Steve Spurrier shares how he would have handled NIL as a coach

NIL is a nationwide matter as coaches decide what’s best for their program in the space. However, it’s interesting to hear what someone who missed the start of the name, image, and likeness era in college sports would do if they were to juggle the challenge of it today.

To end last week, Steve Spurrier did exactly that on ‘Open Mike’ with Mike Bianchi. In his mind, he said he would have handled it how most coaches are today by doing his best to win bidding wars for the players that he’d want to bring in.

“I would have probably tried to do it like all these guys are doing it now,” Spurrier said. “You find some wealthy, wealthy guys that sort of have more money than they know what to do with and then you can try to match what the other schools are offering them.”

From there, Spurrier did mention the good work currently going on down in Gainesville with the Florida Gators. He spoke briefly on their collectives, specifically Florida Victorious, and how it works in the context of how it also affects the school’s boosters.”

“I think that’s sort of what we’re doing…We’ve got some programs in place,” said Spurrier. “Of course it sort of conflicts with Gator boosters for all of the other sports. Our booster people can designate where they want their gift to go. Football or swimming, tennis, soccer. Whatever they want to give it towards.”

For a coach like Spurrier, there’s no way of knowing how much better he could have been as a coach had he had NIL at his disposal for recruitment. He won 228 games for a 0.718 winning percentage over 26 years at Duke, Florida, and South Carolina without being able to recruit players with name, image, and likeness benefits.

Even so, he says his way wouldn’t be too much different from what we already see. His first order of business would be to generate the necessary funds and, from there, hope it’s enough to bring talent into your locker room rather than lose it to someone else’s.

Spurrier on realignment: ‘I’m sad for the student-athletes’

Steve Spurrier isn’t quite a fan of conference realignment, especially as of late.

Spurrier is fascinated by these country-wide conferences. However, he took issue with the perception that student-athletes weren’t considered more with these realignment decisions.

Overall, he chalked it all up to the almighty dollar.

“Yeah, I’m sad for the student athletes,” Spurrier recently said on ‘Open Mike’. “It seems as if money’s the only thing that these conference commissioners and athletic directors want to look at. I noticed one of the women soccer players, I think it was at either Oregon or Washington. (She) said one reason I chose this school is because my parents can come watch me play. Some of them will be playing games halfway across the country. 

“They’re not gonna get to watch. But, yeah, they don’t consult with the athletes about what decision to make. And it just seems like money is the only thing you’re basing all these decisions on.”