Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin described college football as a “disaster” Thursday as he ripped into the consequences that NIL deals and the transfer portal are having on the sport.
“I’m going to address the portal, NIL, what I kind of call (a) disaster that we’re in. … First off, I’ve always said, I think it’s phenomenal that players get a chance to get paid, which is great,” Kiffin said at SEC media days, per ESPN. “I do think, which I’ve stood up here and said before when it first happened, that there’s going to be some major issues, and we’re creating free agency with the portal. With NIL, you got a lot of pay-for-play going on.”
Kiffin complained about the lack of restrictions concerning the two transfer portal windows, which he said doesn’t exist in any other sport.
“I don’t think that there’s any other sports at any level that are like this. That, really, every year you can opt into free agency, really twice a year,” Kiffin explained. “I was just thinking on the plane ride over, what if you had that in other sports? Tom Brady, A’ja Wilson, Lionel Messi, LeBron James – what if every year those guys could opt into free agency, twice a year, really, and they had no long-term contracts?”
Kiffin said he’s not complaining because “we (Ole Miss) take advantage” of the portal, but he believes the “massive overhauls of rosters every year really is not in the best interest of college football.” The Ole Miss coach added that NIL complicates the game due to teams operating at different “caps” with no luxury tax.
Ole Miss has landed a number of high-profile players in the portal this year, including quarterbacks Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard and former UTSA receiver Zakhari Franklin.
Kiffin ultimately concluded he doesn’t have an exact solution to the perceived problems of the transfer portal and NIL.
“I don’t have the exact answers. I’ve always said when asked, ‘shorten the (transfer) windows,’ so at least we know what your roster is,” Kiffin said, adding, “Like I said, I like that players get paid, but there’s no other system like it.”
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