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- Lane Kiffin gives a refreshingly honest take on NIL, the transfer portal, and the state of college football.
- Kiffin makes a valid point in questioning why Bryce Young didn’t test the waters in the transfer portal this offseason.
- Be sure to check out more sports stories at BroBible here.
Lane Kiffin is keeping it real when it comes to NIL, the transfer portal, and the overall state of college football.
The same can’t be said about other college football coaches. Use the Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher spat as just one example of coaches complaining about cheating and paying players while ‘cheating’ and paying players is now legal.
From day one, Kiffin has been on board with players getting paid on their name, image, and likeness. He, like many others, also predicted what we’re seeing now, which is Power 5 schools further separating from the rest of college football.
Lane Kiffin Says This College Football Model Is Sustainable
What’s different about Kiffin’s take on the situation, other than simply being honest, he thinks the current model is sustainable.
“You have kids going to schools now, and some haven’t even taken a visit. [They sign] because of their NILs. You’ve got to think that it is here to stay. To say that it’s not sustainable, why? Ten years ago, no one would have said schools were going to pay coaches $10 million a year. Well, they do now,” Kiffin told Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated.
“When people argue and say there is no way donors are going to come up with the money to pay players this much? Wait, those are the same donors that pay $30 to $40 million to one coach—when they fire him! But they’re not going to raise $20 million a year for players? Yeah, they are. It just means they’re not going to give it to other things on campus, like facilities.”
If there’s something big-money people are motivated to do, they do.”
Why Didn’t Bryce Young Enter The Transfer Portal?
While there is no question that there needs to be some sort of rules and regulations put on NIL and recruiting, few people actually have ideas for a solution when asked what said rules and regulations should be.
Kiffin thinks that the easiest way to level the playing field, so to speak, is to put a cap in place.
“The thing that seems simple is there’s a cap. How are we not a professional sport? What is the difference? [Players] are making money. They can opt into free agency. We’re a professional sport, and they are professional players.”
“Contracted employees without contracts. They can get out whenever they want. And how is it not being seen that, unless there are changes of rules around caps and contracts, how is every elite college player not at the end of their season [entering the portal]?”
This led Kiffin into asking a question most wouldn’t dare ask: why didn’t Alabama’s Bryce Young enter the portal?
On the surface, that question seems asinine. Young plays for the powerhouse of college football, won the Heisman last season and has every resource imaginable at his disposal.
Kiffin’s question makes sense, however.
“Why did Bryce Young not go into the portal? If you are advising Bryce Young, why do you not go into the portal and walk into Nick Saban’s office and say, ‘Hey, I want to be here, but I’ve got to protect myself so I’m going to go into the portal. And I want to come back as long as it’s matched with what I get out there.’”
“The kid would make 10 times what he would have made. How’s that not going to happen all the time? It should. It will.”
When that exact scenario plays out, which it very well could, that’s when college football truly becomes the monster everyone thinks it’s already become.