Here's why 10 is far more important than 13 million to Penn State's future

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Ohio State coach Ryan Day made headlines in early June when he said his program needed $13 million in NIL money to keep the roster together.

Oh boy, that was quite a number. Because you see, up until then, no coach had really come out and put an actual figure on any of this NIL stuff.

James Franklin got his opportunity six days later to address Day's comments and was asked what Penn State's NIL number would be for roster management.

Franklin had this awesome response: "More than the numbers you've heard."

So, I asked Franklin a minute later that day, "One number that's out there is $13 million a year for roster management. Are you saying that Penn State needs more than that?"

"If we want to compete with the schools that you guys all write articles about us competing with, why wouldn't our number be the same as others?" Franklin said.

"If School X has a number and we're supposed to be competing with School X, why would our number be different?"

This was all great, great stuff. Mind you, it happened on June 8, when college football media is all looking for juicy stories and insight during a slow time of year for the sport. That $13 million figure from Day and then Franklin's cat-and-mouse-game counter were simply fantastic.

But here's the thing: None of it was true.

It doesn't take $13 million for Penn State to keep the majority of its roster intact.

It takes 10.

As in, 10 wins.

The Nittany Lions are 10-2 and going to the Rose Bowl. As of now, they've had five players enter the transfer portal, none of whom were significant contributors on this year's team.

• QB Christian Vielleux, a redshirt freshman and the third-stringer this season who played sparingly.
• OL Maleek McNeil, a freshman who was no longer on the roster late in the season and did not appear in any games.
• DE Rodney McGraw, a redshirt freshman who saw limited action in four games.
• CB Jeffrey Davis Jr., a redshirt freshman who played briefly in one game (Ohio).
• DL Davon Townley, a redshirt freshman who played in eight games

You know what happens when you win? People are happy!

Coaches are happy, players are happy, stars are happy. Everybody wants to be part of a winning team, and as long as the coaches have done their part to give all the deserving players a chance -- and credit to Franklin and his staff for doing that -- then it leads to a culture where all the contributors want to stick around.

That aspect -- the 10 wins and great potential for the future -- really are worth more than money can buy when it comes to roster management.

Sure, NIL money helps -- it certainly will be needed to lure key players from the transfer portal, which is all part of this equation -- and you want to keep the guys already on the roster happy with the best deals.

But to believe all that will cost anywhere close to $13 million seems far fetched.

Because you know what money cannot buy? Happiness.

Now, for the record, I would LOVE to test that theory someday. Give me $10 million, and I'm pretty sure I could be pretty darn happy. But you get the whole idea, right?

To hammer home the point about money, happiness and how it relates to winning, check out this graphic. Note how the program in the country with the most guys in the transfer portal is also one of the richest programs in the nation, Texas A&M. The Aggies went 5-7 this year. You think they would have 22 dudes in the portal if they had 10 wins?

Note 1: This has Penn State with six, but it's only been the five players listed above since the season ended.

Note 2: Ohio State has only three guys in the portal. You think the number is so low because the Buckeyes actually got the $13 million Day said they would need, or because they're 11-1 and in the College Football Playoff?

I'm 99 percent certain it's the latter.

If you'll notice, a good number of the teams leading the portal exodus didn't exactly have great seasons. Oregon (9-3) is a bit of an exception with 17. Alabama (10-2) has 13, a big number, but the Tide are the very rare team where 10 wins isn't exactly a great season, not when it's left out of the playoff.

But for Penn State? Shoot, 10 wins is a hugely significant number when it comes to keeping everybody happy -- from players and coaches to fans alike. Even having no wins over ranked opponents and losing to both Ohio State and Michigan aren't big deals to a lot of people because it's still a 10-win season with a Rose Bowl berth.

What if it were a 9-win season with a Citrus Bowl berth? Or an 8-win season with an Outback Bowl berth (Reliaquest now, but it'll always be Outback to me)? Surely, if that were the case, we'd probably see more quality Penn State players feeling disgruntled and looking elsewhere in the transfer portal.

And that's even if the school were offering them good NIL deals as part of that whole $13 million suggestion.

Winning cures pretty much everything in sports. Which is why, in this case, 10 is indeed greater than 13 million.