NCAA Coaches on NIL

Last week, the SEC dispatched a group of its top coaches to Washington DC to express their position on a Congressional NIL bill.

At CleanKonnect, this visit prompted us to step back and examine the opinions of NCAA football coaches regarding NIL after two years. Some notable coaches from the SEC have voiced reservations about the current NIL system, particularly regarding collectives and their impact on recruiting. One example is Nick Saban, who publicly alleged that Texas A&M bought their recruiting class, while Eli Drinkwitz, the head coach of Missouri, went viral with his comment about college players earning more than his brother-in-law, a pediatrician.

Deion Sanders recently discussed NIL in an interview with Joel Klatt, expressing no concerns about NIL itself but criticizing collectives that lure recruits with significant financial deals. Sanders believes this takes away from a recruit's consideration of schools, coaches, systems, and their motivation to earn a similar income in the NFL. Sanders proposes a shift towards performance-based NIL deals that reward exceptional players.

However, Coach Sanders overlooks the fact that only 1.2% of college players have the opportunity to play in the NFL. The NCAA serves a broader purpose than just developing professional athletes and should focus on rules that improve the lives of all student-athletes. Implementing rules that cater to the minority who can go pro while neglecting the 98.8% of student-athletes who can't would be unfair.

Coach Sanders also claims that only a few college athletes appear in national advertisements, suggesting that collectives and specific NIL deals have no connection to a player's name, image, or likeness. While this statement isn't entirely accurate (the majority of the top 50 athletes by NIL valuation have national brand deals, and many outside the top 50 do as well), it also disregards the numerous local and regional businesses participating in NIL deals. Coach Sanders, like others involved in NIL, has a perspective shaped by his specific circumstances, and these varying perspectives contribute to the challenge of establishing standardized NIL rules nationwide.

Football coaches across the country seem to share these opinions. Mack Brown, the head football coach at UNC, argues that college football has turned into a "mini-NFL" due to NIL. Brown suggests appointing a commissioner to oversee college football, implementing a "salary cap" for NIL deals, and establishing clearer distinctions between Power 5, Group of 5, and FCS schools. While his proposal embraces a more professional approach, it involves significant changes to college athletics that are unlikely to happen in the near future.

Similar sentiments are expressed by prominent college basketball coaches, including Jim Boeheim, the former head coach of the Syracuse men's team, who accused Miami, Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest of buying their teams. Ironically, Syracuse has faced NCAA sanctions twice during Boeheim's tenure for violating policies, including providing improper benefits to athletes.

However, some coaches, like Trent Dilfer at UAB, are supportive of NIL. When asked how UAB will compete with six-figure transfer offers for his players, Dilfer responded by embracing the opportunity for his student-athletes. Dilfer's perspective prioritizes the best interests of players over concerns about the transfer portal driven by selfish desires for coaching prestige and contract renewals.