National Pundits Attack Smart's NIL Comments Out of Context
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NIL conversations have and will continue to dominate the conversation when it comes to collegiate athletics. Coaches that choose to critique the process develop labels as "anti-player" and "selfish," especially considering the rise in coaches' salaries across the sport.
For example, head coach Kirby Smart has dealt with criticism following his presser at SEC Media Week. Several national figures criticized Smart for suggesting there needs to be relegation to sustain NIL.
They have typecasted Smart and portrayed him as someone who is only concerned with his own money. When he signed a ten-year contract extension the following day, critics went into an uproar, implying he's a hypocrite for supposedly favoring a system that limits the earning power of collegiate athletes while signing a eight-figure contract annually.
Despite the comments clamoring for regulation, Smart's comments have been a bit stretched out of context. To make him some money-hungry monger is a bit of a reach to say the least. Smart has stated on several occasions that he is in favor of players earning money. During said media availability, he used walk-on safety Dan Jackson as an example of what good can come from NIL.
"For Dan Jackson to be a walk-on from Gainesville, Georgia, and come in and get an opportunity to earn money for his education, that is good for a young man that has a father that's on dialysis down in South Georgia, and he can't support his father unless he goes back home and works or he gets NIL. That is good."
Smart continued to explain that ninety-five players on Georgia's current roster are profiting from NIL deals. For reference, there are only eight-five allotted scholarships in college football per program, meaning there are at minimum ten walk-ons earning money.
"We have 95 players right now with NIL deals that are on our roster. That's incredible. The depth of that, there's so much good there. It's the guardrails; it's the parameters that we need to protect our game and not only protect our game, guys, to protect young men. We may have had the highest-paid defensive lineman last year in the NFL and Jordan Davis. We have the highest-paid tight end in Brock Bowers. Kelee Ringo, I would argue, is probably one of the highest-paid corners."
Smart's current concerns with NIL aren't that players are making money; it is quite the opposite. He stated that he doesn't believe the current free-market economy in collegiate sports is a sustainable model.
Many coaches around college football are promising recruits the farm but likely won't be able to deliver. Kirby is demanding integrity from coaches, wanting them to honor their commitments, but the only way to do that is by implementing some rules and regulations.
"The NIL program we have in place, we have the Classic City Collective run by Matt Hibbs, who does a tremendous job. It's built on being sustainable because I don't think what's going on in college football right now at some places is sustainable, meaning can you do that year in and year out and repeat that? Can you honor the commitment that some people were trying to make to kids to get them to go to their school?"
Accepting that college athletes should profit off their likeness is one thing. Still, we can't pretend that handing eighteen-year-olds millions of dollars without financial literacy or assistance is reasonable. We are all for players making money, what college coaches like Saban and Smart alike are concerned with is a free-market system limit the possibility for competitive balance.
How do we ensure recruits don't get in trouble come tax time? Who are they aligning themselves with? Does your current roster now get what you're promising on the recruiting trail? How are your collectives promising the right money to the right prospects in recruiting if you aren't supposed to be involved as a coaching staff?
Alabama head coach Nick Saban was interviewed by 247 Sports' Josh Pate. During that interview, Saban said similar things; he compared CFB to the NFL, saying that the professionals have structure, league-vetted agents, and a players' union.
Pretending that NIL is perfect could be detrimental to the game many love. The league can balance helping players earn their well-deserved money and maintain strong traditions in college sports. However, coaches pretending these issues don't exist hurts those developments.
