Lane Kiffin Deconstructs the ‘Disaster’ State of College Football to Uravel the Chaos
Since being hired by Ole Miss in 2020, Lane Kiffin has done an excellent job navigating the transfer portal, but the veteran coach wishes it did not have to be that way.
On Thursday, during SEC media days, Kiffin began his press conference by calling the situation of collegiate football right now a “disaster.” The Ole Miss head coach expressed his happiness that players can now get compensation. Still, he objected to the transfer portal’s capacity to essentially let student-athletes sign free agency contracts twice a year.
When discussing the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness deals, Lane Kiffin did not hold back, describing the current status of collegiate football as “a disaster.”
In his opening remarks at the SEC media days on Thursday, the Rebels’ head coach, who is entering his fourth season at Ole Miss, discussed problems in college football. Even though, unlike professional sports, athletes can “opt into free agency” just twice a year, he stated he thinks it’s excellent that players can receive remuneration through NIL deals.
According to Kiffin, you have much pay-for-play going on, but that is how things are. “Those two factors taken together, there just isn’t a system in place, and I don’t think there are any other sports at any level like this,” the author said.
The Dark Side of College Football: Unveiling the Role of Money and Boosters in Recruiting Top Players
Kiffin believes that “professional sports” have been developed without a salary cap or luxury tax because of the new transfer site, name, image, and likeness regulations. NIL is a problem, according to Kiffin, because it “basically means that whatever programs have the most aggressive boosters, with the most money, will get the players.” Even though his team abuses the system, Kiffin claimed he is “not complaining” about it since he believes it is terrible for the sport as a whole.
As quoted by Kiffin, “That’s the world we live in,” Alex Scarborough of ESPN reported. However, it isn’t beneficial for college football. College football truly does not benefit from these yearly, extensive roster changes. And I’m not upset about that because we use free agency.
Like many others, Kiffin thinks the main problem is that the best recruiting classes “follow this donor base and what schools will decide to give the most money to the players.”
Therefore, it is what it is. According to Kiffin, we’ll handle it the same way we handle everything else, but there needs to be a change because there is no mechanism to handle it.
Ole Miss has profited directly from the transfer site, as Kiffin stated. He even did a victory lap after signing one of the top players the previous year. Kiffin has also criticized other initiatives that spend more money.
Kiffin and other coaches are forced to adapt due to recent changes to college football. That does not imply that they will soon cease grumbling.
The Ole Miss Rebels will have 25 transfers for the upcoming season, tied for the fourth-most in the FBS. These transfers include former Texas-San Antonio wide receiver Zakhari Franklin, ex-LSU quarterback Walker Howard, ex-Oklahoma State quarterback Spencer Sanders, and ex-LSU quarterback Walker Howard. According to 247Sports, Ole Miss is also ranked seventh in the finest transfer portal class. Jaxson Dart, the team’s resuming starting quarterback, is a Southern California transfer.
On August 2, Ole Miss will play Mercer at home to open the season.
