Ole Miss, NIL and the Grove Collective: An open letter to all Rebel sports fans
Ole Miss athletics administrators, university leaders and fans have faced some crossroads moments in our history.
Moments that shaped the future of The University of Mississippi. Go left, trouble. Go right, more trouble. Go straight, smooth sailing.
Some centered on former “traditions” but there are others that don’t seem like crossroads moments/decisions that are.
They don’t come along every day. The hiring of a coach, the selection of a chancellor, the building/improvement of facilities. If they are done poorly, the repercussions can last for years. Done well, and it’s another feather in our illustrious plume.
To label those decisions, and other decisions related to the university, critical to the health and welfare of Ole Miss would be an understatement.
Well, now, if you are a Rebel sports fan, you (we) are facing another one of those critical crossroads moments.
Like it, hate it, understand it, don’t get it, agree or disagree, Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) is here and we, as Rebel businesses and individuals, have a decision to make that will shape the future of Ole Miss athletics and establish us as the winners we were meant to be or also-rans we have been too often in the past 50 years.
A revamped, enhanced, consolidated, comprehensive NIL fund – The (New) Grove Collective – was announced today at a press conference on campus and there were several things that were crystal clear.
One, the “new” TGC will be professionally run and staffed and will be more comprehensive and inclusive than the “old” Grove Collective and the Spirit NIL and other NIL programs could ever hope to be.
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Frankly, two funds have gone a long way in “keeping the lights on.”
Attorney William Liston did a helluva job establishing the foundation for TGC.
He and did everything humanly possible with limited manpower. There cannot be enough praise for Liston and the countless hours he devoted to the venture. With limited resources, his version of TGC was as professional as it could possibly be.
The Spirit LLC was more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants adventure – adventure not venture – that succeeded because of the generosity of a lot of movers and shakers who got behind me and my goal of helping Ole Miss football and being a stop-gap solution until a bigger and better solution was developed.
Now it has.
Two, the state laws are allowing more involvement by the university than Liston or I were afforded. In the infancy of NIL, nobody really knew what was legal and what wasn’t, so the Ole Miss administrators approached it from a distance, wisely choosing to stay at arm’s length until they further understood what they could and couldn’t do.
That clearer understanding of what is legal is going to help the new fund reach a much higher level.
It means more money raised, than it ever could without their open endorsement.
The universities in Mississippi, according to an April amendment to the NIL law, allows more interaction between university officials and the NIL organization. That is huge.
Three, the powers that be, both within the school and from the outside, searched for the right person to lead the new fund and the name that kept popping up was Walker Jones, a former Rebel football player and as devoted a Rebel as there is.
Walker, who I have known for nearly 30 years, wasn’t looking for a job. He is the co-owner of a very successful business, but when his school came calling, he answered the call, after a lot of soul-searching. His qualifications and knowledge in the sports arena are extensive and extremely impressive.
It is important to know Jones was hand-picked.
There was no interview process. He did not seek this job, he was sought by some people of influence and importance in the Ole Miss community.
In talking extensively with Jones the past couple of months, it was clear there would be no way he would take this on if it wasn’t for the fact this is his school. He was initially very reluctant, but the more he talked to AD Keith Carter, Lane Kiffin and other coaches and potential donors with some clout – who wanted him unanimously – he realized he was needed and wanted and that he had a built-in, innate duty to help his university.
Once he committed, it has been full speed ahead to reach today’s announcement and after working with him on the transition I am absolutely convinced he is the man for the job.
So here’s the crossroads we are facing.
The school is in need for a strong NIL fund, and that need goes for the coaches, too, if not more so. The leadership for a strong NIL fund is now in place, and the foundation for a strong NIL fund has been established.
Funds that were out there are consolidated into one well-oiled machine.
The ball is in our court.
We all have to participate for this to work. Businesses, individuals – everyone and everything is important and critical.
The small donor will be just as important as the big donor. Small businesses will be just as important as bigger corporations participating.
What will make this fund successful is one thing – group sourcing.
Group sourcing means everyone, no matter how big or how small, involved and active.
I get there are fans who don’t believe in NIL. To put all my cards on the table, I am not a big proponent of the way NIL is right now. I think players should receive a piece of this multi-billion dollar pie, but I also believe NIL needs more, or at least some, regulation. As it is, it’s a free for all with an undercurrent of the rich getting richer.
But NIL in its current form is here and there’s only one bottom line.
If we do not facilitate and contribute to the new Grove Collective, we will not remain competitive very long. Kiffin understands this and did his part to convince Carter to put a plan for stadium expansion on hold in favor of promoting and getting behind – legally – NIL and a “bigger and better” NIL program.
A lot of fans have this paranoia about Kiffin leaving Ole Miss. That is always a possibility in the unstable coaching world, as volatile as it has ever been in a win-or-else environment.
But I can say with confidence he would like to stay here and while he talks about game attendance and some other things that need shoring up around here, there’s only one thing – in this opinion – that would drive him off. An NIL program that does not allow him to stay competitive.
No coach is going to stick around and watch his program disintegrate and deteriorate when something could be done about it. Our fan base has the wherewithal to keep us “in the game” if we all accept NIL and take part in it.
I’m not one for begging or belittling or threatening or any other tactic to make people act. Each person has a right to choose without criticism, but I can state this as fact. If we don’t get involved with The Grove Collective and the relaunching of this cause, we won’t like the results of our athletics in the long run.
I like winning. I know a big piece of the formula to winning – for now and for the immediate future – and it’s a healthy NIL program.
Right? Left? Straight? Make no mistake, the path you choose is important.
Crossroads.
