Ever since Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) for collegiate athletes became legal 13 months ago, we have heard coaches, fans, administrators, you name it, yell and scream about NIL.

You hear that it's not sustainable, that in the long run it will hurt college athletics.  Or that it will ruin the "love of the game", or what made college athletics great in the first place.

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I was torn on paying players for years, because if you pay just the football players and men's basketball players (the revenue sports at almost every major school).  You would have a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all female athletes so they could get their cut (and justifiably so).

But on the other hand, I also hated hearing stories about players struggling financially while everybody else is getting rich off of them.  Which led to illegal payments to players (which we all know has been going on for years).

So, who do you "blame" for NIL?  Why do we have it now?  It's very simple...THE COACHES!!!  And their greed and selfishness.

When you see coaches like Kirby Smart (pictured above) agree to a new 10-year deal worth over $110 million to stay at Georgia, who do you think helped him get that contract?  That's right, the players he recruits and coaches!!!

You've heard coaches throughout time say "I don't coach for the money, I'm all about my players!!"  To that I say "Baloney".  You're all about how much money you can get a school (almost force a school) to pay you.  And if you feel underpaid by a school, then you feel unappreciated and then you'll take your coaches whistle and go someplace else.  And then whine and cry about it to the media looking for sympathy.  You see that every offseason (doesn't matter what sports).

And since the players do most of the physical work to win a national title and get coaches like Smart ridiculous money, shouldn't they get a cut?  Or at least profit from it?

Many people have said "NO" for decades.  I used to be one of them.  They say the players are amateurs, and therefore shouldn't get money over and above what their scholarship pays.

But with coaches salaries escalating even more in recent years (Nick Saban, Lincoln Riley, Ryan Day, Jim Harbaugh, Mel Tucker, Brian Kelly, etc), I no longer have a problem with players (I don't call them student-athletes anymore) getting money over and above their scholarship.  It might just keep a player who isn't ready for pro ball in school for another year, which could be beneficial to them in the long run.

The long-term effects of NIL are still to be determined, and we've seen some coaches complain about it.  And even some of them have left coaching because of the immediate consequences of NIL.

But I'd rather have it this way than a greedy, selfish coach making $5-10 million a year (or more) off the work that 17-22 year olds do, and not fairly compensate the players for it.

And what's left from a scholarship isn't enough for the players.  Not anymore.

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