Brian Kelly reveals level of confidence that college coaches will follow rules

Like many others, Brian Kelly isn’t exactly certain how the new College Sports Commission enforcement entity will ultimately implement change in the post-House settlement era.

But the LSU head football coach is confident the majority of his coaching peers will follow the new rules regulating revenue-sharing and third-party NIL deals. And, if they don’t, Kelly is hopeful the College Sports Commission and new CEO Bryan Seeley will have the teeth to drop the hammer when necessary.

“I think the biggest issues, quite frankly, (have involved) the enforcement (side of the NCAA) and that there weren’t going to be people held accountable for being in that gray area,” Kelly said on this week’s episode of ESPN’s College GameDay Podcast with co-hosts Rece Davis and Pete Thamel. “So, I think more than anything else, if you asked any coaches about this settlement, it would start and end with: ‘What’s the enforcement going to be like, if you don’t play by the rules of the game?’ And I think that’s where we’re at right now.

“Now that we have a settlement, now that everybody is putting the pieces together within their own institutions in terms of revenue-sharing and such, (the question is) what’s the (College) Sports Commission going to look like? Is there going to be a commissioner that will have the authority to make those tough decisions?” Kelly continued. “We’ve talked in our league, in the SEC, about what those are, and it starts with the coaches. We have got to be the group that leads this by saying, ‘We’re all-in on doing it the right way.’ And if somebody doesn’t, the ramifications need to be (significant).

Kelly then cited how the NFL levied heavy punishments against the New Orleans Saints for their infamous bounty scandal — known colloquially as “Bountygate” — in the early 2010s. Between 2009-12, Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams allegedly implemented an illegal bonus system that financially rewarded New Orleans players for knocking certain opposing players out of games. Following a lengthy investigation, the NFL fined the Saints $500,000 and made them forfeit a pair of second-round draft picks along with season-long suspensions for Williams, head coach Sean Payton and linebacker Jonathan Vilma for the entire 2012 season. Multiple others served multi-game suspensions as well.

“I think we all throw around the NFL model where you had the pay-for-performance and New Orleans got hit pretty hard for that,” Kelly added. “We would need similar kind of sanctions, and I think you’ll see this going in the right direction. This is not to throw the NCAA under the bus, (but enforcement) has been a problem. It’s been slow, it’s been inconsistent. And I think if we have something that is universal, and it’s swift and it’s real, I think we’re going to be in a good space.”

By all accounts, that’s exactly what the College Sports Commission is expected to provide, with investigations and individual arbitration expected to be resolved within 45 days — a significant shift from the NCAA’s often multi-year-long investigation process.