Hugh Freeze reacts to UAB players joining players’ association

Following the decision by the UAB Blazers football players to join a players’ association, Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze reacted and shared his thoughts on the issue.

At the end of April, UAB became the first full college football roster to join a players’ association. Head coach Trent Dilfer presented this as an option to the team. The Blazers then jumped on it, signing with Athletes.org, which is a venture by Jim Cavale.

Freeze was asked about the decision by UAB players to join a players’ association while he met with the media at the Hoover Prayer Breakfast. After initially asking for more information on what happened, he shared his thoughts.

“I would need to see the details of that to see,” Hugh Freeze said. “I think there’s a lot of discussion that needs to be had toward things like that, but there’s also some tricky issues that I don’t think the players really want either.”

This comes at a point of massive change for college football. In particular, NIL and the Transfer Portal have changed how rosters are built and how players are treated. With that, there has been a debate about what the future of college athletes is going to be and if they should be considered employees by the school.

“I’m on both sides of, hey, let’s make it right. So, I really don’t know all the details of that to really comment on it, but I do think we need to head toward where hopefully all of this can be in-house and they can be under contract and it can be beneficial for both sides and have some structure around it,” Freeze said.

“I think that’s probably where Trent is trying to head, but as we’ve seen, as soon as you make a decision rash and you don’t think it all through, there’s, ‘Aw heck,’ and ‘We didn’t think about that,’ and this thing really needs to be thoroughly discussed and hopefully finding some solutions to put some structure around it.”

At this point, it’s still unclear what the UAB players are going to want out of joining a players’ association specifically. However, it is another step forward in the conversation about the future for college athletes. It’s also a representation of a team’s interest in having a voice in the future for college athletes.

Trent Dilfer on his UAB team joining a players’ association

Trent Dilfer, a former player himself who would have had the NFLPA during his NFL career, invited Athletes.org to campus. He sees the writing on the wall and explained that he wanted to be helpful and influential to his players.

“They’re going to have a seat at the table. I wanted to make sure I helped pour gasoline on something that is going to happen no matter what — I might as well use my influence to help it happen faster on behalf of our players,” Dilfer said.

“I think this is a revelatory time for college football coaches. It’s going to reveal if they are about their players or about themselves. It’s not bad if they are about themselves, but the players are going to know.”

Trent Dilfer spoke to his team about these things, including revenue sharing. While speaking to them, he made his position clear.

“You guys have followed the conversation in college football,” Dilfer said. “People are making a lot of money. Billions of dollars. How much are you getting? The actual money that’s negotiated for you to play on TV – you are getting none of. OK, so who’s getting it? The conference and the institutions. I’m one of the few people who believe you deserve some of that. The movement that’s gonna happen is that power is going to go from institutions and conferences, and be shared with players.”