Kirk Herbstreit blasts NCAA amid Nico Iamaleava controversy: ‘They have no power over the sport’

In the wake of the Nico Iamaleava saga at Tennessee, insiders across the sport are speaking out. And ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit seemed a little fed up at the whole thing on Wednesday afternoon.

The prominent broadcaster joined The Pat McAfee Show and discussed the Iamaleava situation extensively. His main takeaway?

No one is in charge. Not the NCAA. Not the universities. Not the coaches.

“One thing I continue to think about is if the NFL has an issue, Roger Goodell, the owners, the NFLPA, there’s a CBA… they work things out,” Herbstreit said. “They create the CBA and there’s grounds of understanding what the rules and regulations are. Who is that in college football? You tell me.

“Is it the conference commissioners? Is it the presidents? Everybody wants to blame the NCAA. They have zero power. They have no power over the sport. Who’s running the sport? Who are we supposed to file these complaints to? Who’s supposed to make change? I have no idea who that is.”

What was shocking about the Nico Iamaleava situation was how unprecedented it was. He was the starting quarterback on a College Football Playoff team.

If it can happen to Tennessee in that fashion, it might just happen to anyone. That’s a scary thought for the sport.

“I think most people I’ve talked to have kind of come to grips with NIL, with understanding that players are being paid and that’s kind of part of the world,” Herbstreit said. “I think the gripe or the concern is not having any rules or regulations.

“The fact that people are coming out saying that players are talking about, in the first portal, threatening to leave if they don’t get what they want and maybe even skipping bowl games or the playoff. And now having a player like this try to hold his team hostage even though he’s paid pretty handsomely and he decides — not he, but his team decides, ‘Hey, you’ve got to give us what we need.'”

Herbstreit praised Tennessee’s handling of a hard situation. Specifically, he noted coach Josh Heupel‘s role in dealing with the Nico Iamaleava situation.

“I applaud Josh Heupel for standing up,” Herbstreit said. “And not because players don’t deserve to be paid. But because of how this unfolded and the timing of it.”

But until the NCAA or some other entity starts to take charge of the sport, expect more mind-benders like the Nico Iamaleava situation. It’s just part of the reality of the current system.

“So we can sit here and be upset, we can sit here and say, everybody says, ‘guard rails,'” Herbstreit said. “Who the hell is creating the guardrails?”