Despite recording 1,202 wins in his illustrious career, even Coach K doesn’t have an answer for how to tame NIL.
Ever since college athletes were able to profit off their name, image, and likeness beginning roughly three years ago, they have understandably been on the hunt for money.
Recently, there were reports that UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka left the team because of unfulfilled NIL promises.
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Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski watches during the first half of a college basketball game against North Carolina in the semifinal round of the Men’s Final Four NCAA tournament, April 2, 2022, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Mike Krzyzewski is confident that he would have figured out a way to adapt to NIL, but he admits he doesn’t have much of an answer.
“The game of college basketball is still very exciting, it’s just that college sports is in this incredible period of change. A lot of times when you’re changing, you know where you want to end up, and I’m not sure right now with changing, anyone knows where things will end up. It’s somewhat chaotic,” Coach K said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
One thing Krzyzewski would like to see, though, is leadership, primarily from the commissioners of the power-four conferences (and for basketball, the Big East).
“There’s no transparency at all, and the NCAA has really not done a great job in this. … So you need the leadership, I think, of the power-four conferences, their commissioners, more than the NCAA,” he said. “I think there has to be a new model, and I think those commissioners are the ones that have to come together to figure this out.”
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski applauds while being recognized prior to the team’s NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina in Durham, N.C., March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
He admits he does not know the model that will work, but the veteran coaches might.
“The Tom Izzos, the Danny Hurleys, Jon Scheyer, Calipari, Bill Self, all those guys, Mark Few … they probably have an idea of how it should go forward. I would recommend those guys get together and meeting with the conference commissioners as a coaching association and say, ‘How do we want college basketball run, because it hasn’t been run in this modern age for the last 30 years like it should be.’ I would defer to those guys, because they’re on the battlefield and know what’s happening.”
Coach K also said there are stark differences in how college football is run (he says properly) as opposed to college basketball.
College football is run more like a business, because the people who run it are business people. College basketball is run by bureaucracy, which does not do well in business, so that’s where the change has to come. The game is still exciting and is in good shape, but the level of transparency, it’s got to be there,” he continued.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski kisses the net after cutting it down following Duke’s 61-59 win over Butler in the men’s NCAA Final Four college basketball championship game, April 5, 2010, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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All in all, the legendary coach “believe[s] in NIL” and the “concept is a good one.” But “there have been some unintended consequences.”
“If there’s neither transparency nor some type of limit, this is going to keep going, man. I don’t know where it’ll end. … It’s really an incredible time for college athletics, and I hope these leaders take the lead, put their arms around this, and put this on the course for a smoother future for all the sports, really.”
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