Lane Kiffin on involving boosters in the NIL process
ATLANTA — We’re in a new age of college football. Between the transfer portal, conference realignment and the emergence of NIL, navigating this new world can be difficult for head coaches, especially when it comes to NIL and players getting paid.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is one of many concerned parties.
The former Alabama offensive coordinator has been vocal about how name, image and likeness is affecting college football. His concerns have been well-documented, but on Monday, he brought up an excellent point at SEC Media Days, which is being held this week at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
To start, Kiffin believes there should be some sort of cap on NIL that will keep the playing field as even as possible. He also believes that coaches — and some sort of general manager — should be the two parties tasked with managing that cap.
In his mind, coaches should be more involved with athletes getting paid, not less.
“I think ideally, if we’re going to be in a NIL world, somehow you’re going to do it right, it’s going to get capped so that there’s some way of controlling it and keeping playing fields close to the same,” Kiffin told reporters. “Otherwise, you’re just going to have these glaring differences within Division I football based off of what I’ve said before, their salary cap.
“Ideally, I would think that the coach should be part of managing that. That’s how you’d want it done. But I don’t know if it will be that way or whatever. So that’s just how I would do it. That’s based off looking at what happens in professional sports. There’s salary caps. The coach and the general manager/owner manage that.”
Kiffin brings up an interesting point. But more importantly, what’s the alternative? He also pointed out that the current structure sets up for collectives, which are mostly run by boosters and other donors, to oversee how these funds are distributed to athletes.
Naturally, that approach is going to come with issues.
“If you have boosters deciding who they’re going to pay to come play, and the coach isn’t involved in it, how does that work?” Kiffin asked the media. “They just pick who they want and tell you who to play? And when they don’t play, how is that going to work out?”
Kiffin is speaking on a concern that a lot of people share.
The problem is that we’re not getting answers to these types of questions, which is why we should all be glad that he continues to put the spotlight on some of the negatives surrounding NIL. We’ll probably hear similar concerns coming from Alabama coach Nick Saban on Tuesday.
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