I took a couple hours during the break and did a deep dive into Rutgers and our peer institutions from 2021-present concerning NIL. What I was focused on was presenting the words of the head coaches, verbatim, concerning NIL so that we could see the logical progression in thought, strategy, and execution for Rutgers relative to other programs.
I have done this, sourced it, and compiled for Greg Schiano, Ryan Day, and PJ Fleck. I will present each coach over the next 3 days (Schiano today, Fleck tomorrow, Day on Saturday) without comment*, featuring only their quotes time stamped and sourced (*I have shared my views on this extensively in other threads so will not do so here).
Without further ado, I present Greg Schiano.
July 2021
NIL era begins June 30, 2021
“With NIL, I think, number one, we're going to learn a lot more in the next 12 to 18 months exactly how it's going to impact everything. I think it's a great thing for our student-athletes, though. They deserve to be able to make income off of their name and likeness. I agree with that.
I think the thing that it is even, I wouldn't say as much, but equally important, it's a great opportunity for us to educate them, right? We're injecting them into the free market society. There's so many lessons to be learned.
Just the other day we had a deep discussion about income tax. I think back to when I was 19 or 20 years old. I didn't understand income tax. I mean, wait a minute, that dollar, I don't actually get to keep that whole dollar? So to have that conversation, just to see their eyes, because when NIL became official, we had -- and even before -- we had a very, very concentrated audience. They wanted to know the facts. And what a great opportunity for all of us as coaches to teach our guys.
Again, my whole thing is recruit and develop. Recruit the right guys for Rutgers, and then develop them in every area of their life so they can go be the husbands and fathers and successful people in society. Learning all this about finances, about free market and trade, all that stuff, I think it's great for our student-athletes.”
(source: https://www.si.com/college/northwestern/football/what-each-big-ten-coach-thinks-about-nil)
July 2021 (Big Ten Media Day)
“I don’t know with the NIL. I think we’re all going to find a lot out in the next 12-18 months. I think the guys that we identify, they are our kind of guys. We want the type of people and player they are, and they want what we are. And that’s where that mesh comes in…will they really buy in and live our culture?”
(source : )
September 2021
“The way Gavin Wimsatts NIL deal came to be is we know what happened at Ohio State, and I think the family saw that and they asked, really, just curiously, could we do that? We said, well, we could look into it if you want to. And we did, and it was a possibility because he’s done a good job academically.”
“After doing this 33 years, I’m probably more of a traditionalist, but I’m learning every single day that you’ve got to be moving with the times. Otherwise the times just pass you by. This is where college football is heading”
(source: https://www.onthebanks.com/2021/9/5...ah-vedral-cole-snyder-evan-simon-sean-gleeson)
May 2022
Knights of the Raritan collective launches
July 2022
“NIL, in its formation, was for your existing roster to be able for your players to be able to monetize their name, image and likeness. It was not meant to be used as an incentive or to try to bring someone in as a recruit. If you didn't think that was going to happen, you're naive because it was happening before, just illegally. It's still illegal to do that.
As soon as NIL happened, the professionalization of college sports happened. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. What I really think needs to happen is that we get our hands around this thing and quickly. There needs to be some more planning and oversight. That's not my job. My job is to get our team ready. So what do you do? You adapt or you die. We have to learn how to adapt to it in a way that's right for our culture, not some other team's culture. Did it change recruiting? Yeah, it did. Not like everybody thinks because people were cheating before so it's not a new thing. It's just a different way."
(source: https://www.app.com/story/sports/co...s-are-adjusting-to-new-landscape/65381448007/)
July 2022 (remarks to Touchdown Club)
“We have four months to raise the money we need before other teams start poaching our best players. We need millions to retain our top players
"We need 6 million to retain players, whereas Ohio State needs 13 million for addition and retention."
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...ey-to-retain-top-football-players-politi.html)
December 2022
“I don't like the way that NIL has been handled. I do think players should get paid, I've said that since the day I took this job in 2000. I mean, I stood up at a coaches' meeting once and suggested and kind of got laughed at. But had we had a little more forethought earlier, I don't know if it would be such a mess right now today. But we are where we are, so there's no use crying over spilled milk. I think it needs to get under control. I do think the NCAA is trying, but it's really hard right now. The momentum is in the other direction.
They're here, so we're fighting it off. But yeah, it's happening (other programs poaching our players). I don't like standing up here and feeding the fire, so to speak. It's part of life right now. But it's a life that we made. Anybody who wants to moan and groan about it, we could have avoided all this. We didn't do a good job, and it's our own fault. So figure it out. As I tell our players a lot, you've got to figure it out. We, as coaches, got to figure it out. That's what we're trying to do here at Rutgers. It's not easy, and there are people that have more resources in that area. That you know.
Let's be sure we're under the same understanding. This isn't new to college football. It's been going on forever. It's just different kind of mechanisms to do it now
People don't have a clear understanding what the rules even are. Like you cannot use NIL, within the rules, to recruit a player, whether he's in the portal or he's in high school. That's illegal. I'm going to give you $5 to come play at Rutgers; you can't say that. You can't do that. Yet it's done every day multiple hundreds of times a day. We're not going to do that. At the end of the day, I'm going to go to bed at night and know we've done things the right way, and I'm good with that.”
(source: https://247sports.com/college/rutge...-and-tampering-in-college-football-201190961/)
July 2023
“NIL is something that I have been a proponent of … I thought players should be paid as long as I’ve been a head coach I’ve said that and at times gotten laughed out of the room. I think NILs a good thing, I just want to make sure it’s handled the right way and I’m not sure we’re doing that right now. The integrity of the game is at stake and I think you’re going to see things start to pop up that are by products of NIL. 18 to 22 year olds with substantial money in their pocket is different than a 22 year old that goes to the National Football League and has guidance and has been through a college program. I think we’re trying to do a great job of educating our guys…they’re learning about financial literacy.
“NIL has really changed the competitive landscape of college football… I’ve learned that if you don’t like it, you have two choices: Either change it or change the way you think about it. So I’ve changed the way I think about it, and I’ve changed the way I do my job, because that is what is necessary right now”
“NIL is something I’ve supported for as long as I’ve been a head coach, but doing it our way, and being responsible with it, I hope nationally that happens”
(source: )
September 2023 (speaking to donors)
(taken via third party account)
“Rutgers football is in serious trouble. A slew of our most hated rivals, waving fistfuls of cash, will invade New Jersey to poach our team’s best players. If Rutgers has any chance of contending in the Big Ten Conference, he would need more talented — and more expensive — players. Dig deep”
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2023/12/name-image-lagging-behind.html)
November 2023
"The thing that has changed everything is this new animal called NIL, and we are holding on by our fingernails. That is going to be the tough part of building this to what we're capable of. It's going to be in large part of how we navigate the NIL landscape”
(source: https://247sports.com/longformartic...gibility-is-just-the-start-219321452/#2288178)
November 2023 (conclusion of season)
“We will go into the portal and we will try to secure some more guys. You know it, I know it: NIL is part of that. If we don’t have the firepower to do that, it’ll be harder”
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2023/12/name-image-lagging-behind.html)
July 2024
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano told NJ Advance Media that plans for an indoor practice facility have "taken a backseat" to NIL and the project is "not my main focus today."
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...ty-have-taken-backseat-greg-schiano-says.html)
August 2024
Rutgers names someone to manage NIL (Reed Zak)
December 2024
“I wish I could sit here and tell you, this is how it's going to work (the recruiting process). We don't know that yet. Still has to be ratified by the judge and all those kind of things. This, again, was done the old-fashioned way. You know, NIL is involved. The new old-fashioned way. I think this class is really special group and they are going to do really good things here.
The Big Ten to me is that sweet spot, and I've said it before, of elite academics and elite football that meets way up here (indicating top of a pyramid). I don't think there's any -- I know there isn't any place else in the country that has such a group of people that are commonly connected in that manner, elite football, elite academics because it is still college football. No matter how much revenue share, NIL or all that stuff, they have to get their degree. There's going to be a heck of a lot more of them that don't play professionally than do, and the degree that they get, the education that they receive here, both real life and in the classroom. Those are the things that are going to help them as they go on to be great husbands, great fathers, great members of society. I can't say enough about what the Big Ten means to Rutgers; what it means to me. I've said it many times. I think it's a perfect fit for Rutgers, and what we need to do is now we need to go get on that top half there and above, where we can -- we actually are in the top half this year. But we've got to get to the top of the top half. We've got to go win the thing and that's going to be hard, really hard but that's what players like this can do.”
(source: https://scarletknights.com/news/202...nference-head-coach-greg-schiano-12-4-24.aspx)
I have done this, sourced it, and compiled for Greg Schiano, Ryan Day, and PJ Fleck. I will present each coach over the next 3 days (Schiano today, Fleck tomorrow, Day on Saturday) without comment*, featuring only their quotes time stamped and sourced (*I have shared my views on this extensively in other threads so will not do so here).
Without further ado, I present Greg Schiano.
July 2021
NIL era begins June 30, 2021
“With NIL, I think, number one, we're going to learn a lot more in the next 12 to 18 months exactly how it's going to impact everything. I think it's a great thing for our student-athletes, though. They deserve to be able to make income off of their name and likeness. I agree with that.
I think the thing that it is even, I wouldn't say as much, but equally important, it's a great opportunity for us to educate them, right? We're injecting them into the free market society. There's so many lessons to be learned.
Just the other day we had a deep discussion about income tax. I think back to when I was 19 or 20 years old. I didn't understand income tax. I mean, wait a minute, that dollar, I don't actually get to keep that whole dollar? So to have that conversation, just to see their eyes, because when NIL became official, we had -- and even before -- we had a very, very concentrated audience. They wanted to know the facts. And what a great opportunity for all of us as coaches to teach our guys.
Again, my whole thing is recruit and develop. Recruit the right guys for Rutgers, and then develop them in every area of their life so they can go be the husbands and fathers and successful people in society. Learning all this about finances, about free market and trade, all that stuff, I think it's great for our student-athletes.”
(source: https://www.si.com/college/northwestern/football/what-each-big-ten-coach-thinks-about-nil)
July 2021 (Big Ten Media Day)
“I don’t know with the NIL. I think we’re all going to find a lot out in the next 12-18 months. I think the guys that we identify, they are our kind of guys. We want the type of people and player they are, and they want what we are. And that’s where that mesh comes in…will they really buy in and live our culture?”
(source : )
September 2021
“The way Gavin Wimsatts NIL deal came to be is we know what happened at Ohio State, and I think the family saw that and they asked, really, just curiously, could we do that? We said, well, we could look into it if you want to. And we did, and it was a possibility because he’s done a good job academically.”
“After doing this 33 years, I’m probably more of a traditionalist, but I’m learning every single day that you’ve got to be moving with the times. Otherwise the times just pass you by. This is where college football is heading”
(source: https://www.onthebanks.com/2021/9/5...ah-vedral-cole-snyder-evan-simon-sean-gleeson)
May 2022
Knights of the Raritan collective launches
July 2022
“NIL, in its formation, was for your existing roster to be able for your players to be able to monetize their name, image and likeness. It was not meant to be used as an incentive or to try to bring someone in as a recruit. If you didn't think that was going to happen, you're naive because it was happening before, just illegally. It's still illegal to do that.
As soon as NIL happened, the professionalization of college sports happened. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. What I really think needs to happen is that we get our hands around this thing and quickly. There needs to be some more planning and oversight. That's not my job. My job is to get our team ready. So what do you do? You adapt or you die. We have to learn how to adapt to it in a way that's right for our culture, not some other team's culture. Did it change recruiting? Yeah, it did. Not like everybody thinks because people were cheating before so it's not a new thing. It's just a different way."
(source: https://www.app.com/story/sports/co...s-are-adjusting-to-new-landscape/65381448007/)
July 2022 (remarks to Touchdown Club)
“We have four months to raise the money we need before other teams start poaching our best players. We need millions to retain our top players
"We need 6 million to retain players, whereas Ohio State needs 13 million for addition and retention."
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...ey-to-retain-top-football-players-politi.html)
December 2022
“I don't like the way that NIL has been handled. I do think players should get paid, I've said that since the day I took this job in 2000. I mean, I stood up at a coaches' meeting once and suggested and kind of got laughed at. But had we had a little more forethought earlier, I don't know if it would be such a mess right now today. But we are where we are, so there's no use crying over spilled milk. I think it needs to get under control. I do think the NCAA is trying, but it's really hard right now. The momentum is in the other direction.
They're here, so we're fighting it off. But yeah, it's happening (other programs poaching our players). I don't like standing up here and feeding the fire, so to speak. It's part of life right now. But it's a life that we made. Anybody who wants to moan and groan about it, we could have avoided all this. We didn't do a good job, and it's our own fault. So figure it out. As I tell our players a lot, you've got to figure it out. We, as coaches, got to figure it out. That's what we're trying to do here at Rutgers. It's not easy, and there are people that have more resources in that area. That you know.
Let's be sure we're under the same understanding. This isn't new to college football. It's been going on forever. It's just different kind of mechanisms to do it now
People don't have a clear understanding what the rules even are. Like you cannot use NIL, within the rules, to recruit a player, whether he's in the portal or he's in high school. That's illegal. I'm going to give you $5 to come play at Rutgers; you can't say that. You can't do that. Yet it's done every day multiple hundreds of times a day. We're not going to do that. At the end of the day, I'm going to go to bed at night and know we've done things the right way, and I'm good with that.”
(source: https://247sports.com/college/rutge...-and-tampering-in-college-football-201190961/)
July 2023
“NIL is something that I have been a proponent of … I thought players should be paid as long as I’ve been a head coach I’ve said that and at times gotten laughed out of the room. I think NILs a good thing, I just want to make sure it’s handled the right way and I’m not sure we’re doing that right now. The integrity of the game is at stake and I think you’re going to see things start to pop up that are by products of NIL. 18 to 22 year olds with substantial money in their pocket is different than a 22 year old that goes to the National Football League and has guidance and has been through a college program. I think we’re trying to do a great job of educating our guys…they’re learning about financial literacy.
“NIL has really changed the competitive landscape of college football… I’ve learned that if you don’t like it, you have two choices: Either change it or change the way you think about it. So I’ve changed the way I think about it, and I’ve changed the way I do my job, because that is what is necessary right now”
“NIL is something I’ve supported for as long as I’ve been a head coach, but doing it our way, and being responsible with it, I hope nationally that happens”
(source: )
September 2023 (speaking to donors)
(taken via third party account)
“Rutgers football is in serious trouble. A slew of our most hated rivals, waving fistfuls of cash, will invade New Jersey to poach our team’s best players. If Rutgers has any chance of contending in the Big Ten Conference, he would need more talented — and more expensive — players. Dig deep”
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2023/12/name-image-lagging-behind.html)
November 2023
"The thing that has changed everything is this new animal called NIL, and we are holding on by our fingernails. That is going to be the tough part of building this to what we're capable of. It's going to be in large part of how we navigate the NIL landscape”
(source: https://247sports.com/longformartic...gibility-is-just-the-start-219321452/#2288178)
November 2023 (conclusion of season)
“We will go into the portal and we will try to secure some more guys. You know it, I know it: NIL is part of that. If we don’t have the firepower to do that, it’ll be harder”
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgers/2023/12/name-image-lagging-behind.html)
July 2024
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano told NJ Advance Media that plans for an indoor practice facility have "taken a backseat" to NIL and the project is "not my main focus today."
(source: https://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/...ty-have-taken-backseat-greg-schiano-says.html)
August 2024
Rutgers names someone to manage NIL (Reed Zak)
December 2024
“I wish I could sit here and tell you, this is how it's going to work (the recruiting process). We don't know that yet. Still has to be ratified by the judge and all those kind of things. This, again, was done the old-fashioned way. You know, NIL is involved. The new old-fashioned way. I think this class is really special group and they are going to do really good things here.
The Big Ten to me is that sweet spot, and I've said it before, of elite academics and elite football that meets way up here (indicating top of a pyramid). I don't think there's any -- I know there isn't any place else in the country that has such a group of people that are commonly connected in that manner, elite football, elite academics because it is still college football. No matter how much revenue share, NIL or all that stuff, they have to get their degree. There's going to be a heck of a lot more of them that don't play professionally than do, and the degree that they get, the education that they receive here, both real life and in the classroom. Those are the things that are going to help them as they go on to be great husbands, great fathers, great members of society. I can't say enough about what the Big Ten means to Rutgers; what it means to me. I've said it many times. I think it's a perfect fit for Rutgers, and what we need to do is now we need to go get on that top half there and above, where we can -- we actually are in the top half this year. But we've got to get to the top of the top half. We've got to go win the thing and that's going to be hard, really hard but that's what players like this can do.”
(source: https://scarletknights.com/news/202...nference-head-coach-greg-schiano-12-4-24.aspx)
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