With $1 million gift from coach, what are priorities for Fresno State basketball?

Fresno State basketball coach Vance Walberg and the Walberg family donated $1 million to the program through the Valley Co-Op, the athletics department’s fund-raising initiative to support, among other things, the recruitment and retention of student-athletes.

So where does that money go?

Walberg, following a practice earlier this week, made the target clear. Players. The Bulldogs’ coach would not divulge an exact dollar figure of the donations going through the Valley Co-Op to student-athletes, but he did allow that it is a large percentage.

“It’s all going to go to basketball one way or the other, whether it’s feeding the kids, whether it’s NIL, whatever else,” Walberg said.

The Bulldogs’ program has ranked toward the bottom of the Mountain West Conference for years in basketball expenditures, but there’s also a 6-26 record a year ago in what was the worst season in school history. Fresno State allowed more than 80 points per game (80.7) for the first time since 1990-91, and had a scoring differential of minus-10.0.

Fresno State last season had a Name Image and Likeness pool for players of a little more than $600,000 and between NIL and revenue-sharing that was approved in July as part of the settlement of three federal antitrust lawsuits filed against the NCAA, it will have more than $1 million in total for the first time this season.

It has made a difference in the 2025-26 roster, though the Bulldogs did lose four recruits when out-bid by schools with larger NIL and revenue sharing budgets, Walberg said.

Fresno State, with an influx of international players, is more talented and deeper than it was last season, when it ranked 351st in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage (40.6) and 322nd in opponent’s field goal percentage (46.6). It clearly has made a difference in Walberg’s mood day to day. “I smile a lot more this year,” he said.

Fresno State has been competitive within the Mountain West in spending on non-travel related food for its basketball program, but team travel also is a target area for Walberg. Donations to the Valley Co-Op can be targeted to specific areas of a sports program, or are to be used at the discretion of the head coach.

The Bulldogs have few non-stop flights within the conference out of Fresno Yosemite International Airport, but have in past years traveled sparingly by charter. “That’ll be my dream one day here,” Walberg said.

Fresno State has invested far less than some Mountain West programs on air and ground travel, lodging and meals during the season, according to revenue and expense reports filed annually to the NCAA.

San Diego State spent a little more than $1 million playing 14 road games in 2023-24, according to its NCAA financial filing, the most recent season available. Boise State invested more than $900,000.

Fresno State that season spent a little more than $600,000 on regular-season travel.