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‘Professional’ players, ‘owner’ donors: Lane Kiffin gets candid on NIL
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/05/26/lane-kiffin-nil-sports-illustrated-interview/
"Thanks to a pair of major changes enacted by the NCAA last year, college athletes now have a transfer portal that looks a lot like free agency, and an opportunity to profit from their names, images and likenesses that marks a sharp break from lingering notions of amateurism."
"“We’re a professional sport,” the Mississippi coach said in recent comments published by Sports Illustrated, “and they are professional players.”
“It’s totally changed recruiting,” he said. “I joke all the time about it. Facilities and all that. Go ahead and build facilities and these great weight rooms and training rooms, but you ain’t gonna have any good players in them if you don’t have NIL money. I don’t care who the coach is or how hard you recruit, that is not going to win over money.”
Kiffin chose a different description: “You basically made what was cheating before legal.”
His on-the-record assessment jibed with a recent report that some in the coaching community are joking that NIL stands for, “Now, it’s legal!”
“People are going to criticize me for saying that ‘people are paying them to come in’ by saying that’s not what is happening,” he told SI. “That is exactly what’s happening.”
Big-money boosters have always had a say in the direction of major programs, but apart from under-the-table arrangements with recruits, their influence has often been publicly reflected in a willingness to put together the piles of cash necessary to hire — and then buy out — big-name coaches. Now, Kiffin noted, donors have goals they want to see coaches deliver that don’t necessarily have to do wins, losses and bowl games.
“Let’s say reports are true, and some high school quarterback is making $6 to $8 million,” Kiffin said. “ … Are the coaches going to need to play him, or are donors going to be mad when he’s not playing — the first-round pick that the donor drafts. I’ve been in that situation. The people paying that are going to want that guy to play. If he’s not playing, how is the backup quarterback who is earning just a scholarship check going to play over him?”
“I’ve been there, where the owner calls and says, ‘We need to play this guy!’ And I say, ‘No, we need to play this other guy.’ I’ll tell you what happens — you get fired,” Kiffin told SI. “ … What’s going to happen when the lead donor calls and says to play this guy, and you don’t — do you not get fired?”
“If you are advising Bryce Young,” Kiffin said to SI, “why do you not go into the portal and walk into Nick Saban’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to be here, but I’ve got to protect myself so I’m going to go into the portal. And I want to come back as long as it’s matched with what I get out there.’ The kid would make 10 times what he would have made. How’s that not going to happen all the time? It should. It will.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/05/26/lane-kiffin-nil-sports-illustrated-interview/
"Thanks to a pair of major changes enacted by the NCAA last year, college athletes now have a transfer portal that looks a lot like free agency, and an opportunity to profit from their names, images and likenesses that marks a sharp break from lingering notions of amateurism."
"“We’re a professional sport,” the Mississippi coach said in recent comments published by Sports Illustrated, “and they are professional players.”
“It’s totally changed recruiting,” he said. “I joke all the time about it. Facilities and all that. Go ahead and build facilities and these great weight rooms and training rooms, but you ain’t gonna have any good players in them if you don’t have NIL money. I don’t care who the coach is or how hard you recruit, that is not going to win over money.”
Kiffin chose a different description: “You basically made what was cheating before legal.”
His on-the-record assessment jibed with a recent report that some in the coaching community are joking that NIL stands for, “Now, it’s legal!”
“People are going to criticize me for saying that ‘people are paying them to come in’ by saying that’s not what is happening,” he told SI. “That is exactly what’s happening.”
Big-money boosters have always had a say in the direction of major programs, but apart from under-the-table arrangements with recruits, their influence has often been publicly reflected in a willingness to put together the piles of cash necessary to hire — and then buy out — big-name coaches. Now, Kiffin noted, donors have goals they want to see coaches deliver that don’t necessarily have to do wins, losses and bowl games.
“Let’s say reports are true, and some high school quarterback is making $6 to $8 million,” Kiffin said. “ … Are the coaches going to need to play him, or are donors going to be mad when he’s not playing — the first-round pick that the donor drafts. I’ve been in that situation. The people paying that are going to want that guy to play. If he’s not playing, how is the backup quarterback who is earning just a scholarship check going to play over him?”
“I’ve been there, where the owner calls and says, ‘We need to play this guy!’ And I say, ‘No, we need to play this other guy.’ I’ll tell you what happens — you get fired,” Kiffin told SI. “ … What’s going to happen when the lead donor calls and says to play this guy, and you don’t — do you not get fired?”
“If you are advising Bryce Young,” Kiffin said to SI, “why do you not go into the portal and walk into Nick Saban’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to be here, but I’ve got to protect myself so I’m going to go into the portal. And I want to come back as long as it’s matched with what I get out there.’ The kid would make 10 times what he would have made. How’s that not going to happen all the time? It should. It will.”