ECU's Cliff Godwin weighs in on impact of NIL, transfer portal: 'People are cheating'

The introduction of NIL has undoubtedly had a major impact on college athletics. That goes beyond football and basketball, too. ECU baseball head coach Cliff Godwin discussed NIL and the transfer portal at media day on Monday, where he laid out how things have changed under the new landscape.

NIL was not supposed to be simply “pay for play,” but to Godwin, that is exactly what it has become.

“Initially I probably gave the wrong perspective when it first came out, just because I didn’t think there was a lot of transparency, a lot of rules and regulation,” Godwin said at ECU baseball media day on Monday. “And they kept saying it’s not pay for play. Well guess what it is? Pay for play.”

Even though NIL has impacted the way rosters are built at times, that hasn’t changed anything for Godwin’s approach at ECU. But balancing that can be challenging, and when NIL comes into the picture, Godwin admitted that jealousy can play a role, too. That only becomes more challenging when considering college baseball teams only have 11.7 scholarships to distribute across a much larger roster.

“I’m all for rewarding our guys who have been in our program and have done the things the right way, from Trey Yesavage to Justin Wilcoxen to Joey Berini,” Godwin added. “I think it’s also worth mentioning that Joey Berini has never received a cent of baseball scholarship money since he’s been at East Carolina because we only have 11.7. [Wilcoxen] has only received scholarship this year in his fifth year. Guys that have grinded, that have developed with our coaching staff, that means something to me, because that’s what this place was built on. Now I still want them to be able to make some money if that is available. And so those guys were able to get some money, but it also creates jealousy.

“I asked Trey Yesavage this summer, ‘Does NIL create jealously?’ ‘100 percent Coach.’ So that’s another thing we have to navigate. But I’m all for helping the returners. I can’t foresee Coach Godwin offering any recruit any amount of money because that is going to take away from the culture that we have in the locker room. A lot of coaches talk about it. And I’m not sitting up here saying that we have the best culture in the country, but it means something to me to have culture. And you can’t sustain success the way we do if you don’t have great culture within that locker room.”

Godwin: NIL and the transfer portal together has become a corrupt business

NIL itself is complex and difficult to navigate. But with the transfer portal being a prominent part of the system now, too, the waters have become even murkier.

NIL has undoubtedly become part of the decision-making process for some players considering whether or not to transfer. Tampering has been a prominent topic each of the last two offseasons in college football, and baseball is seeing the same kind of impact.

“I don’t like the portal and NIL together because it’s become a corrupt business,” said Godwin. “So people are cheating. And I’m not perfect. I’m not saying that. But that’s not why that was created.”

Corrupt business and cheating aside, Godwin and ECU are looking at things the same way they always have. The most important thing at East Carolina is bringing in quality people, and the rest takes care of itself.

“We look at it very specifically,” Godwin said. “I thought Jeff [Palumbo], [Austin Knight] and myself did a really good job of bringing in really good people. No offense to the places that they came from, but they normally came from a little bit less of a program. So they walk in here, they look around, they go, ‘Hey, man, this place is awesome. Look at all these facilities we have.’ They’re so appreciative of what they have.

“Plus they’re coming to a winning program, when a couple of them didn’t come from a winning program. The guys have really meshed well with the returners that we have and it’s been a really good mix for us.”

ECU’s season will get underway on Feb. 16, opening a weekend series against Rider.