Ex-Football Coach Sen. Tommy Tuberville Ends Growing Influence of Money in College Sports, Wants Change

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a former college football coach, tackles the growing influence of money in college sports amid rising name, image and pay likeness (NIL) for student-athletes and conference realignment between some. from the best college sports programs in the country for better TV deals.

Speaking to Fox News Digital as a new college football season kicks off, Tuberville touted a bill he and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin recently introduced that would overhaul collegiate athletics and create a standard national for NIL. But Tuberville warned that continuing to shape the industry around maximizing profits for programs and individuals could ultimately “ruin” college sports.

“I’m fine with that. I think it’s good for players to make money from their name, but it’s gotten out of hand,” Tuberville told Fox. “Right now it’s the Wild West. It’s out of control. Money is flying everywhere. Some players get their money, some don’t. There’s no oversight. So we’re trying to exercise some oversight on that.”

Tuberville, who has served as head football coach at several schools including Auburn University, and Manchin, a former West Virginia University football player, introduced the Athlete Protection Act, Schools and Sports, or PASS Act, in July, two years after the supreme law of the United States. The court ruled that the NCAA had unlawfully restricted education-related benefits that could be used as compensation for student-athletes.

OLE MISS’ LANE KIFFIN SAYS BRUTALLY HONEST APPROACH TO NIL, TRANSFER PORTAL ‘LOVED’ BY FANS AND RECRUITS

In response to the decision, the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors implemented an “interim” policy suspending its zero-pay rules until the NCAA adopts new rules or Congress passes a new rule. legislation.

“All the coaches and administrators started coming to me because they knew I knew a lot about college sports, and they asked me to get involved. They were very concerned about the future and the future. direction this NIL is taking for athletes and varsity sports,” Tuberville said.

Bill would establish rules for collectives and boosters, protect student-athletes, maintain fair competition between schools and states, require collectives and boosters to be affiliated with a college or school, ban inducements and would prohibit certain NIL agreements, such as those that “involve alcohol”. , drugs, or conflict with existing school and conference licenses,” and would grant the NCAA oversight and investigative authority over NIL’s activities.

It would also make changes to the transfer portal, requiring student-athletes to complete their first three years of academic eligibility before allowing them to transfer without penalty, with some exceptions, and requiring four-year institutions to provide coverage. healthcare for student-athletes, including insurance for athletes who are uninsured for eight years after graduation.

LANE KIFFIN SAYS NIL IS A “LEGALIZED CHEAT” AND MADE COLLEGE FOOTBALL “A DISASTER”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) questions Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler as Gensler testifies before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government July 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Tuberville said that during the process of formulating the bill, he and Manchin met with school administrators, coaches, players, parents, collectives and anyone else who might be involved in the system, and proposed the “basic principles” that he said would be the foundation for all 50 states to move in the same direction on NIL regulations.

He stressed the importance of ensuring student-athletes have access to health care, as well as managing the focus on money for some players trying to take advantage of the transfer portal that allows them to switch. school once in four years without any waivers from the NCAA. .

“It’s become a bidding war, to be honest with you,” Tuberville said of the portal. “Players get involved with agents, lawyers and accountants and try to make more and more money instead of, first, getting an education and, second, getting lifelong experience.”

He added that the bill was intended to give coaches, athletes, administrators and the NCAA what they needed to manage the process and avoid a “total disaster over the next few years,” which he said. , could lead to a lack of funding. for Olympic and women’s sports.

ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL COACH SAYS NIL IS 75-80% OF RECRUITMENT AND SHARES HOPES FOR HOW IT WILL BE USED

Tommy Tuberville, then Auburn University’s head football coach, enters the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. (Todd Van Emst)

“They don’t make a lot of money. They basically live off football, college football and the money that makes, and television,” Tuberville said. “We’re not trying to invent the wheel here. We’re trying to give them a starting point where the NCAA can step in and get involved in all of this.”

Tuberville went on to stress the need for a separation between zero pay for performance and coaches who use it as a recruiting tool to attract high school athletes to their programs, which he said was having a negative impact on female athletes.

“Very few female athletes benefit from this NIL. Just a few. There are a lot more male athletes. So what we’re trying to do is make sure that recruiting, in the first place, remains outside the NIL.” This (Supreme Court) ruling had nothing to do with some states, for example, offering ninth and tenth graders money to sign with their school two or three years later after graduating. It has nothing to do with it.” he said.

“As (Coach Lane) Kiffin has said since Ole Miss, this is legalized cheating,” he added. “Now, again, I’m all for athletes making money, but we’re trying to make sure we’re doing it the right way so that athletes – not just one or two – get a lot of ‘between them benefit: men and women. women, Olympic sports, women’s sports, basketball, baseball, softball, it makes no difference.’

OLIVIA DUNNE LAUNCHES FUND TO HELP OTHER LSU FEMALE ATHLETES GET ZERO BUSINESS

Tommy Tuberville, then Auburn University’s head football coach, was training at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. (Todd Van Emst)

Asked about conference realignments that have continued to expand beyond geographic regions and which many believe could be to the detriment of student-athletes, their quality of life and their education, Tuberville replied that it boiled down to one thing: “Follow the money.”

“That’s what’s happening here with these universities that are basically from the west coast trying to compete with the east coast teams because they really don’t have anything to do with television because most people on the east coast who people who love college sports are in bed,” he said, referring to schools like USC and UCLA who are considering leaving PAC-12 in the West and joining the Big 10, made up of schools primarily in the Midwest and Northeast.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“College sport should be about education first, and college sport second, and making sure everyone has a great experience,” he said. “They are all trying to get money because money is the engine of everything. As we all know TV is the engine of money. I just hope they don’t ruin the hen to the golden eggs which helps all sports and will not deal with just one or two sports.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.