Brian Kelly has signified support for the little guy in college football despite coaching one of the most prominent programs in the sport. LSU's head coach said the NCAA system is at risk of implosion because of recent developments in name, image and likeness (NIL) rules for players.
As of July 1, 2021, college players in all sports can receive commercial payments to cash in on their fame. Previously, the NCAA banned amateur athletes from making any money. The new NIL rule has enabled programs with wealthy donors to promise recruits financial windfalls, which critics such as Kelly say will deepen talent disparities between teams.
Kelly joined SEC leaders in a recent trip to D.C. to ask lawmakers to regulate NIL payments. He hopes a bill draft will be put in front of Congress by the end of July, or "we'll know that they can't produce something."
"College athletics is at a crossroads if this doesn't get fixed," Kelly said to ESPN. "Look, I think, more than anything else, they hear it now - that college sports is in jeopardy. It's not just football... We'll be OK [at LSU]. Yeah. At the end of the day, the big schools, the big oil companies, they all survive."
Indeed, LSU have the sixth-ranked recruiting class for 2023, according to 247. The SEC carries five of the top six on this year's list, a reflection of the resources at the disposal of the United States' strongest conference.
The last two schools Kelly coached before LSU, Notre Dame and Cincinnati, rank 12th and 74th, respectively.
Fellow SEC head coach Nick Saban of Alabama shares Kelly's critical view of current NIL rules and has suggested the formation players' union could lead to a more level playing field for all schools. Such a move would likely prompt a single collective bargaining agreement between student-athletes and schools to establish more precise nationwide NIL rules.
"Unionize it," Saban said. "Make it like the NFL. It's going to be the same for everyone. I think that's better than what we have now.
"Everything they do in the NFL is to create what? Parity. If they can have everybody going into the 17th week of the season 8-8, that would be like a dream for the NFL. You think there is disparity right now in college football? There's going to be more in the future."
Kelly's and Saban's altruistic stance will prompt skepticism among student-athlete advocates who believe players should receive as much money as the free market dictates, regardless of where it comes from.
And a level playing field in which LSU or Alabama have similar records to everyone else would negatively impact the reputations of coaches who pride themselves on dominating competition.
The two schools have won eight national championships since 2007. Alabama has been the gold standard of college football performance under Saban, having ranked No. 1 in the country at some point in every season since 2008.
