Former Tennessee Vols LB/coach Kevin Steele speaks freely on NIL after retiring from college football
Former Tennessee Vols linebacker/assistant coach/interim head coach Kevin Steele offered some thoughts this week on the challenges of NIL in college football. Steele, who spent the 2023 season at Alabama as the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator, recently retired from coaching, which means he can speak a little more freely on the subject of NIL, which […]
Former Tennessee Vols linebacker/assistant coach/interim head coach Kevin Steele offered some thoughts this week on the challenges of NIL in college football.
Steele, who spent the 2023 season at Alabama as the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator, recently retired from coaching, which means he can speak a little more freely on the subject of NIL, which is what he did during an appearance with Paul Finebaum on Thursday.
“I’ll give you an example, and it’s a real example," said Steele during his appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show. "And I’m not opposed to players getting paid. I’m not sure where the lines are. You go in the home and the mom tells you, ‘Coach, we loved you. We’ve been up there 15 times, you know everybody in the family’s name. We trust you. We know we’re gonna get developed there. We know we’re gonna have a chance to become a first-round draft pick. We know we’re gonna have a chance to win a national championship. But you guys aren’t in the ballpark in terms of the money.’ Well, we as coaches, we can’t be involved in that, per NCAA rules.'”
Finebaum then asked Steele about the NCAA's ability to enforce rules in the wake of the new NIL investigation at Tennessee.
"If you look at the track record over the last couple of years and the lawsuits and those kind of things, I don't know," said Steele. "And I can say this now, I couldn't have said it two months ago, I don't know what role the NCAA has. As a coach. I'm not an administrator, I'm not somebody smart enough to figure it all out. But just as a boots on the ground solider, it (the NCAA) doesn't seem to have any effect anymore. But again, the NCAA is college administrators. They run the NCAA. That's who the NCAA is. So we need to get it figured out pretty quick."
Steele's last comment about the NCAA being made up of college administrators is technically correct for the most part, but it should be noted that Tennessee athletic director Danny White, on Thursday, put the onus on the NCAA and not the members in regards to the frivolous investigation at UT that was revealed this week.
This is a watershed moment for the sport. And everyone involved in college football, including recently retired coaches like Steele, are keeping a close eye on what happens next. Decisions that are made over the next several months will shape the sport for years to come.
The national media is aiding the NCAA’s witch hunt that centers on the Tennessee Vols
These people are the worst
