Dre Bly discusses impact of NIL on recruiting process

North Carolina cornerbacks coach Dre Bly is a relationship-driven coach. Especially on the recruiting trail. But with changes over the last few years in the transfer and NIL world, that method of recruiting won’t get the job done by itself. Even he would admit, if NIL existed in his day, he would have loved to take advantage. Now, it’s part of the nature of the game.

Bly still believes the relational aspect of recruiting is vital to winning kids. After all, schools across the country can offer NIL deals. So standing out as a coach from a personal perspective is still extremely important to winning recruiting battles. But money does talk. At a recent press conference, Bly explained how he and the North Carolina staff have balanced the new NIL opportunities with old-school, relational recruiting tactics.

Here were some of his comments regarding the issue:

“It makes it tough. The NIL — I just imagine if I had NIL, you know. I’m like…WOW. I was talking about that with Brian Simmons and Greg [Ellis]. Like dang, we too old, man. Like it came too late. But it makes it tough. I think relationships become more important, right. Especially, you know, all that we represent here at the University of North Carolina. I think that’s why we’ve been able to land some of the guys that we have been able to land. Because the relationships are so strong.”

Bly then went on to praise the UNC staff for still being able to win on the recruiting trail because of the people behind their program, not just dollar amount.

We have a very relational staff. Coach Cross does a really good job. You know, [Tommy] Thigpen, Lonnie Galloway and the whole staff. They’ve built strong relationships with families and kids to the point where we’ve been able to land kids because of that. So, we’re going to continue to do what we do. I think that gives us the edge in a sense, to the way that we’re going to always be pretty good when it comes to recruiting.”

Some schools may throw money at recruits and expect to land them. Dre Bly and the UNC staff understand that money is a major factor, but coupling NIL possibilities with personable leaders as coaches makes the Tar Heels enticing as a football program as a whole.