“Since you make 10 times what I make"-LSU coach Jay Clark’s hilarious response to Olivia Dunne on her NIL wealth when she wasn’t at her best

Louisiana State University (LSU)’s head coach Jay Clark shared a humorous response when Olivia Dunne encountered a challenging day while performing her gymnastics routine.

Recently, Clark guided LSU to their first-ever NCAA women's gymnastics crown at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships 2024, which took place in Fort Worth, Texas. With a combined total of 198.2250, LSU finished ahead of California (197.8500), Utah (197.8000), and Florida (197.4375) in the final.

In a conversation with Washington Post’s journalist Emily Giambalvo, Clark was asked about Olivia Dunne’s NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals. He responded by mentioning an instance that he shared with the gymnast when she wasn’t at her best, which Giambalvo shared on her X (formerly Twitter) handle.

There, he humorously told Dunne, adding:

“How do you want me to handle this? Since you make 10 times what I make.”

Post LSU’s title triumph at the NCAA Championships, Jay Clark talked about the victory and his team (posted on WBRZ-TV’s YouTube channel) in an interview, adding:

"Just so many emotions for so many reasons. This team is full of individuals that have incredible character and integrity and love for each other and all the things that you hear from coaches when they sit at a podium like this in a moment of victory.” (1:38-1:57)

He also mentioned:

“But I promise you, it's a real thing that we spend time and work on and try to get better at every single year.”

Clark, who previously served as the head coach of the Georgia GymDogs gymnastics program, became the head coach of the LSU Lady Tigers on May 4, 2012.

Olivia Dunne’s Net worth and NIL deals

Olivia Dunne of LSU warms up on the uneven bars during a gymnastics meet against Auburn at Neville Arena on February 10, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Stew Milne/Getty Images)

Olivia Dunne is known to be one of the highest-paid NCAA athletes after she revealed on the Full Send Podcast (YouTube Channel) in 2023 that she earned over $500,000 from a single post. In addition, Dunne is among the most popular college athletes, with 8M followers on TikTok and 5.1M followers on Instagram.

Following her joining the LSU Tigers gymnastics team in 2020, she bagged her first NIL deal with WME Sports in August 2021, a month after the NCAA made a rule change to allow athletes to earn money through their name, image, and likeness (NIL).

Dunne also has endorsement deals with brands like Vuori clothing, Motorola, Body Armor, Linktree, Grubhub, American Eagle Outfitters, Forever 21, and Bartleby.