Lane Kiffin on big-money collectives, NIL deals moving forward: 'It is sustainable'

It may feel like a ticking time bomb, but Lane Kiffin sees a path forward with NIL and big-money collectives.

The Ole Miss coach spoke with Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated to explain why he believes the much-maligned topic isn’t as big of an issue as many are making it out to be.

“You have kids going to schools now, and some haven’t even taken a visit. [They sign] because of their NILs. You’ve got to think that it is here to stay. To say that it’s not sustainable, why? Ten years ago, no one would have said schools were going to pay coaches $10 million a year. Well, they do now,” explained Kiffin. “When people argue and say there is no way donors are going to come up with the money to pay players this much? Wait, those are the same donors that pay $30 to $40 million to one coach—when they fire him! But they’re not going to raise $20 million a year for players? Yeah, they are. It just means they’re not going to give it to other things on campus, like facilities.

“If there’s something big-money people are motivated to do, they do. Everyone wants to own an NFL team. It’s essentially like you’re a minority owner if you are a big-time investor [in a collective]. You get to show up on Saturday and see your product. It is sustainable.”

Lane Kiffin makes some salient points — basically, if the big-money collectives are okay with it, NIL will flourish in the future. Not everyone will share the opinion of the Ole Miss coach, but Kiffin’s level-headed take has some legs.

Lane Kiffin sounds off on NIL issues: ‘It’s totally changed recruiting’

Continuing, the Ole Miss coach told Dellenger about why he believes NIL has totally changed recruiting.

“I’ve said from the beginning, players should get paid. They do the work. Why that should be limited to a scholarship check, I disagree with. And they shouldn’t be [paid] all equal. That’s not what happens in the real world,” explained Kiffin. “Why does their best player get paid the same as their worst player? That’s not real life. There’s just not a system. It was ‘O.K., open it up!’ No system behind it. I’m sure some people saw these things coming, and a lot of people didn’t.

“These collectives, you basically made what was cheating before legal. You had no rules behind it. You’ve created something that was going to have a ton of issues. To think these things weren’t going to go this direction, once you allow boosters to do whatever they wanted.”

As you can see, Kiffin isn’t sugarcoating things any longer. Additionally, the Rebels leader stated his belief that recruiting will never be the same — it ain’t about who has the best program, team or facilities, it’s about who can pay recruits the most.

“You take a 17-year-old who, a lot of them, don’t come from money and family doesn’t come from money. .. If any person tells you that their NIL is not the No. 1 thing … take 100 of them and ask about the No. 1 thing that’s going to make the decision … it’s not the size of the stadium, not the head coach, not the campus or the conference, the No. 1 thing will be money,” stated Kiffin. “And how would you blame them? A professional player already has money, and they usually follow the money [in free agency]. So when you don’t have it and are three or four years away from getting money in the NFL, you take what is guaranteed. How can you blame them when a lot of them never make it to the NFL? How do you not take it?

“It’s totally changed recruiting. 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.”

Lane Kiffin is done beating around the bush. The Ole Miss coach has never been one for a filter, and he’s not hiding behind political correctness anymore — NIL has changed the game, and Kiffin is speaking the truth.