Lane Kiffin Expertly Working Within a System That Needs Work
OXFORD, Miss. – For the first time in recent history, the February 2nd National Signing Day took a backseat to Groundhog Day. Yes, the day that is usually a national holiday for college football fans was knocked off the radar by a weather-forecasting rodent.
National Signing Day is simply no longer the event it once was due to the early signing period in December, the transfer portal, and name, image and likeness money.
Many believe the college game is getting too close to becoming the business that is the NFL, but Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin thinks college football is not close enough to the pro game. He believes the NCAA needs to adopt NFL-type free-agency rules and implement something similar to a salary cap for schools.
VIDEO: Coach Kiffin talks about the Rebels’ signing class and offers his thoughts on the transfer portal and NIL deals. He pulls no punches—and even gets a little jab in at A&M. 👊🏼#HYDR https://t.co/TlyAV5yS0s
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) February 2, 2022
Kiffin has frequently called the transfer portal “college free agency.” As a former coach of the Oakland Raiders, he has seen free agency up close, and he has used that experience well at Ole Miss.
Last season, the Rebels signed starting middle linebacker Chance Campbell during the summer and starting center Orlando Umana just before the start of fall camp.
Kiffin: "This transfer thing is not over. You're going to see a whole other group after spring ball that leaves places. This is an ongoing thing. You'll see rosters adjust all the way up to training camp."
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) February 1, 2022
The Rebels are currently ranked second in the transfer portal rankings. Yes, currently. Players can still transfer up until the upcoming season begins and become eligible immediately. That is an issue with the portal according to Kiffin.
“You basically have year-round free agency in football. Which is obviously a major issue. It’s why they don’t do it in the NFL. It is what it is. We’re just trying to make the best of the rules and the situation.”
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin
But Kiffin also is proud of the fact that he and his staff were able to work so well within the system that needs work.
“They make the rules, I just try to come up with ways to attack them and do the best in the situations they put us in and allow us to be in, so I am proud of our staff because I think we maximized it and did a great job…I am proud of that of our staff saying here’s the rules that are in the portal and trying to figure out at the end of the season with all that going on and trying to do a better job than how anybody else does it. I’m proud of that.“
Coach Lane Kiffin
Learning from the Pros
Kiffin believes the NCAA needs to reach out to the NFL to learn from the pro league’s experience.
“The NFL knows what they’re doing,” Kiffin said. “It’s not open free agency all-year-round for a reason. You’ve got long-term contracts for a reason. Kids can’t leave at any point of any year all the time.”
A bigger problem is the lack of rules when it comes to NIL payments. Each player is allowed to profit as much as he can and not all schools have the financial connections.
“We don’t have the funding resources as some schools with the NIL deals,” Kiffin said. “It’s like dealing with salary caps.”
In pro leagues, each team has a salary cap. In the NBA, if a team goes over its cap, it is charged a luxury tax. That fact did not escape Kiffin’s sense of humor.
“I joked I didn’t know if Texas A&M incurred a luxury tax with how much they paid for their signing class,” Kiffin deadpanned in his Signing Day Press conference Tuesday.
It has been reported Texas A&M is allegedly able to offer as much as $30 million in NIL money through the university’s resources. Not surprisingly, the Aggies have the top-rated signing class this year.
A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher took offense to all the talk of his team reportedly using NIL to get athletes to sign with the Aggies.
"I am pissed off!"
"Clowns!!"
"Hypocrisy!!!"
Jimbo Fisher pulled zero punches on #NSD22 pic.twitter.com/btT65ZONvc
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) February 2, 2022
As for Kiffin, he understands why such NIL deals would be tempting for players.
“In free agency in the NFL, players usually go to the most money. Every once in a while, they don’t because they already have a bunch of money. Well, these kids are 17 and 18 years old. They’re going to go where they’re paid the most. I’m not complaining, it just is what it is.”
Coach Lane Kiffin
The only way to govern this situation is a salary cap. While the NCAA has other problems on its plate, this might be the most-important issue in college athletics. If it is not regulated, the richest schools will always get the best players.
“Somehow, they’re going to, I bet, try to control NIL because now you’ve got these salary caps at places giving players millions of dollars to play before they ever even play and other places not being able to do that,” Kiffin said.
“What would the NFL look like if there were a couple of teams in the NFL where their salary cap was ten times more than anybody else’s salary cap? That’s where you’re headed. They’re going to have to do something.”
Lane Kiffin
Until some rules get put into place, National Signing Day will just be another Wednesday in February.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
