. Richard Kent, an attorney and consultant to several collectives, said there are now mid-major coaches who don’t have collectives at their schools telling him they’re recruiting with the pitch that a player could be on the court all the time for them and have much higher NIL value at the Power 5 level after say two years than he would just be sitting on the bench for a Power 5 program.

Essentially: Establish your value, then transfer up and cash in.

“In order to compete in college sports today we are forced to offer what the competition is doing.”

Let’s assume schools have to get creative. Foreign players aren’t automatically eligible for NIL collective money – there are some visa issues. If you’re in the United States on an F-1 student visa, for instance, you may not work off campus during your first academic year. That may help explain the strong foreign-born contingent on La Salle’s current roster. Find your lane, and try to turn it into an express lane.

Over on Hawk Hill, there are high hopes for this season’s team. Did NIL play a part in building this team? Maybe not. Did a collective make it more likely a star player such as Erik Reynolds would stay?

“I do think what’s going to happen, with respect to collectives, is a great deal of donor fatigue.”

“It’s definitely a factor, given how college basketball is nowadays, you know,” Reynolds said in an interview after last season about his school having a collective, not looking to get into the specifics of his own deal. “It’s something I thought about. I wanted to really see what St. Joe’s had really going on — it’s been promising.”

Even mid-major programs with collectives understand they might not keep players for four years. What they need to remember, is that’s also true for their league competition, too.

» READ MORE: La Salle set to play on a new basketball court, with a new name

“Here’s one thing I say to myself and our group: There’s still only 13 scholarships,” said Kelly of Drexel.

Only so many seats at the table for players, she’s saying.

“That doesn’t mean you stay complacent,” Kelly said. “You need to remain competitive within the space.”

Everyone talks about trying to see around corners.

“I do think what’s going to happen, with respect to collectives, is a great deal of donor fatigue,” said St. Joseph’s athletic director Jill Bodensteiner, saying to imagine this scenario: “I’m making this donation and boy, that student-athlete I made a donation to support is in the transfer portal eight months later.”

Are the same people going to step up year after year, Bodensteiner wonders. That is a national discussion.

“It’s one thing when we’re seeking large donations – it’s either bricks and mortar or ongoing support for operating needs,” Bodensteiner said.

Another source on Hawk Hill said there had been at least preliminary discussions, just workshopping if you will, whether it would be better to not put so many resources into a new practice gym when more money in a collective can bring in a quicker and larger return on investment.

“Is there a gain in this, a true gain, where [when] you’re more successful?” And [does] that lead to more donations?”

“Everyone is trying to figure out, how far do we go?” the source said. “To ask for X when we’ve been asking for Y and Z. It is complicated.”

At least with a practice gym, you know there’s value that lasts a bit. You’re always choosing “competing” options, Kelly said. Where does NIL fit in?

“Is there a gain in this, a true gain, [when] you’re more successful?” Kelly said. “And [does] that lead to more donations?”

Not just NIL donations. She means that more success leads to money coming in through all sorts of doors.

“They’re all competing priorities,” Puri said. “We’re still going to need what we needed before and then some.”

Kelly thought six or seven CAA schools have collectives up and running. “At this point, it varies on the spectrum of activity and success,” Kelly said.

St. Joe’s has added a general manager for basketball in Rob Sullivan, a former Hawks player turned administrator. That follows a trend that includes Villanova hiring Baker Dunleavy for a similar position.

» READ MORE: Baker Dunleavy as Villanova’s basketball ‘general manager’ shows importance of NIL

“There’s not a boring day, or boring thoughts around athletics right now,” said Kelly over at Drexel. “How do we operate in this business but keep our values?”

You want to know what a collective is up to, but, by NCAA rules, you can’t control it. You also can’t study the NIL deals made by athletes before they sign them.

“I probably have more heart palpitations than others because I’m a lawyer and I can’t look at the contracts,” Bodensteiner said.

Where you are, in fact, uh [screwed,] one local AD said, is if you’re in a league that is competing with collectives and “your school is going to ignore it.”