ORONO — Division I college athletics is changing almost daily. To use an evolution metaphor that probably doesn’t work, five years ago Division I sports was a one-celled amoeba floating through the primordial ooze. Today it’s building rockets to the moon.

The University of Maine has the only Division I athletic program in the state. As it evolves to keep up, its successes and failures will be on display from the Piscataqua River separating Maine from New Hampshire to the St. John River separating Maine from New Brunswick.

On Monday, Jude Killy, the University of Maine’s athletic director, spoke about how the school is trying to navigate this new landscape. Change is coming in Orono because it has to.

It’s a lot to wrap one’s head around, but the best way is to forget what you knew about college sports. The model that existed for decades is gone. Student-athletes are being paid, through direct payments from schools and NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deals.

If you thought the University of Maine was immune to the changes in Division I sports, step out of 1980 and come sit next to me in 2026. Black Bear student-athletes are already receiving direct payment, Killy said.

Approximately two dozen student-athletes in a handful of sports, both men’s and women’s, have deals right now, Killy said. While he declined to name students or the amounts, Killy said the baseline is $1,000.

The athletic department has already raised “a couple hundred thousand” dollars for this, Killy said, noting that the money also will go toward other things that can enhance the student-athlete experience, like scholarships, nutrition or travel. For example, if a team can take a two-hour flight instead of an eight-hour bus ride, it will. That frees up more time for academics, rest and recovery.

The plan is to set up endowments that will make all of this sustainable, Killy said.

It’s a tough sell, especially coming at the same time the university announced budget cuts and a tuition increase. Killy knows that. He repeatedly stressed throughout Monday’s news conference that all of the money going to direct payments to student-athletes is privately funded. No tuition or state funding is being used. That won’t stop some people from grumbling when they get a higher tuition bill.

“The reality is, as a department we’re looking at cuts as well. We’re not immune to that,” Killy said. “The other reality is, if we want to be a competitive Division I program, we do not have a choice.”

People may disagree with paying student-athletes, which is fine, but that debate is over. It’s happening. Killy is in the unenviable position of figuring out how Maine does it or, if it doesn’t, how far behind it falls. Many fans who grumble about paying student-athletes will grumble if the Black Bears fail to consistently compete for conference titles, or in the case of men’s hockey, national championships.

As the state’s only Division I university, the University of Maine is a window into the state. People see the men’s hockey team on NESN or the women’s basketball team on ESPNU in the America East championship game, or other sports through an ESPN+ subscription, and it raises the school’s profile. Sports are a first impression generator. Success drives student applications and interest.

To sustain success, you have to keep up. Now, that means direct payments. Not every student-athlete at Maine will benefit, there’s approximately 450 of them. But enough will, and it will help get them to Orono, and help keep them there and out of the transfer portal. Coaches had input on the plan, Killy said.

The $170 million that came from the Alfond Foundation, paired with other donations, has helped UMaine reshape its athletic facilities and affirm its commitment to having a Division I program. You don’t spend that kind of money without being prepared to continue to evolve. Direct payments to student athletes is the next step in that evolution.

“The only thing I can promise you right now is, we’re going to continue to have more change,” Killy said. “And the other thing I can promise you is, if we don’t continue to figure out ways to adapt and to mold and to modify, we will be left behind. This is us entering into that, eyes wide open, trying to dictate our own future and support our students as best we can.”

Reaction among-student athletes has been mixed, Killy said. He met with a group of them at the start of the academic year to talk about the House settlement that set all this off, which allows schools to share up to $20.5 million annually with Division I athletes. Reactions ranged from excitement to indifference.

“They want to take their classes and earn their degrees and be good teammates and win games. They’re more focused on those parts of it,” Killy said.

Division I college athletics is changing. Killy and the leadership at the University of Maine know that. Give them credit for keeping up, because that’s a lot easier than catching up.