Dabo Swinney sounds off on NIL legislation, state of college football

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has been one of the most outspoken critics of new NIL guidelines and legislation across college athletics, repeatedly letting his thoughts he heard. Just hours after his own school implemented a new in-house program which will aid athletes in gaining money, he again came down hard against the idea.

During an interview with ESPN’s Chris Low ahead of Saturday’s Clemson spring game, Dabo Swinney talked candidly about the lack of control across college football with NIL legislation lacking across the country.

“There’s no rules, no guidance, no nothing,” Swinney said. “It’s out of control, it’s not sustainable. It’s an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end. There are going to be a lot of kids that end up with no degrees and make decisions based on the wrong things.”

After allowing students to profit from name, image and likeness deals, the NCAA largely bowed out of the regulation side of things while allowing individual states to determine those finer details. However, although some states quickly implemented strict guidelines, many later repealed the laws and opened things up.

Clemson starts NIL program

As NIL continues to change the landscape across college athletics, universities and athletic departments are coming up with innovative ways to keep the pace. The Clemson Tigers just announced an innovative new NIL program, called ‘Reign.’

Clemson unveiled the new NIL program on Friday, and Director of Athletics Graham Neff believes that the introduction of ‘Reign’ was vital to help student athletes continue to evolve.

“We’ve talked for a while about our intent to become more aggressive in the NIL environment, and I feel that Reign. personifies that notion,” said Neff. “While many of these services have been available to our student-athletes since last year, our department has worked tirelessly to evolve our NIL philosophy. It’s critical that our student-athletes have the education and tools to succeed in this area, and that our coaches have a direct way to address the questions they receive on the recruiting trail. NIL is ever-changing, and we will continue to monitor, adapt and innovate.”

Ultimately, Clemson also wants to ensure that its student athletes are in the best position possible to stay on pace with the rapidly changing landscape created by NIL. This program will help student athletes learn more about NIL, and put them in a position to take advantage of those opportunities.