Last year when this was being talked about, I mentioned that the #1 thing that made Miami successful over the decades is innovation.
Schelly- changed the game by creating the "state of Miami"
Jimmy- the Miami 4-3
Erickson- the one back offense
Butch- elite at talent recognition
But just like in the corporate world, others copy the innovation so you lose your competitive edge. My one hope for Manny Diaz was that he was smart enough to innovate in some way. The transfer portal looked like something Miami could take advantage of and we were at the forefront for a short while, but its hard to build a team with just the portal. My next suggestion was the NIL. Miami had to position itself as the CFB leader for NIL. Create courses to teach players about signing deals, marketing etc. When kids go on recruiting visits, they would see that Miami was light years ahead of any other program in terms of NIL, and was locked and loaded for them to start making legal money. We had the market, but we needed someone smart enough to see that. I have to say Diaz and Miami exceeded my expectations. Not one minute after NIL became legal, we had multiple players announcing deals.
Oh- and Bama? How many deals have their players announced today? I saw Bama had some 8th string WR claim he had some video game deal getting paid to tweet endorsements, but many other Bama PLAYERS (again, these are players, not coaches) were ****ting on the idea of NIL.
Traeshon Holden revealed his partnership shortly after midnight Thursday.
www.al.com
"[N]ot all players seem interested in the potential revenue opportunity. Freshman defensive lineman Monkell Goodwine posted Wednesday to Instagram, “I’ve decided that i will not be focusing on the name image and likeness, yet I will focuse [sic] more on the upcoming season on and off the field. Junior safety DeMarcco Hellams and sophomore linebacker Demouy Kennedy posted an identical message to Instagram reading, “Don’t let that NIL distract you from the bag you really supposed to be chasing.”'
I'm sure recruits who are interested in NIL are going to love the idea of playing for a coach that hates NIL and to be on a team where their own teammates are going to constantly question their commitment. Clemson? Dabo hates the idea of NIL so much he said he'd retire. On the flip side, Miami has whole marketing program set up to help players get that $$$
Let's check the NIL scoreboard: Miami 1, Bag Schools 0