ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia head coach Kirby Smart says it’s tough to find the big winners in the current state of College Football. The 10th-year head coach is no stranger to winning and winning big in the NIL/portal/expansion/playoff era, but he’s not talking about scoreboards.
On Tuesday, after the Bulldogs had concluded their 10th practice of the spring, Smart had a lot to say about the way things are going in the sport. A question about getting to the new roster limit of 105 prompted him to sound off on some of the ugly he’s seeing behind the scenes.
“You know, like I don’t know if the kids win in this model that we currently have if they win long term,” Smart said on Tuesday. “Like long term, when we have to cut sports and cut other things, are the kids going to be the winners of this? I don’t know. College sports has been around a long time and given many an opportunity. And by all means, I want these kids to make money. But what’s going on right now is not good for anybody.”
Smart pointed to a very specific, very grimy portion of the sports underbelly on Tuesday. He says that agents are currently inviting coaches and other decisions makers when it comes to personnel to Zoom calls.
The purpose of those Zoom calls is to shop their clients out to interested teams in hopes of securing interest and maybe even offers before entering the spring transfer portal window. Smart says that some of his players have been featured on some of those calls. He also says he has been invited to those calls but doesn’t get involved because he doesn’t want to end up seeing one of his own players getting shopped.
The House settlement that Smart speaks of is supposed to take effect on April 7. That’s not etched in stone and the state of Oregon is already trying to get around it. The settlement is supposed to implement some structure when it comes to NIL but it also supposed to shepherd in the new era of revenue sharing.
Oregon, meanwhile, is trying to enact legislation that would let its state schools play by a different set of rules when it comes to NIL. The settlement is calling for there to be a fair-market evaluation of NIL deals, but Oregon wants not part of that. It’s trying to figure out a way for its schools to offer as much NIL monies as it possibly can.
In order for the game to keep thriving, Smart feels like balance is key. All schools playing by the same set of rules is a good place to start.
“I mean, it could be one of the most legendary moments in all of college sports with what’s coming up on this ruling and how people are going to try to manipulate a cap when all we’re trying to do is make for competitive balance,” Smart said. “And it’s really unfortunate that I don’t know if competitive balance is going to come out of it.
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