Dabo Swinney Thinks College Football Has 'Lost Its Way' In The NIL Era

It doesn’t sound like the Clemson Tigers coach will be convinced any time soon. He explained his reasoning to the Clemson Insider. 

“The best thing for coaches, in the kind of world we are in right now, is for them to be employees. The worst thing? Is for them to be employees. That is not a world we want for eighteen-year-olds…I think we lost our way,”

He went on to add that he isn’t against players getting paid, but this is not the way to do it. Swinney wants to see an emphasis put on education.

“(I) think the NIL is awesome. I really am (for it). I am all for enhancing the scholarship however you want, but I also understand the reality that ninety-eight percent of these kids are not going to play in the NFL. We need to educate our young people in this society. Nobody talks about the value of an education anymore.”

His 401K Idea

Swinney has an interesting idea on how to compensate players while also setting them up for the future. He wants to give players 401K accounts.

“I just want to see us incentivize education. There are so many things we can do. We can create 401ks, like the real world, right? If you take your money out early, there is a penalty. These are 18-year-old kids leaving home for the first time in their life. We are sometimes setting them up for failure.”

It’s an interesting idea, and where Swinney is coming from isn’t off base. While this idea may not be the best, something does need to change. At this point, the college football transfer portal has become free agency with massive amounts of money being thrown around. Maybe it will be fine, but we seem destined for some consequences down the road.

Will people heed Dabo Swinney’s warning? So far, his laments have fallen on deaf ears. College football is changing, and it will be interesting to see what the fallout is from all of it.