Dabo Swinney on NIL, Revenue Sharing: 'Nobody's Gonna Have More Money Than Clemson'

Clemson caput coach Dabo Swinney has not ever been the biggest proponent for paying assemblage shot players and embracing what is to travel successful the sport, but he seemed rather optimistic astir the Tigers' wide outlook heading into the early during a Tuesday property conference.

As Grace Raynor of The Athletic relayed, Swinney opened up astir topics specified arsenic gross sharing pinch athletes, the transportation portal, NIL opportunities and more.

"Nobody's gonna person much money than Clemson. Nobody," he said of impending gross sharing. "For the first clip ever. That'll beryllium good."

As Raynor explained, the assemblage sports world is waiting for support of the House colony that will let diversion departments to stock 22 percent of their yearly gross pinch athletes. The headdress is expected to beryllium astatine $20.5 cardinal per school, and that money tin beryllium distributed to various athletes crossed various sports of the school's choosing.

"Those are decisions that you person to make year-to-year but everybody will person the aforesaid money, and erstwhile I opportunity nobody's gonna person much money than Clemson, that's because of the committedness from our administration," Swinney said.

There will besides beryllium opportunities for athletes extracurricular of the gross sharing, but the Tigers caput coach called NIL "a challenge" for his programme and encouraged fans and alumni to donate.

Being truthful unfastened astir the request for much money to salary players is rather the displacement for Swinney, who famously said successful 2014 he mightiness discontinue assemblage shot wholly pinch specified developments.

"As acold arsenic paying players, professionalizing assemblage athletics, that's wherever you suffer me," he said astatine the time. "I'll spell do thing other because there's capable entitlement successful this world arsenic location is."

Swinney has besides received plenty of criticism for his hesitancy to usage the transportation portal successful the caller property of assemblage football. While he didn't propose he is abruptly going to commencement bringing successful tons of players from the portal successful the future, he did advocator for immoderate changes to the wide calendar.

"To maine location should conscionable beryllium 1 portal window—it's successful the outpouring and you're done pinch it," he said. "If we had conscionable a small much communal consciousness we could hole it. But it's wherever we are."

Having conscionable 1 outpouring portal model alternatively of different 1 successful December would mean coaches and teams who are actively preparing for College Football Playoff games and vessel games while recruiting precocious schoolhouse classes won't besides person to interest astir players connected the existent roster transferring retired earlier postseason games.

Swinney besides called the thought of capping rosters astatine 105 players pinch 85 scholarships "the worst thing" because of the mislaid opportunities for walk-ons and the greater readiness of players for practices complete the people of a agelong season.

All of this comes up of a monolithic crippled against rival South Carolina for the Tigers.

If Clemson wins, it will person a coagulated chance to make the CFP. It would besides person a chance to make the CFP if Syracuse defeats Miami and opens up a spot for Swinney's squad successful the ACC Championship Game against SMU.

It wasn't agelong agone the Tigers were 1 of the golden standards of assemblage football. They reached 4 nationalist title games and won 2 of them during the 5 seasons from 2015 to 2019.

Yet they missed the CFP wholly successful each of the past 3 seasons and grounded to triumph double-digit games past play for the first clip since 2010. It wasn't difficult to make an statement that the programme was trending successful the incorrect direction, particularly pinch different powerhouses relying connected things for illustration the transportation portal.

However, Clemson has the opportunity to build momentum and possibly scope the CFP pinch a beardown decorativeness this season. And Swinney sounds optimistic astir what the early holds, which is surely invited news for Tigers fans.