Arkansas coach Sam Pittman is not alone in the way he thinks about the NIL.
Not even five years into the rule that allows for players to make money and receive benefits based on their name, image and likeness, coaches across the country – and not just in football – are continually saying it’s a misfire.
“It’s rapidly increasing,” Pittman said in regards to the payouts. “It’s not monopoly money. And so, we’re in trouble across, in my opinion, across the NCAA because it’s not Monopoly, it’s real money that’s being paid out. Yes, I’d be all for somebody putting some types of restrictions on it.”
Pittman didn’t say he wants payments to athletes to stop. Saying that would be foolish and make recruits not want to play for a coach with such beliefs. But it’s currently a free-for-all and without regulation, whether by rule or law, Pittman doesn’t see how Arkansas can compete at the level of most of the rest of the SEC.
“I don’t feel, probably, that our budget is as big as a lot of the schools in the SEC,” Pittman said. “But it’s hard to know that because you really don’t know. You just know what other kids, where they come in recruiting of what NIL can do for them at other schools, and it’s a lot more than what you could imagine to be perfectly honest with you.”
Making a change, in any fashion, is sure to be met with negative feedback, though, so it remains to be seen when, or even if, anything ever comes from the coaches’ concerns.