Tennessee's Rick Barnes Reveals Just How Easy Recruiting Is In NIL Era

In today's day and age of NIL and the transfer portal, it's easy to say that the "good old days" of college sports have passed us by.

There just isn't the same loyalty as there once was, with players jumping at the opportunity to play for the highest bidder and hopping in the transfer portal at the first sign of adversity.

It's gotten so bad that you've probably heard coaches in both of the "money sports" (football and basketball) lamenting the challenges of the modern landscape of college athletics.

Some coaches will even take pay cuts and a "demotion" to become position coaches or coordinators with regard to college football.

Hell, even Nick Saban, who many believe is the greatest college football coach of all time, retired a few years back because he hated the direction his once beloved sport was heading.

All that is to say, there are plenty of coaches who aren't happy with the NIL era of college sports, but Tennessee's Rick Barnes isn't one of them.

Ahead of the Volunteers' Elite 8 showdown with Michigan, Barnes talked about how his job has honestly gotten easier since "pay for play" became widely accepted in college basketball.

READ: Rick Barnes Built A Tennessee Program Fueled By Faith And Brotherhood, One Win From Historic Final Four

College basketball purists avert your eyes!

While I'm not a fan of the fact that players are no longer loyal to a program or a logo, it is nice to hear a coach like Barnes speak so candidly about what it takes to "recruit" these days.

Now, with that being said, money plays a big factor in recruitment, but it isn't everything.

You still need to recruit these kids and develop relationships with them, but Barnes absolutely nails the "brass tacks" of recruiting.

"Hey, what's the number?"

When it comes to closing the deal, that's probably what the conversation looks like.

I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with the assertion that you can land any player you want by recruiting them "for a week," but he would know better than I would.

Not all fans were happy to hear such harsh truths about the state of college athletics, though.

You can kick and scream all you want – Lord knows I have – but NIL is here to stay, and it might be time to accept that.

It looks like coach Barnes has, and his team is on the precipice of its first Final Four appearance in program history.