Maryland head coach Mike Locksley is fed up with the impact of NIL on college football. He continues to speak out against the current system and hopes that his vocal opposition will one day inspire change.
Nothing has changed thus far.
In the meantime, the 54-year-old college football coach is forced to deal with the constant frustrations surrounding Name, Image and Likeness. A system that was built to allow student-athletes the ability to make money while still in school through charity and marketing opportunities has become a not-so indirect pay-for-play model. That was never supposed to happen, but everybody saw it coming and the NCAA did not think to get out ahead of the obvious issues that were to emerge.
One of the most frustrating parts of NIL relates to roster retention. Coaches like Mike Locksley are essentially forced to re-recruit all of their players every year, or else they might enter the transfer portal and seek a bigger bag at another program. It’s happening everywhere.
Locksley, who is in Las Vegas to promote the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, spoke with the ‘BMitch & Finlay’ show of 106.7 the Fan. NIL was a prominent topic of discussion.
His outlook on the entire landscape comes from experience.
Yeah, I mean, it’s like I’ve told my assistant coaches. I mean, sometimes coaches want three-year, four-year deals. If you’re a good coach, you don’t want a three-year, four-year deal. You want to come back to the table every year and use the leverage. Now, you got to believe in yourself because if all of a sudden your production ain’t there, now you’re in trouble. But I mean, it’s the same thing, man.
— Mike Locksley, via BMitch & Finlay
As frustrated as Locksley might be, he is not complaining. Nor is he trying to stop the athletes from getting paid. It is hope that someone will step in to provide some guidance, both for the players and the coaches. Until then, he is doing the best that he can to provide that education.
I’m not bitching about it or complaining about it. It’s, we have to figure it out, and at Maryland we are working to figure it out. We’ve got some people that are really supporting us, and after that two-week window where all of us went through it. I mean, I’ve talked to all my buddies that are head coaches, and it’s just a different landscape. And until we get guardrails put on NIL, transfer portal. I mean, kids should get paid, but we just need to figure out the best way to do it. And it’s my job now to educate them on that end of the business side of it.
— Mike Locksley, via BMitch & Finlay
Locksley also provided an anecdote about NIL that puts the ongoing mayhem into perspective. One of his third-string players used money as leverage. If the athlete didn’t get the money he wanted, he was going to leave. That is not uncommon in the modern era.
Because of this portal, NIL. Your third-team tailback coming in and saying, “I need $100,000 or I’m going into the portal.” And you’re like, “Where does this magic $100,000 number come from?” And it just, I mean, I sat in my office and every meeting I had was basically – and we’re seven wins and going to a bowl and taking the next step – but everything coming in was like, “I want this. I want that.” And the greatest team sport has now become kind of individualized.
— Mike Locksley, via BMitch & Finlay
It is unclear as to whether Locksley was speaking in hypotheticals and he did not name names. However, Maryland did lose backup running backs Antwain Littleton and Ramon Brown to the portal.