Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin doubles down on NIL 'disaster' at SEC Media Days

NASHVILLE — If Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin is at a podium speaking to reporters, it's always a safe bet that he's going to use the bulk of his time talking about the state of NIL and its relationship with the transfer portal.
At SEC Media Days on Thursday, Kiffin dove into the topic headfirst.
"(It's) what I kind of call the disaster that we're in," Kiffin said.
"I think it's phenomenal that players get a chance to get paid. I do think, which I've stood up here and said before when it first happened, that there's going to be some major issues. We're creating free agency with the portal, and with NIL, you've got a lot of pay-for-play going on."
Tennessee football, Josh Heupel, Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin, South Carolina, Shane Beamer at 2023 SEC Media Days on July 20, 2023, in Nashville
Kiffin went on to explain that he does not believe the structure in place is beneficial for the sport.
Athletes like Tom Brady, A'ja Wilson, Lionel Messi and LeBron James cannot opt into free agency multiple times per year like college football players can by simply entering the transfer portal, Kiffin said.
"There's no long-term contracts," Kiffin said. "Basically, everybody's not even on a one-month contract because they can leave in two windows. So, it's just created a lot of issues and these roster changes.
"I'm not complaining about it, because we take advantage, obviously, of free agency. I don't think that's really good for college football, these massive overhauls of rosters every year."
Kiffin was among the first coaches in college football to embrace the transfer portal, and he was aggressive again this offseason, adding several players who will be key to this season's outlook. Kiffin made waves by adding two quarterbacks in the portal this offseason, pulling four-year Oklahoma State starter Spencer Sanders and 5-star recruit Walker Howard from LSU. Ole Miss' starter from last season, Jaxson Dart, was another portal add.
Kiffin harbors concerns about the impact of NIL and the transfer portal on competitive balance.
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"When this first came out, basically said: 'Whatever programs have the most aggressive boosters with the most money are going to get the players,'" Kiffin said. "And now we are adding some states that you don't have to follow the NCAA, and now the university can take their money and give it to the collective to give it to the players.
"So now we really have pay-for-play that the biggest schools with the most donors, most aggressive, and the school wants to spend the most money, paying the players to play to come to their school, is where we are with that."
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.