Duke Legend Laettner Wants NCAA to ‘Take Out’ NIL
32 years ago, Duke’s Christian Laettner hit one of the greatest NCAA Tournament buzzer beaters of all-time - now just known as “The Shot” - when he swished a jumper to beat Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight. The two-time National Champion, Player of the Year and College Hall of Famer joined ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg for an Interview on his annual March Madness press tour, speaking on the current state of college athletics.
Although Laettner - one of college basketball’s greatest and most polarizing players - would have made his fair share of NIL money in the early 1990’s had it been legal, he is not a fan of the current landscape, calling out both NIL and the transfer portal. He did not hold back with his point of view on what’s wrong with college sports today.
"They gotta take out the NIL, they got to wipe that out. They gotta change the transfer portal." @laettnerbball joined #Greeny with @Espngreeny on the 32nd anniversary of "The Shot" pic.twitter.com/NJUb2Yt8fl
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) March 28, 2024
“They gotta take out the NIL. They gotta wipe that out,” Laettner said. “They gotta change the transfer portal. I know everyone’s saying the horse is out of the barn and you can’t take stuff back. But how can you establish any type of culture at a school when you’re getting new kids every year? That would mean every year was like my freshman year at Duke. And you’re so much better your third, your fourth year when you’re under one system, one program, one coach, one specifically defined culture. The way you want to play offense. The way you want to play defense.”
Laettner - who played four years at Duke for Mike Krzyzewski before being a member of the 1992 Dream Team and having a respectable 13-year NBA career - connected dots between the NIL landscape and recent coaching retirements, such as Alababa’s Nick Saban and Villanova’s Jay Wright.
“I don’t know how the coaches do it in today’s game and that’s why some of the better ones are starting to quit,” Laettner added. “The coach at Villanova, he quit. He never should’ve quit. Nick Saban thinking about quitting, or he already quit. It’s so bad to see some of these great, great coaches stop coaching and it’s because of the NIL. It’s because of the transfer portal. I think I saw something with Nick Saban where he said the first thing a kid says to him, a recruit says to him is ‘How much money are you going to give me?’ It’s just horrible.”
While Laettner is clearly not a fan of college athletics monetizing off of their NIL, he certainly continues to leverage his performance as a Blue Devil, starring in March Madness commercials over the past few years for the likes of Corona, AT&T and Continental Tires, among others.
His alma mater - No. 4 Duke - faces No. 1 Houston on Friday in the Sweet 16.
MICHAEL EHRLICH
Michael Ehrlich is a seasoned sports marketing executive with experience across the global sports brand, athlete representation, media and education sides of the business. The Founder and CEO of Playbook Marketing, Ehrlich consults with brands on all things NIL and athlete partnerships, advises student-athletes on their personal brand building endeavors and is an adjunct professor at his alma mater, the University of Southern California where he teaches a course on athlete communications and marketing. As a writer, his previous bylines include Boardroom, Business of College Sports, DIME Magazine and UPROXX, among others. You can follow him across social media at @MichaelEhrlich and reach out via michael@playbook-marketing.com