LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The economics of women’s college basketball have changed.
Name, image and likeness money is flowing. Revenue sharing has arrived. The richest programs — once only richer in tradition — are now richer in fact. Recruiting isn’t just a battle of pitches and player development. It’s a bidding war.
And still, Jeff Walz is signing up to fight it.
The 2025–26 Louisville women’s basketball nonconference schedule is a statement. One that says, loudly: We’ll still take on anyone, anywhere. Even if “anyone” now includes the reigning champs with a multi-million-dollar payroll.
This isn’t new for Walz. He’s made a career out of chasing greatness, not avoiding it. But in this new landscape, where the financial arms race is no longer hypothetical, it feels even more defiant. Especially when his team will face both of last year’s NCAA championship game participants in non-conference play — and two of the three other active coaches who, like Walz, have been to at least four Final Fours.
Run it down.
Louisville opens Nov. 4 in Germany against UConn in the Peraton Armed Forces Classic, a first-of-its-kind event for women’s programs. From there, they host 10 home games, the most in eight seasons.
- Nov. 12: Colorado, a 2024 NCAA Sweet 16 team.
- Nov. 22: Kentucky, in the annual rivalry showdown.
- Nov. 28–30: A three-day, four-team event featuring Eastern Illinois, East Tennessee State, and Bellarmine, including one day of games at Knights Hall.
- Dec. 4: South Carolina, coached by Dawn Staley, as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.
- Dec. 20: Tennessee, in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the Women’s Champions Classic.
Add in solid mid-majors like Ball State, New Hampshire, Northern Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky, and there are no weeks off.
By the time Louisville reaches ACC play, they’ll have tested themselves against Top 10 teams, future pros, and some of the sport’s most powerful collectives.
Walz has said for years: If you want to be the best, play the best. His scheduling has always reflected that. But this one ups the ante — because the stakes in college basketball have never been higher.
There are more paychecks, more exposure, and more pressure. Programs that used to win with grit and culture now need cash and contracts. Walz use to talk to recruits armed with attendance and atmosphere. Now, he needs assets and accountants.
Walz isn’t naïve to that. But he also isn’t changing who he is, or what his teams are about. Even as others change the game around him, he’s still coaching like someone who believes the best basketball will win.
And he’s still writing checks with his schedule that he intends for his team to cash.
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