Colin Cowherd convinces Urban Meyer NIL helps college coaches

College athletes undoubtedly benefit from NIL, but Colin Cowherd has now convinced Urban Meyer that college coaches benefit too.

The era of revenue-sharing in college basketball and football has changed the sport for coaches, with most assuming it changed for the worse. And Meyer appeared to join Cowherd’s FS1 and Fox Sports Radio Thursday afternoon feeling like revenue-sharing has been a negative for college coaches. But he left the show feeling a little bit differently.

“Lincoln Riley, I know the number, he’s not going anywhere! They just spent $300 million on facilities. $18 million on NIL. He’s got an $80 million buyout! So, I think NIL actually protects the staff. You probably get a year or two more than you used to.” – Colin Cowherd pic.twitter.com/IDgZ2yMQg2

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“When the NIL came out, I think a lot of coaches like Dabo Swinney are like, ‘I don’t want to pay my players, that’s not what college football is about.’ Here’s where the NIL helps coaches,” Cowherd said. “Because you spend so much time raising money to pay the players, you can’t buyout coaches anymore. Alabama can’t pay Kalen DeBoer $60 million and pay Saban more money. They don’t have the money! Like Lincoln Riley, I know the number, he’s not going anywhere! They just spent $300 million on facilities. $18 million on NIL. He’s got an $80 million buyout! So, I think NIL actually protects the staff. You probably get a year or two more than you used to.”

It’s an interesting take. And if you watch Meyer throughout Cowherd’s monologue, you can see the expression on the former football coach’s face change from, ‘What are you talking about?’ to ‘Maybe you’re right?’

“Every time I come on your show you come up with something, Colin, and I’m like, ‘What is he talking about?’ And then…This is one of those moments, I think you’re right,” Meyer admitted. “I never thought of it that way…the head coach has a buyout, but then you also have to pay off all those assistant coaches. This is one of those moments, Colin, you got me again. I think you’re absolutely right.”

Cowherd quickly made a believer out of Meyer, but that doesn’t change the fact that NIL has altered the way college coaches operate and added to their responsibilities. The increased responsibilities and changes that come with NIL have even driven some coaches to retire or leave college, maybe before they were otherwise ready to.

Verne Lundquist previously said he believes NIL drove Nick Saban to retire. Tony Bennett and Jim Larrañaga have both admitted their abrupt retirements from college basketball were due at least in part to NIL and the changing landscape of college sports. And we’ve also seen several coaches, such as Jim Hafley, willingly leave college football for lesser job titles in the NFL, likely due to the increased workload in college.

Saban may not have needed more job security. But maybe the job security Cowherd is talking back will eventually lighten the increased trend of coaches leaving college football for lesser positions in the NFL.