Coastal Carolina Skipper Gary Gilmore Kills NIL in College Baseball

After final game before retirement, Chanticleers' legendary coach had some words about the NIL landscape in college baseball

Jun 29, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Coastal Carolina Chanticleers head coach Gary Gilmore (14) before the game against the Arizona Wildcats in game three of the College World Series championship series at TD Ameritrade Park. / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers baseball team was eliminated from the Clemson Regional on Sunday, losing 12-5 to Clemson.

Despite ending their season, the worst news was coach Gary Gilmore coaching his final game. The legendary head coach has dealt with cancer since 2020 and retired to continue his fight against it.

His career at Coastal has been nothing but a major success. 1,369 wins, 19 regionals in 29 seasons, and to cap it off, a National Championship.

When you think about mid major baseball programs, Coastal Carolina comes to mind.

However, just like many other older coaches, Gilmore has grown frustrated with NIL. Coaching for a relatively smaller school, despite their success, it's tough to compete with the likes of Tennessee, LSU, and others when it comes to NIL money.

Yes, even in college baseball, NIL is a big factor.

Gilmore had some words about the NIL landscape after the game, saying the following.

“If you had a system [in professional sports] where everyone was a free agent every year, do you realize what chaos it would be? [The leagues] would go away. You wouldn’t have those sports. If you did, in baseball it would be the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, Texas, and the rest of the teams couldn’t compete. … That’s what’s going on right now,” said Gilmore.

“It’s not a level playing field. … The fact that there are teams in college baseball giving $2 million of NIL money away. I mean come on, man.”

It'll likely never be a level playing field for schools like Coastal. Bigger universities have more to work with and that's just the hard truth of the situation.

NIL or not, Gilmore's one of the best to ever lace them up as a college coach. It was a sad day for college baseball, but it's time for him to focus on the next chapter of his life.