Mark Stoops reveals player's concern over NIL: 'If you ask him, he'd give the money back'

The topic of NIL was a popular one on an SEC teleconference call on Wednesday. Specifically how coaches are dealing with it now a few years into its implementation.

And Kentucky coach Mark Stoops admitted it’s been an adjustment, one that even some players haven’t fully gotten behind.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces, as you know,” Stoops said. “And there’s a lot of very intelligent, lot of people smarter than me, trying to figure this out. I think as coaches… heck, I had a long conversation with a player yesterday that is a phenomenal young man and a great human being and is frustrated by the way things are. He wants them to go back. If you ask him, he’d give the money back and just go old school and build the camaraderie and have the team and things of that nature.”

Stoops’ admission was a surprising one, given that most players have seemed to benefit from being able to collect on their name, image and likeness. Still, NIL brings with it its own responsibilities.

Players are often tasked with media appearances or other tasks to earn their NIL keep, adding one more thing to their plates.

While coaches have to deal with the headaches of players looking for this deal or that deal — sometimes outside of their program — players have to sift through the myriad avenues too.

“So it’s not just us. It’s not just coaches,” Stoops said. “It’s not us coaches whining or crying like people are saying. I’m not doing that right now. It’s just a fact. There’s a lot of moving pieces that we all have to make sure we’re staying up with.””

Stoops was the first to admit that he hasn’t always struck the right balance when it comes to NIL.

“Clearly there’s been a few things that I can identify that I didn’t do a very good job with in the past couple years,” he said. “I don’t want to get into that and I’m not making excuse, I just didn’t do a good enough job. I have to do better in certain areas. And I don’t want to say what that is because I don’t want anybody to think it’s an excuse.”

Instead, the Kentucky coach is doing his best to move with the flow in the NIL world. It’s been an interesting ride for everyone.