Jimbo Fisher says he thought NIL would make college football more “fair.” Instead, the former Texas A&M coach declares that it has made things worse.
“I’ve had multiple discussions with players I’ve had, teams calling them and offering money,” he told College Sports on SiriusXM in a recent interview. “‘I’ve got this offer here, I’ve got this,’ and you’ve got to sit down with them, their parents and go through it all. Power 4, within our own league, with the things that go on. I thought, really, when NIL came in, we thought it would be good, because some of this — there were teams that were doing NIL before NIL was popular, OK? … I thought NIL would at least make it fair, take the cheating out of ball. It’s made it worse.”
The comments may come as a surprise to SEC fans who remember former Alabama coach Nick Saban taking a swipe at Fisher and Texas A&M back in 2022.
“(Texas) A&M bought every player on their team,” Saban said on May 18, 2022. “Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player. Aight?”
The result was a back and forth that lasted for months.
Now, however, Fisher appears to have a concern for the sport he loves.
“I mean, the big schools are going and getting players constantly from other schools, and it’s being done illegally,” he said. “Those guys are developing players, and all of a sudden their guys, you know, that team shouldn’t have an advantage, financially, to be able to take care of a guy that another school doesn’t, and it’s wrong.”
Fisher was fired in November by Texas A&M and was owed $75 million with the annual payments starting 120 days after termination. However, in the interview, he talked about a need for a commissioner and revenue sharing.
“College football is — I complain about it, it’s still the greatest game. As much as I love NFL, and I’m crazy about it, and I respect it, but college football, man, you don’t know — 18, 22 teams, you don’t know what you’re going to get. I mean, it’s still so — I love college basketball, all those things, I love all college sports, but college football man, we need a commissioner,” Fisher stated. “We need revenue sharing. We need a salary cap, for all schools, and if you’re caught — and the other part of this, the tampering that other schools do with players, is utterly ridiculous.
