In the age of NIL, private donors help Providence College basketball build a winning roster
PROVIDENCE – When Steve Napolillo was first hired to help raise money for Providence College’s athletic department, it didn’t take him long to figure out who to target. He looked toward the best seats at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.
The midcourt sections on both sides of the Friar basketball court feature a who’s who in Rhode Island. Judges, local businessmen, lawyers — and long-time PC basketball fans who’ve owned seasontickets at the arena since it opened in 1972 and was christened by the fabulous Final Four team featuring Ernie DiGregorio, Marvin Barnes and Kevin Stacom.
“When I first got the job I would call every single person sitting in those middle sections of the arena and talk about their interest in the program. I wanted to know everyone,” said Napolillo, who became PC’s athletic director in 2022.
One of those prime seat ticket holders was Ken Canestrari. A 1984 PC grad whose father fell for the Ernie D Friars in the early 1970s, Canestrari has been attending Friar games his entire life. Now an executive at TJX Companies, Canestrari believed in Napolillo’s vision for the program and became a donor. That relationship kept growing, as did Canestrari’s role at the college as an eventual member of the Board of Trustees.
“When I first could afford tickets I sat up in the rafters,” said Canestrari, who lives in Wellesley, Mass. “As I got more successful in my career, I moved down to the lower loge, to center court, and to some leadership positions at the college. My contributions to the college have grown as well.”
Now it’s donors like Canestrari who have never been more important to the Friars. He’s following in the footsteps of other philanthropic leaders like Michael Ruane ’71, Joseph Calabria ’65, William Concannon ’77, and others who have helped fund new buildings and endow faculty positions and scholarships at the school.
Today they’re also helping pay the Friar men’s basketball team at previously unheard of levels. NCAA rules now allow colleges to compensate athletes from athletic revenue, up to $20.5 million this past school year. While exact figures are unconfirmed, industry sources sayProvidence spent at least $10 million on its 13 men’s players this past season. Other revenue sharing money was paid to women’s basketball, men’s hockey and other athletes at the school.
While Napolillo said that “all our athletes in revenue share sports are being directly paid by the school,” he would not confirm any payroll expense totals. As a private school, PC isn’t obligated to release those numbers, but even at public state universities, athletic departments are not releasing individual sports’ expense totals.
The issue is, that figure is only heading upward in a college sports world one Big East head coach described as “the Wild, Wild West.” With budgets exploding nationally, the top basketball programs see adding to player payrolls as the cleanest avenue possible to success.
Nothing is guaranteed, of course. Dissatisfied with previous coach Kim English’s results (15-18 last season, 48-52 over three years), Providence bought out the final few years of English’s contract and hired Bryan Hodgson as the next Friar hoop boss. Known as a “Shark” for his success on the recruiting trail, Hodgson and his staff instantly attacked the transfer portal and waved millions of dollars at available prospects. PC has assembled a promising roster for the 2026-27 campaign with estimates of a $13 million to $15 million payroll, locking in several players who will earn well over $1 million, according to rival coaches who tried to recruit the same players.
How does that stack up against the rest of the Big East, and the country’s elite programs? It’s a very competitive payroll as programs mix their revenue share pot with “name, image and likeness,” or NIL, sponsorship opportunities that college athletes are now legally allowed. Some major college football programs, like Texas, Miami, and Ohio State, are paying upwards of $40 million total for their rosters.
With the possible exception of Big East power University of Connecticut, Providence chooses to support its men’s basketball roster at a substantially higher level than any other school in New England, including Boston College, UMass Amherstand the University of Rhode Island.
The reason the investment is high is simple, according to Napolillo. Basketball success at Providence helps define the school as a whole, he says.
“Winning impacts everything we do,” Napolillo said. “We have productive conversations with all of our leaders and they understand the importance of a successful basketball program at Providence College as a whole. This is a window to the institution.”
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“I believe the perception of who we are slipped the last few years with what we failed to accomplish on the court,” he said. “People want to win and feel good about their school and their philanthropy. These are smart businessmen. If they invest and see results, it impacts admissions, our success in raising additional dollars and how people see the college.”
In order to remain a factor in this new, professional sports model, schools are under tremendous strain to keep raising private money. Napolillo and his athletic fundraising team raised $12.7 million in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, but the push to keep raising the bar is never-ending. The latest push is something they’re calling the Shark Tank Club, which requires a donation of at least $1 million over five years. The campaign has enjoyed initial success with a goal of 25 to 40 members, Napolillo said.
“Anytime you’re looking at this new landscape you have to think big and help take financial pressure off the institution,” Napolillo said. “Providence is blessed to have some incredible donors who are giving multi-million dollar gifts that give our program a chance to perform at a higher level. The Shark Tank Club will give us the foundation you need on a yearly basis.”
Canestrari says he was the first donor to support the Shark Tank Club and “is happy to see that’s helped encourage others to join.” He says he and his wife also support PC’s Nursing School and other academic pursuits, but he’s excited about Hodgson’s prospects for success.
“I think he’s phenomenal. I think the sky is the limit with him,” he said. “He has a vision, a will and a passion to succeed. For me, donating to the college, I sleep well at night. I feel that I’m going to get $1.50 for every dollar I give. I haven’t been this confident in a long time that a coach is going to succeed here.”
Unlike PC’s sparkling, $30 million Ruane Friar Development Center, which houses the athletic department, or the school’s Mondor Center for Nursing, there is no direct monetary return for big-money athletic donations. Donors around the country are spending their millions to help attract and retain the best coaches and players and remain competitive in a world that gets more expensive every year.
Money doesn’t guarantee success, but donors see the sports programs’ higher payrolls as the best avenue to own a chance to remain competitive. The Big East’s highest-profile donor is Mike Repole, a billionaire St. John’s alumnus who co-founded and sold the Vitamin Water and Bodyarmor sports drink brands.
Repole told the New York Post in 2024 that he’s willing to pump millions into the rosters of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino. “I’m going to commit whatever it takes. I don’t think there’s going to be any alumni from any other Big East school that’s going to give to their alma mater more than I can.”
St. John’s has won the last two Big East championships, and will reportedly pay its team in the $15 million neighborhood next season.
Providence hopes for a similar return under Hodgson because, as Canestrari said, when the Friars are rolling, “you can feel it in Rhode Island. It makes us all feel four inches taller.”
“The program needs its fans to give, within their means, because this has become a professional sport in many ways. The price of admission is high,” Canestrari says. “At the end of the day if we want to succeed we have to keep growing the pie and get more people to contribute. That’s the only way we’re going to survive in this sport.”
Kevin McNamara is a Rhode Island-based sports writer who spent more than 30 years covering Providence College basketball, the Celtics, the Patriots, the Red Sox, and more. He writes at Kevin McSports.com and hosts KevinMcSports Hour on WPRO and 790TheScore.
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