Florida Women's Basketball Coach Closed Massive NIL Deal While in Labor

When it comes to the new era of NIL in college athletics, coaches are constantly looking for opportunities to give their programs an edge to both attract new players, and keep the ones they have in the fold.

We've seen this play out in a number of interesting ways, but Florida Gators' women's basketball head coach Kelly Rae Finley recently demonstrated that her commitment to getting her athletes the best possible deals is unmatched.

While her team was preparing to play the Minnesota Gophers in the WBIT semifinals last month, Finley was back in Gainesville Florida getting ready to deliver her first child.

According to Us Weekly's Daniel Trainor, Finley was in the middle of contractions when she got word that a rival program was attempting to sway one of her players into the transfer portal.

Per Trainor, Finley didn't hesitate to jump into action while in the onset of child labor to get the NIL deal needed to keep her player in the fold, hopping into a Zoom call right from her hospital bed in the process.

After successfully negotiating the deal, Finley hopped off the call and delivered a healthy baby boy later that day. This is probably the first time a coach has ever taken time out of delivering their first child to negotiate an NIL deal, but for Finely it was no brainer.

“I owe it to our student-athletes to put our best foot forward in terms of providing an experience to them that’s second-to-none,” Finley told Us Weekly. “I owe it to my partner and my family and my new son to give my best effort, as well. I was having contractions and I had this Zoom call and I was like, ‘I turned my camera off, guys.’ And we continued on our way.”