Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer is entering his first season as a college head coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). And while he’s all about players cashing in on their NIL rights, he’s not so happy about other schools using NIL to entice players into the transfer portal.
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“You can be pissed off that there’s tampering going on, and you can be totally pro-kid at the same time,” Dilfer told Alabama.com. “I believe I have the emotional intelligence to do both, and I’ve proven that in a six-month period of time — I’m attacking this bulls–t, the tampering, and I’m supporting kids.”
The Super Bowl-winning QB has attacked shady NIL dealings since taking the UAB job last November, but he now wants to make it clear it is schools using NIL the wrong way that he’s upset about, not NIL itself.
In fact, at AAC Media Day, Dilfer explained that he’s loved NIL even before he took a college head coaching job. All three of his daughters played college volleyball, and two played in the NIL and transfer portal era, so they’ve benefitted from the new world of college athletics.
“Please don’t mistake my public comments and sound bites, I love NIL and I love the transfer portal,” Dilfer said. “My daughters have benefitted from both. I love, love, love NIL, and I am the biggest fan of players being able to profit from their name, image, and likeness because of my experience as a player.”
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Dilfer’s experience as a player at Fresno State was seeing tons of fans in the stands and on campus wearing his jersey but not making any money off of that. And that was a tough situation for him.
What Dilfer also knows is that experienced players help programs right away unlike most college freshmen. This is why the transfer portal is becoming so cutthroat. And because of this, the coach is vowing to do everything in his power to beat back the practice of other schools coercing his players to enter the portal with NIL money.
