Urban Meyer Slams NIL: "That's Cheating

Former national champion football coach Urban Meyer criticized the current state of name, image, and likeness (NIL) in college athletics, calling it a form of "cheating" and a violation of the original intent of NIL.

Urban Meyer, the three-time national champion football coach, has joined the chorus of voices expressing concerns about the impact of name, image, and likeness (NIL) on college athletics. In an interview with Lou Holtz, Meyer argued that NIL has become a form of "cheating" in recruiting.

"If you're a woman basketball player like the great girl from Iowa, and they want to put her on a billboard and pay her, they should be able to do that. But that's not what happened," Meyer said. "What's happened is the arms race of collecting money from donors, and the donors are simply paying players. That's what I understand is happening, and I don't like that."

Meyer believes that the original intent of NIL was to allow college athletes to profit from their own name, image, and likeness. However, he argues that it has become a form of capitalism, with collectives raising large sums of money from donors to pay players.

"There's these things called collectives where they go out and get money from donors and get this big, giant mass of money and they pay players," Meyer said. "That's not what the intent is."

According to Meyer, the result is a distorted recruiting landscape, where schools with the most money and the most generous donors have an unfair advantage over other schools. He also believes that it undermines the integrity of the game.

"To have a 17-year-old demand money for a visit, to pay these players a lot of money to go visit a charity for 20 minutes, and they write you a check for $50,000. That's cheating. That's not what this is all about," Meyer said.

Meyer acknowledged that NIL can be a positive development for college athletes, but he believes that it has gone too far. He called for a return to the original intent of NIL, which was to allow athletes to benefit from their own name, image, and likeness, but not to create a system where the highest bidder wins.

"I'm very disappointed in where it went," Meyer said.

Meyer's comments come at a time when the NCAA is considering changes to NIL rules. The NCAA is expected to announce new guidelines later this month that are aimed at addressing concerns about NIL and its impact on recruiting.

Meyer's views on NIL are shared by many other former and current coaches, including Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, and Jimbo Fisher. These coaches believe that NIL has created an uneven playing field and has undermined the integrity of college athletics.

It remains to be seen how the NCAA will address the concerns raised by Meyer and other coaches. However, it is clear that NIL is a hot-button issue in college athletics, and there is likely to be continued debate over its future.