Tag Archives: NIL

04.17.25
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What most people don’t understand about college sports

After reading this, tell me where Temple gets the money to pay football or basketball players who are already getting scholarships worth almost $100,000?

The response never fails.

Every time I write something about the evils of the NIL and the transfer portal, I invariably get this response either on twitter, the comments below or facebook:

“These colleges make millions off the backs of the players. They deserve to be paid.”

Err, no.

The Ohio States and the Penn States make millions.

The Temples, the Kent States, the Georgia States, the Troys, the Sam Houstons, etc. don’t.

There are plenty more of the latter group than the former one.

Temple has to sell its ability to put players in the NFL and it has a strong history of that.

As many of 100 (or more) of the FBS schools LOSE money on football. Should those players be forced to pay back the schools who employ them?

No.

But to say these players deserve millions because universities makes millions is a misnomer because there is no bounty.

Look at Temple.

This week Temple president John Fry wrote a university-wide email (see above) about how Temple is strapped for cash and how the school is going to have to tighten that belt even more.

Temple isn’t the only school in that boat.

Ryder Kusch shows Reece Clark how playing tight end is done.

Maybe Memphis and Boise State make money on football.

I doubt that any other G5 schools do.

Temple did a lot of hard work recruiting a quarterback who was set to visit the school today. He canceled the visit and committed to Ole Miss on Tuesday. Temple lost a tight end (Reece Clark) today who entered the portal. Good for him. I don’t think he’s going to find any real money elsewhere. Let’s be real here. Clark is a nice player. He was outplayed in the spring by Ryder Kusch. Clark is a tweener. Not big enough to play tight end or fast enough to play wide receiver. He’s like a 6-3 forward in high school basketball. He didn’t light up the stat sheet for a 3-9 team. Doubt that any 9-3 teams are going to offer him money. He’s got to be realistic about his own ability. Instead, he’s probably listening to an agent.

He’s more likely to drop to FCS than continue to play at the highest level.

Better for Temple because head coach K.C. Keeler said that you are either all in or all out and Clark is all out. Now Keeler is building a team that is all in and that can only benefit Temple.

Although this number changes every day, there were only 1,452 FBS scholarships available as of 10 p.m. Thursday night. The math ain’t mathing for 90+ percent of these kids but don’t expect an “agent” to tell them that.

Ole Miss has money to pay football players.

Temple doesn’t.

Neither does almost every other G5 school yet a lot of G5 schools find a way to compete. One of those schools was Sam Houston, which won 9 games and a bowl game.

Its head coach?

K.C. Keeler.

It’s a lot tougher to win with players who are getting paid the old-fashioned way but there’s a lot to be said about building a culture where everyone is pretty much getting the same thing and there’s no locker room bickering why this one guy gets this and this other guy doesn’t get that.

Maybe that isn’t all of the Keeler winning formula, but it certainly is a big part of it.

Until some multi-billionaire Saudi horse racing aficionado wants to see what kind of havoc his disposable income can wreak on college football by backing Temple, spare me on the “kids deserve to get paid” angle.

Monday: An Intriguing Prospect

07.02.21
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NIL: The rich getting richer

With each passing change of college football as we know it, you can excuse Temple sports fans not being overly excited.

As of yesterday, the NCAA adopted the latest reality: Name, Image and Likeness.

To me, it’s another in a series of changes that mean simply this: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

It makes sense that the teams with the larger followings, like Duke in basketball, and Alabama in football, will have players who rake in the money over, say, the Temple’s and the Cincinnatis.

Fairness?

An even playing field?

Giving everyone an equal chance to win?

Bleep that, says the NCAA, which has reluctantly joined the call for paying the players through this method.

One of the barometers for this is social media following and, just for an example, I can’t imagine Temple basketball ever having a larger social media following than Duke (see above).

Or Temple football against any P5 team.

That 2016 American Conference football championship that Temple had now seems so far away.

Can the Owls win another AAC title?

Sure, but expecting the “amateurs” to compete with the “professionals” in a playoff with be damn near impossible. That 2016 Owls’ team would have been a worthy foe for anyone in a 12-team playoff. It lost by a touchdown at Big 10 champion Penn State despite 130 yards in home-cooking penalties. Have a rematch in a bowl game on a neutral field and things might have gone the other way.

Especially if Matt Rhule saw a playoff game against his alma mater as a better reason to stay at Temple for one more game than a meaningless bowl.

It would have been a mighty blow for the G5 to have one of its champions beat the Big 10 champion in a playoff game. Maybe the biggest boost ever for the G5.

We will never know.

Now Temple faces huge obstacles in the transfer portal and this Name, Image and Likeness development.

If this NIL thing works out the way we think it will, it might just be time for the G5 to break away and form its own organization with its own playoffs. Give similar sized schools with similar followings (and presuming players benefit the same with pay) an even playing field. I had been against that because I always thought that Temple could join the P5 but it seems like the P5 doesn’t want to share its money with anyone.

Except the players who commit to those schools and that’s sad.

Monday: Temple 2021 Measurables