Kentucky volleyball assistant coach Madison Lilley has had to learn how to cope with changes brought about by NIL. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Madison Lilley was a four-time All-American setter at Kentucky and led UK to four straight SEC championships. Kentucky also won its first volleyball national championship when Lilley had 53 assists in the title game and a career-high 19 digs. She was named the 2020 NCAA Division I Player of the Year and SEC Female Athlete of the Year.
She committed to play at Kentucky as a freshman. She became the No. 4 player in her recruiting class and won the Andi Collins Award for best high school setter in the nation her senior season in Kentucky. She won two 6A state championships and was the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year and National Junior Player of the Year.
Lilley is now a Kentucky assistant coach who has seen the impact of name, image and likeness (NIL) funding on recruiting. There was no NIL money for athletes when Lilley played.
“NIL changes recruiting immensely. It changes coaching for sure,” Lilley said. “It is something else distracting girls. When you are recruiting, there are more questions coming in. You can’t just throw numbers at recruits. It has made recruiting very different and it is something we are getting better at navigating.
“It is an amazing opportunity for players. Our girls are loving the opportunities they have. I tell them they should be so grateful because in the real world there are not always opportunities like this. We are stoked with the way our team has capitalized on NIL.”
Lilley admits she sometimes thinks about what NIL might have meant for her during her playing career but “quickly brushes that off my brain” because she knows it didn’t happen.
“It would have immensely changed my college experience. I had opportunities when I went pro to find brands and work with them. I was so happy, go lucky when I was here. I had free time to go bowling and not worry about a photo shoot for some promotion,” Lilley said. “Monetarily it might have been different (with NIL) but I am very grateful for the amount of time I got with my friends with no monetary incentives. I loved my time here so much and don’t regret that things are different now financially.”
