Ross Dellenger suggests struggling blue blood programs at the forefront of NIL, collectives

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and Alabama coach Nick Saban made headlines for their back-and-forth about NIL last week. But there’s another layer to the conversation, according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.

Saban called out Fisher and the Aggies during an event in Birmingham with Alabama business leaders. Dellenger noted Saban isn’t the only coach trying to catch up in the NIL world — and that’s one big takeaway from the spat between Saban and Fisher.

“All the Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban stuff, I think was overshadowed in that Nick Saban was doing what a lot of coaches are doing right now,” Dellenger said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “In fact, I was just visiting Lane Kiffin last week and he’s doing it in Mississippi. Trying to rally boosters and donors to understand that if they don’t get ‘in the game,’ then they’re going to get left behind.

“You’ve got to now not only raise money in donations for your athletic department and to fund whatever — olympic sports, facilities, coaches’ salaries. Now, there’s this totally separate fundraising arm that’s kind of being done a little more privately and it’s to raise money for players and to create collective-type salary pools, if you will. That’s what Nick Saban was doing. … A lot of coaches are doing that.”

Ross Dellenger: Schools leading in NIL are ready to come ‘back’

Dellenger made another interesting point. He pointed to some of the programs who are leading the charge in the NIL landscape. Much has been made about Texas A&M’s role after securing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, but other programs are also diving head-first into NIL.

In fact, Dellenger noted there’s a common theme with programs capitalizing on NIL. Many have struggled in recent years, but are trying to get back to their winning ways.

“What I think is fascinating is the [teams] that have been ahead, they’re all kind of the same type of program,” Dellenger said. “They’ve either not won consistently in a while or they’ve never really won consistently. They’re ready to win consistently and championships, or they’re ready to return and come ‘back,’ quote-unquote.

“All of that group toward the top of the collective rankings, so to speak, they’re all in that group. It’s Texas, [Texas] A&M, Miami, Tennessee, Florida, Nebraska, USC. All those teams are the same. … They have passionate fan bases and really rich donors who are kind of almost [feeling] a little desperation, too, element there. They’re all kind of in that group.”