More than the deep runs in March Madness, the 660 victories over 37 years or even the 20 or so players he coached who ended up making millions in the NBA, Leonard Hamilton is proud of a number he can count on one hand.

It is, he says, the number of players he coached at Miami, and then for the past 23 seasons at Florida State, who failed to graduate.

Hamilton, now 76 and stepping away from a business he barely recognizes anymore, says he is at peace with leaving coaching behind. More than a dozen other coaches interviewed by The Associated Press leading up to this year’s NCAA tournaments expressed concern about the future of their industry. Most said they still liked their jobs, but it has taken some adjustments.

“What I have learned is, the skill set that was required to be a good coach 10 years ago, very little of that applies anymore,” said Buzz Williams, who just completed his sixth season at Texas A&M.

Coach after coach, from Miami’s Jim Larrañaga to Virginia’s Tony Bennett to Villanova’s Jay Wright and others have all walked away from the game, saying it no longer holds the appeal it once did. Some specifically blamed the transfer portal for the added stress — Michigan State coach Tom Izzo last week called the portal a “urinal” — and of course the pressure to compete for players with endorsement money, a topic that stretches beyond basketball.

Most of those coaches made comfortable careers in college, some of them earning big paychecks, and some of their replacements are doing just fine. But there is no way around the fact that many feel their profession is becoming difficult to manage in its current state and certainly doesn’t have the same feel-good goals it once did.

Answers? Williams doesn’t have them, other than “this upcoming season is going to be different from the last season.” Hamilton insists he doesn’t have answers either for a college sports landscape that feels more like a talent auction every day. Only questions.

One of them: “Is this what we want in college sports, people going to the highest bidder?” he asks. Hamilton said he will not answer that question, lest he be painted as a coach who left because he is against paying players.

Untethered from the prospect of having to lure those players to a program anymore, though, he can ask the questions in ways many other coaches can’t — or won’t: “Have you heard anybody talk about academics lately?” he said.

From APR to NIL

Final Four week used to be a week that induced hand-wringing over one of college basketball’s most defining metrics: The Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores would be held up as a North Star for programs that did things the “right way” or as a cudgel for those that didn’t, with the NCAA able to slap sanctions.

Debates on the road to the title would revolve around whether those still playing were the best examples of schools that produced “student-athletes,” to use the NCAA’s increasingly anachronistic term, or simply churned out one-and-dones who could come, contribute to a title run, then head for big bucks in the pros.

These days, big bucks are available in college. The APR still comes out each June, but its relevance has been replaced by a new entry in the NCAA’s cauldron of alphabet soup: NIL.

The numbers attached to the name, image and likeness deals are now what get the most attention. They are the most telling indicator of a program’s health and the main consideration — maybe the only consideration — when it comes to adding players from an increasingly packed transfer portal or simply keeping them on your own roster.

UCLA coach Cori Close, who is taking the program to its first women’s Final Four, says the Bruins have all the advantages they need to stay competitive.

“That being said, globally, I do wonder if we are eroding the true lessons that stay with young people for the rest of their lives,” Close said. “My biggest commitment in being a coach is preparing young people for life after basketball and I sometimes worry ... we’re eroding some of the character building that I think is really what’s most special about college athletics.”

Judge’s ruling to set table for new era

Next Monday, a federal judge will hear final arguments before deciding whether to approve the House settlement, a $2.8 billion plan that will add a new layer of change to an already unstable landscape.

If Judge Claudia Wilken approves the settlement as expected, then for the first time schools will be allowed to share TV, ticket and other revenue to the tune of around $20.5 million per year per institution with their athletes. That will be in addition to the payments already allowed from third parties that are turning college players into millionaires.

Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the biggest star in the men’s college game and the favorite to cut down the nets in San Antonio a few hours after that hearing, is making an estimated $4.8 million via NIL deals. Next year, five-star recruit AJ Dybantsa is expected to play at BYU on a deal reportedly worth $7 million.