Grayson Weir
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Lane Kiffin has not been shy with his thoughts on Name, Image and Likeness. Especially when it comes to Texas A&M.
The 48-year-old head coach of Ole Miss is frustrated with the system. He is not the only one, but few — if any — coaches are willing to speak up and call things how they are.
College football is no longer an amateur sport. It never was, but the guise is no more.
To put it simply, the programs with the most NIL wealth are finding the most success in recruiting and through the transfer portal. Teams that can pay players more money are able to land commitments over programs that cannot pay as much money. It’s a pretty simple concept.
At the forefront of that conversation is Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies. Texas A&M landed the greatest recruiting class of all-time in 2022, which just so happened to coincide with the first full year of NIL.
Coincidence? Most certainly not.
Fisher said that NIL had “nothing” to do with his class, but the Aggies have a massive alumni base and a lot of oil money. For him to say that was ludicrous and Kiffin agrees.
He and Texas A&M, especially Fisher, have beef. The former has not held back on the latter.
Kiffin and Fisher don’t see eye-to-eye, to say the least. It has been an ongoing back-and-forth battle between the two SEC West head coaches for nearly three years now and it shows no signs of coming to an end.
Lane Kiffin compared Texas A&M to the Saudis.
Although Kiffin has issues with the NIL system, he understands how it works. Ole Miss can’t not do what every other school is doing with money or else it would fall behind.
Ole Miss, one of the smallest schools in the SEC, simply cannot keep up with larger alumni bases.
The same thing, to an extent, is happening in soccer. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s presence in the sport has changed the transfer market forever.
The Saudis can pay more money than most clubs in the world. Especially for mid-to-upper tier players and stars. And as with college football, the clubs that can pay the most money are getting the best players. The LIV/PGA merger is another example.
Riyad Mahrez, who scored 78 goals for Manchester City during a dominant title run, will get paid about $40 million to play for Al Ahli of the Saudi league. His former manager was frustrated with the loss.
Saudi Arabia has changed the market. A few months ago when Cristiano [Ronaldo] was the only one to go, no one thought this many top, top players would play in the Saudi league.
In the future, there will be more, and that’s why clubs need to be aware of what is happening. Riyad got an incredible offer, and that’s why we could not say, ‘Don’t do it.’
— Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, via ESPN
Kiffin saw the comments and likened it to his own sport. He compared the Saudi money to —– —, and left people to fill in the blanks to Texas A&M.
The two core principles of Kiffin’s comparison are very similar. Heck, Texas A&M’s oil money may even have a direct tie to Saudi Arabia!
Kiffin is just saying…………………….
