Lane Kiffin sounds off on NIL resolutions among SEC coaches: ‘Nobody has the answer’

There seem to be two major topics emerging from the annual SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., this week. One is the league’s discussions of a new scheduling model and the other is possible NIL resolutions that could help put more guardrails on the current system.

As it stands, NIL has created a ‘Wild West’ of sorts when it comes to recruiting and roster retention.

“Everyone has the complaints, like myself, but nobody really has, that I’ve ever heard, of anybody — coach, anybody, administrator — that has the actual answer of how to fix this,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said.

There are myriad ways the NIL discussion is convoluted and several different angles that any broader NIL resolutions would have to address to make it more equitable and fair.

One of the biggest is all the legal issues surrounding whether players are classified as employees, something that’s already beginning to show signs of being challenged in various states. If and when that changes, it could drastically alter the college athletics landscape.

“I think in the NIL part of trying to control that, figure out something, I don’t know that anybody, I mean there’s all the head coaches in there, I don’t know anybody has that answer of what to do,” Kiffin said. “They know what they don’t like. They all know that. And they complain about it, but nobody really has the answer of what exactly to do because like I’ve said when you talk about making a cap, making salaries, making contracts, then you’ve got all these employee issues.”

But even in the event athletes aren’t designated as employees at some point down the road there are additional challenges in the NIL space.

Because there are no uniform laws broadly, there are no same set of standards that everyone is adhering to. There’s no regulatory body with oversight over NIL deals.

Any potential NIL resolutions likely need to create some system where there is a baseline for deals and practices.

“I don’t know that other people in our profession deal with that because usually, like I said, in the NFL you’ve got agents that you know what contracts are or you talk, ‘OK, this is what they’re giving,’ and these are certified agents you’re dealing with,” Kiffin explained. “Here you’ve got to filter through all the fluff and what someone says a kid has or the kid says that he has. And it’s tough because there is no system around it.”

There are a lot of parties involved with top prospect college athletes. That’s nothing new, but the fire hose of funding is a bit different than the under-the-table dealings of the past.

Nowadays everyone is well aware that top prospects can create a lot of value, and that can lead to more hangers-on looking for a cut of the payday.

NIL resolutions might eventually be aimed at curbing some of that.

“I don’t fault the whatever you want to call them, agents, runners, whatever, and kids, because they’re just trying to get the most that they can get,” Kiffin said. “So there’s a lot of stuff thrown out there that isn’t accurate.”

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