Former SEC Coach Believes Athletes Should Be Fined for Faking Injuries in NIL Era

Former head coach Dan Mullen believes players should be penalized with fines if they are caught faking injuries during games.

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

It’s not just sponsorship and marketing that has changed for college athletics lately; the actual product on the field has also changed. 

Over the past few seasons, the uptick in teams faking injuries in games to gain a strategic advantage is becoming a concern. Coaches are finding loopholes to stop the clock or slow the other team’s momentum by having the official stop the play clock for ‘injuries’. However, most of these stoppages are well-oiled stunts. 

One of the leaders in the top college football conference has had enough. On Friday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey released a memo warning SEC coaches about faking injuries. This warning included possible penalties or even suspensions.

However, one former coach did not think that was enough and provided a different strategy in the new landscape of college football. Former Mississippi State Bulldogs and Flordia Gators head coach Dan Mullens believes that in the NIL era of today’s sport, the athlete should hold some responsibility for injury stunts on the field. The best way, he believes, to get them to stop doing it is to be fined. 

“I think the coaches’ fine is interesting. I think the league should fine the players. They’re getting paid now. They have their NIL contracts; they have their money,” said Mullens on College Football Countdown, who is now an analyst for ESPN. “If they’re the ones that are gonna go down, like, if the coach says take a dive, and you know you’re gonna get fined if you fake an injury, are you gonna stay on your feet?”

It could be an effective way to slow down fake injuries on the field, but would it work for all players? Not everyone in this new universe of college sports makes money from their name, image, and likeness, and the disparity is the same. Plus, if you are a player trying to make the next level, how do you respond when your coach tells you to do something in the game? 

That’s where Mullen’s co-host and former All-Pro NFL wide receiver Joey Galloway drew the line. He thinks the fault has to remain with the coaching staff. 

“You went too far with that because the coach is the one making the call. The player just isn’t, on his own, deciding it’s time to go down. What they need to do is take a timeout,” says Galloway. “If you charge them a timeout, now, all of a sudden, they’re being penalized in-game. So if you penalize us in-game, then all of a sudden, we’ve got to make a change. A fine? Dan, you’d have wrote that check 1,000 times, no big deal. $100,000, here you go, take it. I’m gonna get my free timeout.”

Greg Sankey sent a memo to SEC coaches & ADs ordering them to stop directing players to feign injuries & instituting penalties that include, on a 3rd offense, a coach suspension, per a copy obtained by @YahooSports.

"Play football & stop the feigned injury nonsense," he writes. pic.twitter.com/1ShgBeve9V

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 1, 2024

The memo sent out by Sankey stated that the SEC will now be following a penalty structure with punishments becoming more severe based on the occurrence within the program. The first offense will be a $50,000 fine, and the second offense will result in a double of $100,000 fine. After the second time, suspensions could come into play with a one-game suspension for the head coach plus a public reprimand from the conference. It may not sound like much, but in the day of social media, it could be game-changing, especially for the players. 

Sankey mentioned that players who fake an injury will also be subject to public reprimands. This could affect the players' NIL deals and possibly end a sponsorship due to bad publicity.