🏅 Chip Kelly dips out on UCLA... But why did he do it?

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Hey there,

You know, Saturdays just don’t feel the same without college football on TV. I guess we’ll have to make due with a huge slate of amazing college basketball games today — including a matchup between #1 UConn and #4 Marquette. Poor us, right?

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— Cole, Justin and Collin

KICK-OFF

Chip Kelly is an NIL Enigma

Most were shocked when Chip Kelly left UCLA’s head coaching position to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Look a little closer, though, and his decision becomes even more confusing.

In December, Kelly went on a tirade against the current college football system – a well thought out one, mind you – that seemed to end with a radical call for a system overhaul. At the same time, Kelly remained old-school in his approach, shying away from NIL activities that might have benefitted his own team. Kelly was consistently reluctant to participate in NIL fundraising events with the Bruins – we even reported on it at the time.

All of that is true, yet apparently his reason for leaving UCLA had almost everything to do with NIL. “NIL defeats weather,” he reportedly told a radio host in a conversation that happened before he even took the Ohio State job. (More)

Established Talent is Receiving NIL Compensation

Now that we’re a few years into the NIL era, college sports insiders are seeing a shift in how NIL funds are being used. Instead of doling out millions of dollars to high school recruits, teams are now tending to reserve most of their budget for attracting established talent – via the transfer portal – or retaining their own players.

“At first it was the recruiting front because the incoming guys caught the first wave,” said an anonymous SEC staffer in charge of player personnel, “More people [now] are seeing it’s about maintaining your roster and keeping your guys another year, rather than the young fellas who aren’t a proven commodity.”

It’s likely roster building strategies will fluctuate as time moves on, though. The market will eventually adjust for the value of high school recruits, then over-adjust, swinging the pendulum toward established talent yet again. (More)

Smaller Programs Prepare for the Future

Completely under the radar last fall, over 200 stakeholders in FCS and Division I-AAA athletics formed a task force to prepare for the drastic changes happening in college sports. Their goal is simple: “Create specific actionable strategies to help the subdivisions chart a course forward to play a distinctive role and actualize the important value within Division I athletics.”

Okay, maybe it’s not that simple. Essentially, these lower level schools are nervous about the financial future of their level of college athletics. Whatever the Power Four conferences are planning to change about athlete compensation, it’s likely their solution won’t work for lower-level schools.

“Institutions at the FCS level, we’re not the institutions causing the major issues,” said Ryan Ivey, AD of Stephen F. Austin and co-chair of the newly-formed coalition, “This is not meant to be pointing fingers and saying, ‘They’re to blame.’ But we are fundamentally different than Texas A&M.” (More)

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BEST PRACTICES

3 Thoughts for a Coach to Keep up with NIL

The Chip Kelly NIL saga has revealed a few things, namely, how not to help your school compete with NIL. In light of UCLA football’s failures, we wanted to look at what coaches can keep in mind to ensure they’re not hurting their school’s NIL infrastructure.

1. You don’t have to attend everything… but be there for the big stuff. Showing up for big fundraisers and rivalry games helps build a coach’s identity into the school itself — think Jim Harbaugh. If a coach’s personality can shine through by attending big events, donations are likely to follow.

2. The media is your biggest ally, but also your greatest foe. If a coach is complaining about NIL to the media, but then asking for donations from fans, it’s not exactly going to endear donors to the cause.

3. Keep the athletes at the forefront. The best way for any organization to run smoothly is to share common goals. If a coach really cares for their players, they’ll take on those players’ goals as their own.

These are principles — not inflexible rules. But, if implemented well, they could save a coach from a world of trouble in NIL.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Thank you (in)Kindly

NIL service provider Opendorse just launched a tool to solve the tax nightmares that generally follow many NIL deals. As of last month, their platform streamlines the in-kind compensation process to make accounting easier.

Okay, so what? Well, NIL has been a tricky space in the tax/accounting world thus far. This service simplifies the accounting process for businesses that want to make deals, making it much easier for them to actually log what their tax liabilities are too. As in-kind benefits become more popular in the college sports compensation world, the service will prove useful immediately to collectives, athletes, and business nationwide. (More)

• The SEC set a record for conference earning during the 2023 fiscal year, topping $850M in revenue. The staggering dollar amounts, which includes a $3.6M compensation package for commissioner Greg Sankey, demonstrates why many are keen on getting athletes a slice of the financial pie.

• The 2024 Rose Bowl between Alabama and Michigan took home the prize for most watched college football game of the season, excluding the national championship. click the link for the whole list – it’s a view into what school brands are generating the most national intrigue, and as a result, NIL money.

COLLECTIVE 101

“He Said, She Said…”

Last May, BYU basketball landed superstar transfer gem Ques Glover from Samford. Only three months later, however, he was leaving Provo to play for Jerome Tang’s Kansas State Wildcats. BYU coach Mark Pope famously deemed the whole ordeal a money issue: “It was all NIL.”

That’s not how Tang saw the situation, though. “His family and him decided to leave because of a lack of trust,” Tang said in August, “These young men are promised things going in and when they get there, when it is not delivered or they don’t see the ability… So it wasn’t an NIL movement. It was a trust movement. And he just didn’t feel like they could do what they said they were going to do.”

A classic “he-said, she-said situation,” it seems. Nevertheless, it probably felt good when Pope beat K-State last week 72-66. (More)

• Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian admitted he’s seen a change in recruitment now that NIL plays such a prominent role: “I want players to want to come to the University of Texas because of all of the right reasons.”

• Many are wondering whether UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma could become the next legendary coach to step away from the game. He’s been on record admitting that it’s a different sport now that schools can “buy players” through NIL.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Mckenna Hofschild

Mckenna Hofschild is a force to be reckoned with on and off the court. Standing at just 5'2", she defies expectation as the star point guard for Colorado State University's women's basketball team — she’s averaging 20 points per game and shooting a remarkable 50% from beyond the arc. Since transferring from Seton Hall, she has made an immediate impact for the Buffs.

Beyond her athletic success, Mckenna has also proven her business acumen by securing lucrative NIL deals with major companies like ENT Credit Union and Olipop. 

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Utah State gymnastics makes a deal with flooring company

♦️ UConn expands NIL with Accelerate Sports Venture

♦️ Oregon Tech teams up with Opendorse

♦️ Syracuse hoops hero makes NIL deal for teammates while injured 

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Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Would you do an NIL fundraiser with your school's arch-rival?

• Yes - 58%

• No - 42%