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

Lane Kiffin is simply telling it how it is when it comes to NIL.

Amid the drama stemming from Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher having a spat over misconceptions and the topic dominating headlines, the Ole Miss coach spoke with Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated to sound off on NIL issues.

“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.