{"id":59675,"date":"2024-05-10T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T19:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=59675"},"modified":"2025-09-13T14:44:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:44:23","slug":"nil-or-bust-three-coaches-slow-to-adapt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/05\/10\/nil-or-bust-three-coaches-slow-to-adapt\/","title":{"rendered":"NIL or Bust: Three Coaches Slow to Adapt"},"content":{"rendered":"

NIL or Bust. College football is evolving, and Brian Kelly<\/strong>, Hugh Freeze<\/strong>, and Spencer Danielson<\/strong>‘s failure to adapt has them falling behind. Forget “rah-rah” speeches and promises of future glory. Today’s recruits are businessmen with talent to sell. NIL deals are the new signing bonus and programs that don’t adapt risk getting left behind.<\/p>\n

We see coaches clinging to the “develop our guys” mantra, which ignores reality. Top programs strategically leverage NIL to lure top talent, creating a win-win situation: top recruits get paid, and teams get a competitive edge. Schools with robust NIL collectives have a golden opportunity, but some coaches seem hesitant to use this to their advantage. It’s time to wake up and smell the NIL money, or some programs and coaches will be watching championships from the sidelines.<\/p>\n

NIL or Bust: Three Coaches Slow to Adapt<\/h2>\n

Brian Kelly \u2013 LSU Tigers<\/h3>\n

Kelly made plenty of headlines (excuses) this week when asked why LSU hadn’t leveraged the transfer portal to bring in some help on defense.<\/p>\n

“It’s hasn’t fared very well quite frankly because we are selling something a little bit differently. We want to recruit. We want to engage. Build relationships, develop, and have success.\u00a0 We are not in the market of buying players.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Did someone forget to tell Kelly it’s 2024, not 1994? Kelly’s comments raise serious concerns. While emphasizing player development is a nice sound bite, his resistance to utilizing NIL effectively borders on naivet\u00e9. And building relationships? This is the same guy who left his players at Notre Dame high and dry in the middle of a CFB Playoff run for more dollars in Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n

LSU fans have high expectations, and let’s be honest, the Tiger defense had a lot to be desired in 2023. Look no further than the Ole Miss game last year. LSU allowed 706 yards of total offense in a 55-49 loss to Ole Miss in Oxford. By the way, Lane Kiffin<\/strong> and the Rebels have no problem with NIL and the Transfer Portal. More on that later. Those sorts of numbers are unacceptable in Baton Rouge. Kelly can ill afford to have a defense that is ranked in the bottom 10 defensively in the country in 2024 if he expects to stick around with his new family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hugh Freeze \u2013 Auburn Tigers<\/h3>\n

Freeze’s response (excuse) to why Auburn didn’t get a new quarterback in an interview with (Greg) McElroy<\/strong> and (Cole) Cubelic<\/strong> in the Morning on WJOX is enough to make Auburn fans cringe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe options that you\u2019re presented with: develop Payton, develop Holden, develop Hank, develop Walker or go spend a million dollars on this guy, I just couldn\u2019t bring myself to doing that, because I wanted to put all the pieces together.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Freeze’s approach to “coach up who we have in our room is commendable,” the Tigers needed an injection of talent under center. Auburn was downright awful last year on offense. The Tigers ranked 113th nationally in passing yards per game and had a dismal 39% third-down conversion rate. If fans and the Auburn administration wanted those types of numbers, they could have kept Bryan Harsin<\/strong> another year. It’s not like there weren’t plenty of good quarterback options available in December. Here are five names that Freeze should have at least considered.<\/p>\n