OT? Lane Kiffen speaks truth about NIL and recruiting
This was in the Clarion Ledger, some outfit in Mississippi that apparently covers Ole Miss football. It was an interview with Kiffen about recruiting, and he touched on some interesting points. The most biting comment:
"I don't think people really say it this way, but let's not make a mistake: We have free agency in college football," Kiffin said. "The kids a lot of times go to where they're going to get paid the most. No one else is saying that, maybe. But the kids say 'This is what I'm getting here from NIL.'"
This isn't some flash that was never thought of before, but it is interesting that a coach came out and said it. I guess if any coach was going to, it would be Kiffen... He had some other interesting points in the story about the transfer portal, namely that thousands of kids give up their scholarship and never find a new landing spot. I'm not sure that you lose your scholly when entering the portal, but who knows how it actually works with team dynamics?
Yeah, it's centered on Ole Miss, but I thought the story was an interesting read the day before National Signing Day.
December 14th, 2021 at 7:58 PM ^
Lane Kiffin is a dork.
December 14th, 2021 at 7:58 PM ^
Sounds like Lane lost a recruit to another school.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:00 PM ^
Maybe he should've swapped pants too, not just hoodies
December 14th, 2021 at 8:01 PM ^
I'm not reading all that.
I'm happy for you
Or sorry that happened
December 14th, 2021 at 8:04 PM ^
*It's Kiffin, like in your quote.
But no, nothing we didn't know before. Somewhat interesting that he'd say it, but then again...he's Lane Kiffen, he moves to his own beat.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:07 PM ^
It's a good thing money didn't motivate Lane to leave FAU for Ole Miss (or Tennessee for USC). Otherwise this would reek of hypocrisy.
Jackass.
December 14th, 2021 at 9:06 PM ^
I don’t see it. He is not saying it’s bad, just explaining the landscape.
December 14th, 2021 at 9:18 PM ^
Sounds like he's lamenting it to me.
December 15th, 2021 at 8:26 AM ^
This is certainly a valid point, but I will say that Lane seems to have matured quite a bit since he time with Saban. He's become a pretty good coach - as we can tell with his two-year reclamation project at football backwater Ole Miss. Another year or two of this level of work, and he'll be looking at another blue blood opportunity.
Off the top of my head, I can see the situation at both Texas and Nebraska not improving with their current coaches. Kiffen would be an excellent candidate at both (especially Texas). Of course, this is only if he keeps Ole Miss top 20 relevant for another year or two, without getting national attention for something stupid, like he did in his younger days.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:08 PM ^
I like Lane even if he is a huge chode
December 14th, 2021 at 8:36 PM ^
So you like huge chodes eh?
December 14th, 2021 at 8:57 PM ^
I wouldn't say that I "like" him, but I respect the DGAF attitude.
December 15th, 2021 at 12:50 AM ^
Didn't he hire Briles' son though as OC?
December 14th, 2021 at 8:12 PM ^
On UGA, locked on podcast, they said Texas A&M was offering recruits a ridiculous amount of NIK money. They are projected to be #1 in recruiting.
It be nice to actually see how this works. Maybe they could record the meetings like they do with police interrogations and post them on YouTube to give me something to do at 3am when I can't sleep.
December 14th, 2021 at 10:37 PM ^
Yeah, I'd like to know what exactly A&M is offering, because whatever it is, it's working.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
So being that Michigan is one of the wealthier schools, how do we take advantage that?
December 14th, 2021 at 8:53 PM ^
How do you think McCarthy got $10,000 to donate last week?
His money to keep; I am not knocking what he did.
Sam Webb has said UM does it behind the scenes.
My guess, the donors don't want publicity.
December 14th, 2021 at 9:41 PM ^
If a player gets a deal from the local Subway (for example), does the money flow through the University for audit reasons? Asking because I don’t know.
I assumed that Joe Business guy could sign a deal directly with the player.
If my assumption is correct, no need for bag men, which is what coaches like Kiffin used to their advantage. Maybe he’s lamenting because he lost this advantage.
December 14th, 2021 at 11:09 PM ^
Last summer it was "just wait its coming". We are still waiting.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:14 PM ^
Before NIL you know many kids used to decide? The same way: how much they got paid.
December 15th, 2021 at 12:52 AM ^
Right. Kiffin just doesn't want to say they offered less under the table than another school, but he can say that with NIL now. There's nothing new about recruits flipping seemingly out of nowhere.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
He's at a school and a conference that has a 75 year - here's how we do this - head start on the paying the players game.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
Of course Kiffin is going to say this. Mississippi can't afford safe drinking water, he knows he can't consistently compete with Alabama or Georgia in the NIL era.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:39 PM ^
Safe drinking water? Whoa, glass houses and all that.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:52 PM ^
There's a difference in can't afford it and ignore it. Still, that's not the point.
December 15th, 2021 at 2:24 AM ^
No that's a head in sand comment...Miss like Michigan can definitely afford it...but choices.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:22 PM ^
Dude should just shut up.
What a hypocrite.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:35 PM ^
"some outfit in Mississippi"
Yeah, the major newspaper in Jackson.
December 14th, 2021 at 8:49 PM ^
This isn't like decades ago when kids dream to playing for Woody, or dreamed of playing for Bo. With all the money in the NFL, and now the NIL, with the lack of loyalty, these kids are really nothing but free agent, and many of them will sell out to the highest bidder. Now they just put a legitimate candy coating getting bags of money
December 14th, 2021 at 9:10 PM ^
I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect they do give up the scholarship when going in the portal. Coaches are going to fill those spots, not wait for a decision. All scholarships are year to year.
December 14th, 2021 at 9:21 PM ^
Entering the portal is a 2-way street. The player has the option to go back to the school they were originally at, but the school doesn't have to hold the scholarship.
December 14th, 2021 at 10:42 PM ^
Wow, I guess 'Ole Miss has lost its touch under Lane of all people, stunning...
December 15th, 2021 at 3:18 AM ^
From the article:
But entering the portal is a risk if you're leaving because you've been passed over on the depth chart. Kiffin estimates there are "thousands" of kids in the portal without a home who voluntary (sic) gave up scholarships for the promise of a fresh start that never came.
"There are just a lot of things happening from what was initially a really good idea to help the kids," Kiffin said.
end quote
Obviously, Kiffin isn't a saint. But that sentiment seems real. It's a numbers game and when 18-year-olds are making life decisions, sometimes they lose out.
There are about 12-13,000 high schools playing football in the country. And about 1,000 colleges. Since college rosters are larger, let's say 10% of high school football athletes will continue to pursue the game - many at small colleges.
Let's say you have 5,000 high school starting quarterbacks heading to college in a given year. And about 500 of them have a reasonable expectation of starting in college ball somewhere at some point. Sorting that out - especially at the FBS level - seems like a nightmare. A lot of good players will need to transfer to get a reasonable opportunity to play. And many more players will be in the portal - players that coaches will have a lot of difficulty scouting if they've never played a down after high school.
I don't think the portal is a terrible idea, but if it's encouraging kids to give up scholarships, then it actually ends up benefiting the top schools considerably at someone's expense because they will have scholarships opening up all the time, thus improving the efficiency of the system.
But what do you do if you've entered the portal and there's nowhere to go? It's a big risk and I think it's a case where you have a system that benefits very few, at the elite level, while many lose out.
If this system is to continue, and I'm not opposed to it, perhaps there could be a regional network of retired coaches or connected high school coaches who (without the college necessarily knowing) help kids make good decisions about the portal before they declare.
Kiffin's comparison to free agency may be apt, but it should be a more informed free agency. Professional leagues use a different system (usually a draft) for league entry. Undrafted rookie free agents do not get much guaranteed money.
December 15th, 2021 at 6:56 AM ^
Same thing was happening before NIL. I find it funny now the playing field is level and some schools are annoyed by it.
December 15th, 2021 at 4:59 PM ^
He would know. At USC he could only take a handful of recruits a year and they had postseason bans, plus he'd already jumped ship more than once, yet managed to pull in nothing but 5 star top 100 type players into those tiny classes. It wasn't because of his charm or integrity. Gotta say it takes some serious balls to buy all the top recruits he could get his hands on while school was being punished for buying recruits..