As NIL changes landscape of college football, Swinney preaches education first

Swinney wants to keep education first in college athletics.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Feb 09 12:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

Dabo Swinney is all for his players earning money for their name, image, and likeness. What he doesn’t like is when that takes away from college athletes getting an education and graduating.

There is no doubt that name/image/likeness – or NIL for short – is revolutionizing college football. All you have to do is take a look at Texas A&M, where Aggie boosters are rumored to have committed over $25 million to NIL deals to help bolster recruiting, both this year and in the future. And, where it’s probably no coincidence, Texas A&M recently signed the best recruiting class since rankings have been kept.

“NIL has been going on for a long time, it just hasn't been above board," said Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher at National Signing Day in December. "Now it is and I think it does affect things.”

The University of Texas boosters recently set up a program that's paying $50,000 per year to offensive linemen who are on scholarship. It's part of the nonprofit Horns with Heart initiative.

Swinney doesn’t want to see education take a backseat to endorsement deals and doesn’t think that the current system, which prioritizes NIL and the transfer portal, is sustainable.

“I'm not against NIL at all, what I am against is anything that devalues education — that’s what I’m against,” Swinney said last week on the Players' Club Podcast. “I’m against the professionalization of college athletics. What does that mean? Now we’re paying guys' salaries and 18-year-olds have to pay taxes. I don’t think that’s good. I think we should keep the focus on graduation, incentivize graduates and do everything we can to modernize and improve the scholarship in addition to these NIL opportunities.

“I think it’s great. But again, with the NIL and transfer portal, there are some things going on that I don’t think is sustainable and I don’t think it’s good for a lot of young people. You’re talking about 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds that shouldn’t be equipped, ya know? Again, 98% are not going to play in the NFL, so let’s help them maximize this for sure and not allow some of the craziness that is creeping up.”

Swinney said on National Signing Day that the transfer portal is creating havoc on coaches, players, and their families.

"It's crazy, it's really sad to be honest with you," Swinney said. "There are right around 2,000 kids in the portal and most of them don't have anywhere to go. There's so much tampering going on and so many adults manipulating young people. It's sad, but you know, it is what it is from that standpoint. You've got a lot of young people that ... there's a time and a place, but most of the kids are in there when they shouldn't be in there.

"Some are and some shouldn't. Some of the lessons we're teaching young people I don't think is going to benefit them well as they move through their life. It is something everybody has to manage and deal with. There are no consequences. There are no rules. I'm all for transferring. I personally think we should let them go whenever they want. I just think they should sit a year and then you get that year back upon graduation. What we've done is de-incentivize and de-value education and I think that's the wrong approach."

He also thinks that the current system will damage the mental health of young athletes.

"We're going to have a lot of young people that aren't going to graduate," Swinney said. "Mental health is one of the biggest issues in college. There are a lot of kids whose identity is wrapped up in football and all this does is further that. When they get to these other places and they think the grass is greener and they realize the mirror traveled with them, I think a lot of kids are going to suffer. I think graduation rates are going to go down and it'll be interesting to see where that is five years from now, 10 years from now."