Steve Sarkisian explains how NIL transparency benefits Texas, showing just how much things have changed

Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian believes that the ability for college players to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness has been a positive for the University of Texas. But only now that the process behind NIL has come into the light.

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Speaking with former Longhorns All-American quarterback Colt McCoy on the Clean Pocket YouTube channel, Sarkisian said he believed UT is able to succeed in the NIL world as it exists today.

“I think NIL has been good for the University of Texas,” Sarkisian said. “For a long time, NIL may have existed. Just not at the University of Texas. When they regulated it, and now that we’ve got a seat at the table to compete at that level for some of the high-level players, it’s been good to us. We try to maximize it to take advantage of it within the scope of the rules. I think we’ve benefitted from it.”

Sarkisian said that with a grin and got a coy smile from McCoy when providing the response.

NIL for college athletes came about in Texas in 2021 when SB 1385 was passed by both houses of the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott. It was made possible through increased NCAA permissiveness toward NIL, a shift from its previous pro-amateurism views forced by several high-profile losses in federal courts.

Sarkisian’s answer hints at the old “bagman” system, where boosters issued under-the-table payments to players, their families, or other entities involved with the decision. Completely unregulated, these types of activities drew the ire of not only the NCAA, but on occasion the federal government due to the passing of funds without the IRS getting to take a closer look at the dollars exchanged.

Texas, whose email signature for athletic department employees includes the line “winning with integrity,” made it well known they strongly preferred not to be a part of this process and adhered rather closely to NCAA bylaws. Sarkisian’s nod at the ways of old aren’t just from the previous decade, as these types of alleged tales of cash payments or other inducements date back to when the Longhorns were members of the Southwest Conference.

The change in recruiting dynamics brought about by NIL gave Texas license to operate in the above-table exchange of NIL payments, or, as he put it, within the scope of the rules. UT’s compliance department gets to take a look at and approve of the deals that current Longhorns enter into, for things as small as $10 or for agreements with local businesses or with other entities such as collectives for $1 million or larger.

The ability to match prices as desired and as able helps Sarkisian’s ability to attract the high-level talent he believes his program needs to contend for national titles. Of course, Sarkisian likes to emphasize that his team typically passes on players looking solely for a payday. Sarkisian and his staff recruit in the old-fashioned way, showing a player they have keen interest in bringing him in, developing him, deploying him, then sending him off to the NFL draft. Those types of players now know they have a value on the market and try to get what they think is theirs.

This line of thinking often pertains to the transfer portal, a place Sarkisian often describes as a method of talent acquisition they utilize but don’t major in. And transfer portal players come with a price.

However, it’s naive to think that some of the players signed as part of Sarkisian’s elite recruiting classes don’t hear about their value during the recruiting process as well, especially now that they can have representation.

That’s where most people assume NIL is deployed most in the modern landscape. But roster retention is an aspect of significant importance to Sarkisian in the NIL era.

“I think we’re fair with our players,” Sarkisian said. “When we think a guy is overpriced, we let them go whether they’re our own or it’s another guy where we compete with another school with. We look at the value of the player on our roster, where he might sit, we put a number on it, and it is what it is.”

Texas has some high-profile players on its roster this year and rarely, if ever, loses a player it wants to keep around. That can be seen in the return of some of its stars on both sides of the football, even younger ones that have had flashes but no full-time bursts.

And it’s a process that’s likely changing with the onset of “publicity rights” payments, more commonly known as revenue sharing, that’s coming down the pike this summer. Texas will be able to negotiate dollar sums directly with players and do more than just offer NIL through a third-party collective.

It all keeps shifting, but it’s shifting Sarkisian knows he has to deal with as he tries to bring Texas its fifth national championship.

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“But that’s forever changing, we’ll see where this thing lands,” Sarkisian said.