Dabo Swinney, more coaches advocate for "vital" change in state NIL laws |
Clemson head coaches
Dabo Swinney and
Mike Noonan spoke on Tuesday before a state committee in Columbia to advocate for a "vital" change to South Carolina's current NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) law.
The state legislature is considering an amendment to the NIL law already passed for the state of South Carolina, which will most importantly allow schools to be hands-on in NIL contracts for the school's athletes. "Clemson was the first university to build a dedicated branding facility for our student-athletes, and with your help, this bill can unlock the full potential and the fantastic support systems that we already have in place and allow us to serve these amazing young people and truly help and equip them with the tools for life that will serve them in the short term while setting them up for long-term success," Swinney said on Tuesday. "We believe it is vital for the state of South Carolina to lead the way to provide our institutions the opportunity to fully serve our student-athletes in the NIL space by facilitating deals, providing protections against bad actors, and helping them maximize their NIL opportunities in the short window that they have as student-athletes.” Noonan was a representative for Clemson's equivalency sports. He said his program had 9.9 scholarships for 31 members of his national championship roster, and an active NIL partnership for the school to look out for athletes' best interests can help those non-revenue sports athletes in paying for school and beyond. Swinney went through some of the benefits he has already seen from NIL's addition to the college landscape. "At Clemson, our student athletes have earned many opportunities that have helped their families, charities and their communities," Swinney said. "We’ve had players who have started endowments from NIL money. We’ve had players earn opportunities with small organizations and large corporations. With your help, we can achieve this vision. Student-athletes won’t have to look elsewhere when making college and transfer decisions. "They will all have the opportunity they need in the state of South Carolina. And we can achieve that fourth goal, which is to continue to bring championships to the Upstate of South Carolina." More from Swinney on the NIL amendment: "Education will continue to be the No. 1 priority in our program as long as I’m the head coach. However, in today’s landscape, the educational experience for our student-athletes now includes a tangible and vital financial component through the opportunities presented to them in the NIL space, and oh, by the way, we had the highest Graduation Success rate ever for a football program at 99 percent. We have resources in all areas of the student experience…But we’ve been limited in our NIL involvement because of the ever-changing guidance from the NCAA. And that has left our student-athletes trying to figure out most of this on their own. Navigating complex NIL opportunities without trained guidance and direction through those who are eager to assist them. If permitted, we are equipped to come alongside these young men and women and provide them access to real resources that they need to take full advantage of the many wonderful opportunities that the NIL landscape provides." Clemson's Dabo Swinney and USC's Shane Beamer are here for a meeting of the House EPW Committee, where they're weighing a bill to expand SC's NIL laws. Speaking at the State House, Clemson AD Graham Neff on the impact proposed expansion to the state's NIL bill could have:
Rep. April Cromer shakes Swinney's hand: "This might not have been necessary," she says. "We were gonna pass it anyway." pic.twitter.com/pxvSOAvGL5
▪️ oversight over collectives
▪️ better advise student-athletes
▪️ connection to current partners
▪️ ensure student-athletes deliver their end of a deal pic.twitter.com/bkxRyeTjvR
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