The University of Georgia Head Football Coach, Kirby Smart, took center stage this morning during day three of SEC Media Days, and had a lot of people talking about what he had to say earlier today, but Chris Goforth believes there was one thing today Kirby Smart said that flew under the radar.
Coach Smart lost his offensive line coach, Matt Luke, this offseason, and when Kirby was asked about Luke leaving Smart revealed that Coach Luke decided to step away from the game because of wanting to spend time with his family, College Football losing some purity, and guys not playing for each other.
Georgia’s National Championship winning Head Coach said “It’s tough on the time demands and you know I think he felt like there was some purity loss in the game because guys were playing not necessarily for the education or for each other, they were playing for the NIL opportunities, or maybe for the NFL, and it’s tough sometimes as a coach when you find that and you’re like why am I away from my kids and I don’t get an opportunity to be at their baseball games and go and do the things they need to do.”
If a position coach from a reigning National Champion is willing to walk away because of this new more transactional era of College Football, will the new impurities of College Football continue to deter good coaches away from the game? Coach Smart later joined the Midday Show with Andy and Randy where he further touched on this new era of College Football talking about how recruits will now tell him what another school has offered them when it comes to NIL money and ask him what he can do for them when it comes to NIL.
There is nothing wrong with players making money, players wanting the most money as possible, players going to the school that can offer them the best NIL opportunity, and players being motivated by NIL opportunities and the possibility of making it to the NFL, but if NIL continues to be unregulated will it all become too much? Are College Football players starting to be too concerned about themselves and not concerned enough about their teammates and the people around them?
I think situations like this just add another argument to the case of not just all the SEC coaches, but all College Football coaches who believe that NIL needs to be defined and regulated. College Football players deserve their money and deserve NIL, but College Football shouldn’t be losing coaches in the process and that is where NIL, the transfer portal, player freedom, and fairness need some sort of happy medium.