Lane Kiffin on NIL: 'You Just Legalized Cheating'

SEC Media Days are a time to boast about the individuals and coaches on your team — Kiffin took a much different angle on Thursday morning.

Austin Hannon | Jul 20, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — College football is turning into the new Wild West.

There are plenty of people concerned. Alabama head coach Nick Saban and others went to Congress in search of change. At this moment, college football is not only turning into free agency — but worse. There are no contracts, there are no real rules.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was the first to speak on the need for change in his opening monologue on Monday morning.

"Our activities in Congress or discussions with states and even discussions of conference policies are not about taking away," Sankey said. "Not about taking away these new name, image and likeness opportunities. In many ways, it's been a net positive for young people."

"But we all know there are stories — some stories told and others not told — of promises made but not fulfilled, of inducements offered but not provided, of empty commitments of NIL agreements that created more questions than provided answers, and other behaviors in this space that rightly cause concern."

Fast forward to the final day of 2023 SEC Football Media Days. Most coaches take to the podium to promote their program and athletes for the upcoming season. Instead of doing that, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin had a much different plan on Thursday morning — there was very little talk at all about his 2023-24 Rebels team.

"I'm going to address the portal, NIL — what I kind of call [the] disaster that we're in," Kiffin said. "I've always said that I think it's phenomenal that players get a chance to get paid, which is great. [...] There's not a system in place. I don't think there's any other sport at any level that are like this, that really, you every year, can opt into free agency. Really, twice a year. I mean, I was just thinking on the plane ride over here — what if you had that in other sports? Tom Brady, A'ja Wilson, Lionel Messi, LeBron James — what if every year those guys can opt to free agency, twice a year really, and they have no long-term contracts? Basically everybody is not even on a one-month contract because they can leave in two windows."

"This is a disaster coming because you just legalized cheating and you just told donors [that] they can pay the players is what you did. And it's supposed to be set up — well, really it's for your name, image, likeness, for your marketing. Again, that's not what happened. That's not what's happening. They are getting paid to go to school. So it's pay-for-play."

For the people that may think coaches are complaining because they aren't getting the players they want out of the portal — that's not the case. In fact, Saban and Kiffin are two of the best at bringing in great talent from the portal.

But what's happening in college football isn't sustainable — and eventually, it may tarnish the sport forever if it isn't dealt with.

"Imagine like in professional sports, which again, we are — so as far as it is with players, that you're coaching a player in camp and then, you know what, I don't like the way you're coaching me. I graduated, so I'm going to go. I'm going to go play for another team," Kiffin said. "Teams know that. People pre-portal. They know who is going in and who has graduated and they are dealing with that, too. That really messes kids up. It's really challenging for a kid. He's working out with his team in the offseason but then other schools are calling him about going there, and him being fully invested when hey, the strength coach yells at me or I don't like where I'm at on the depth chart and I can go, I can leave. That's not a good set up."

Kiffin is just one of many head coaches in the SEC and country that is frustrated with the current system surrounding NIL in college football.

So, what does the future look like? We'll see.

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