By Jared Saiontz
When you think about college sports, you think about team identity, cohesion, tradition, and culture. Bo Schembechler, the great University of Michigan Football coach, once gave one of the most famous speeches in college sports history, underscoring the concept of a team as follows:
” No man is more important than The Team. No coach is more important than The Team. The Team, The Team, The Team, and if we think that way, all of us, everything that you do, you take into consideration what effect does it have on my Team? Because you can go into professional football, you can go anywhere you want to play after you leave here. You will never play for a Team again. You’ll play for a contract. You’ll play for this. You’ll play for that. You’ll play for everything except the team, and think what a great thing it is to be a part of something that is The Team” (VanValkenburg).
The speech highlights the importance of being a part of a team and having team cohesion because that is what makes you great. Schembechler states, “You’ll play for a contract. You’ll play for this. You’ll play for that. You’ll play for everything except the team.” What does Coach Schembechler mean by that? In 1983 when Coach Schembechler made that speech college athletes were not allowed to get paid in any way. However, this all changed 38 years later on July 1st, 2021, when a new policy known as Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) came into place in college sports. Dan Murphy, a highly regarded ESPN analyst, explained what NIL is bringing to college sports. He talked about how the law that went into effect on July 1st, 2021 is providing opportunities for athletes to make money by selling their name, image, and likeness. Such payments to athletes are made through different sorts of deals with brands, boosters, advertisements, etc. While at times, it benefits those who need the money, it also creates problems due to players focusing on the money more than the game and the commitment to the team. This problem stems from human nature.
Adolescents have a natural desire to be a part of a group. At the same time, this is the age where it is very difficult for them to remain who they are and balance that with the desire to be part of a group. Do et al. (2020), in a research paper at the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina, pointed out, “ Learning how to balance being themselves and fitting in with their social group can be particularly challenging during adolescence, a developmental period during which the need to establish a unique identity coincides with the desire to find belonging within social groups.” College athletes are no exception. On the one hand, they want to follow their instincts and be part of their teams and their team’s identity. On the other hand, they have an urge to develop their own identity. What NIL does makes this even more complicated by throwing unbelievably tempting financial incentives to the dilemma that these young adolescents are struggling with. In other words, finding the right balance between self and group identity becomes even more blurry because there is a lot of financial gain at stake. The introduction of NIL has been controversial because it is hard to ensure team identity and team unity when a player can just decide to transfer or sit out because they want more money. Others simply disagree with this argument and make a case that NIL has made college sports more fair to athletes due to getting paid for how good they are. Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) have adversely impacted team identity and team cohesion in NCAA basketball and football teams.
One way to understand the adverse impact of NIL on team cohesion and identity is to explore college basketball and football teams from coaches’ perspectives. Many of the coaches in college sports have had different reactions to the drastic changes in the sport regarding NIL. Nick Saban, one of the greatest college football coaches in the 2000s, recently retired. Saban posted a record of 201-29 at Alabama and created a great working tradition within the program. The Alabama football team was dominant under Saban in his 16 seasons, winning an extraordinary 6 national championships. In an article written in Sporting News, a trusted sports journal founded in 1886 that has started reporting heavily on NIL, Dan Treacy, a sports journalist who runs a very popular sports Instagram account @allsportsnews, discusses some of the reasons why such a prominent figure in college football retired. Treacy stated that Saban was retiring due to slowing down but that was not the sole reason (Treacy). He then reported that “ 70 to 80 percent of his Alabama roster was focused on either transferring or demanding more money as soon as the 2023 season ended” (Treacy). This provides evidence from Saban’s perspective, a coach who had been around football for ages before NIL, that he saw a difference in his team and that the players were not focused on self-improvement but rather pursuing where the most financial gain was, which further takes away from team identity and cohesion. In another article written by CNN on Nick Saban and his visit with many senators to Capitol Hill in March to discuss the current landscape of college football, Saban stated “All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics. It was always about developing players. It was always about helping people be more successful in life” (Dotson and Morse). Saban asserts that NIL is hurting the landscape of college football and that coaches can no longer have a meaningful impact on teams or individuals. It is taking away from the players’ development, which in all his years was the main focus, and instead putting the main focus on the financial status. 247 Sports, a trusted site focused on college football and college basketball, discovered that after Nick Saban left Alabama “10 players entered the portal” and “Six players also de-committed” (Rodak). It is clear to see the trajectory of where a team heads after losing a coach, players leaving, and disrupting the cohesion in the program. However, one might argue that the coaches’ retirements might not be the major effect of NIL and as such all of these articles expressing NIL as the major contributor to their retirement are weak and limited. But, even if NIL was not the sole reason for retirement for Saban, it was shown in the aftermath of his retirement that it played a great role in his decision to retire. If coaches keep leaving their teams due to NIL affecting how players act around the team then this ongoing problem of team cohesion and team identity being hurt will continue unless there are changes made.
Another way to understand the damaging impact of NIL on team cohesion and identity is to examine the role of players. It is important to note that most players approve of NIL because it is beneficial to their financial status as college students. But it is also important to note that just because it benefits their financial status doesn’t mean it isn’t hurting their role in being a team member. Recently the starting quarterback at UNLV, Matthew Sluka, decided that he would sit out the rest of the season due to NIL disputes. Dan Wetzel, a New York Times best-selling author, reported that “Sluka committed to the Rebels after a four-year career at Holy Cross, an FCS school in Worcester, Massachusetts. His father, Bob, told ESPN that NIL agents negotiated a deal with a UNLV collective or booster group but payments never arrived” (Wetzel). After this deal fell through, Sluka decided to sit out the rest of the year despite his team being 3-0 and having a chance of making the CFP playoffs. Since then, UNLV has gone 3-2 and lost all hopes of making the playoffs without their quarterback. Losing a player over an NIL dispute kills a team’s identity. This research gives a perspective on what could happen if NIL keeps arising and players decide to sit out over money.
It is important to see the damaging impact of NIL on team cohesion and identity in college basketball and football teams through a statistical view. As shown on ON3’s website, 3,337 Division 1 NCAA football players entered the transfer portal this past offseason in 2024. This shows a drastic increase from the 2021 season when NIL was first introduced and only 787 Division One football players entered the transfer portal. Also, 1,101 NCAA Division 1 basketball players entered the transfer portal this offseason which is much larger than 466, the amount of players who entered in the transfer portal in 2021. Many factors contribute to a player entering the transfer process to join a new team such as problems with the coach, seeking playing time, and many more. But, in the most recent day and age of college sports with the introduction of NIL and deals getting greater and greater, it is clear to see an obvious increase in the number of players leaving their teams to seek more financial gain.(Shollenberger, 2024).
However, from a team’s point of view, an argument can be made that NIL can be seen as having a positive impact on team cohesion and team identity. In a Sports Illustrated article, John Hoover an award-winning journalist, indicated that “Oklahoma’s football walk-ons got another major gift on Monday after national restaurant chain Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux matched the OU linebacker’s recent $50,000 donation of his own NIL money to the Sooners’ 18 walk-ons” (Hoover). This generosity of a star player sharing his NIL earnings with players less fortunate can create cohesion throughout a team. In a research paper written about generosity’s effect on society by students at the University of Notre Dame College of Arts and Letters, the author explained how “Generosity, like trust and reciprocity, provides a necessary lubricant for the functional human social and institutional relations necessary for human thriving” (Smith). This provides the knowledge that being generous is essential for functional social relationships, helping understand the Oklahoma player’s actions and how it can help build team cohesion. Nevertheless, in a recent study on NIL done by researchers at the University of Duke, researchers found that “The disparities in earning potential among teammates can lead to jealousy or resentment, potentially fracturing team unity” (Cohen, et al.). It only is common sense that high-profile players’ potential financial superiority if not shared with others can continue to disrupt team cohesion. To further support the idea from a team’s perspective that NIL is hurting cohesion Yahoo Sports did a page on Army and Navy football teams. NIL is for every team in the country and can have some benefits, but the Army and Navy are getting the most help from NIL on their team cohesion because NIL is not allowed at these academies. In the article, Ross Dellenger a Senior College football reporter, Dellinger quoted Brian Newberry the Navy Football Coach, and how he talks about his players playing for each other and a team instead of playing for money. “What you’re seeing with us and Army is a reflection of developmental programs with players that are selfless, play for each other, play for a team, play for a country” (Dellenger). Without NIL, the Army and Navy programs have both managed to become ranked at the same time for the first time since 1960 and are thriving with cohesion on the teams by playing for each other.
Overall, this research paper explored to the extent to which changes in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) have adversely impacted team identity and team cohesion in NCAA basketball and football teams through different lenses. All of these perspectives give insight into how changes need to be made to college sports revolving around NIL due to the damaging impact it is having on team cohesion and team identity. It is important to acknowledge that NIL is helping players out. Nick Saban also stated when he visited Capitol Hill that he believes that, “Name, Image, and Likeness is a great opportunity for them to create a brand for themselves. I’m not against that at all. But to come up with some kind of a system that still can help the development of young people, I think is paramount to the future of college athletics” (Dotson and Morse). This is exactly what is needed to happen. A change needs to be made in some sort of way to the extent to which the incentives are given to the college athletes to keep the development and cohesion of the teams in check while also profiting the players for their Name, Image, and Likeness. If no changes are made, the detrimental effects of NIL on team cohesion and team identity will continue to arise and college sports will just turn into a professional business.
Works Cited
“2024 College Basketball Transfer Portal” On3 https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/wire/basketball/2024/ Accessed November 14th, 2024
“2024 College Football Transfer Portal” On3 https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/wire/football/2024/ Accessed November 14th, 2024
Cohen, S., Colon, R., Tuzzo, A., & Padden, A. (2024). Name, image, and likeness and its ramifications for student-athletes. Black In Blue.
Dellenger, R. (2024, October 24). In era of Nil and Transfer Portal, Navy and Army are thriving without either. how are they pulling it off? “we are a unicorn.” Yahoo! Sports.
Do, K. T., McCormick, E. M., & Telzer, E. H. (2020, August 11). Neural sensitivity to conflicting attitudes supports greater conformity toward positive over negative influence in early adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
Dotson, K., & Morse, B. (2024, March 13). Former football coach Nick Saban laments the current landscape of college sports. CNN.
Hoover, J. E. (2024, September 19). Oklahoma football walk-ons get another major gift. Oklahoma Sooners On SI.
Murphy, D. (2024, September 1). Everything you need to know about the NCAA’s Nil Debate. ESPN.
Rodak, M. (2024, July 18). Nick Saban: Alabama players who “bolted” after his retirement are “probably sorry.” 247Sports.
Shollenberger, B. (2024, May 28). How has Nil Changed College Sports Like College Football?: American Public University. APU.
Smith, C. (2014, May 27). Science of Generosity. What Makes us Generous? Science of Generosity, University of Notre Dame.
Treacy, D. (2024, March 12). Nick Saban Nil comments: Former Alabama coach says retirement partly because players only care about money. Sporting News.
VanValkenburg, J. (2017, October 3). Bo’s “the team” speech: Mantra for Michigan Wolverine fans. Bleacher Report.
Wetzel, D. (2024, September 25). Shocked by UNLV’s Matthew Sluka sitting out over an apparent nil dispute? don’t be. Yahoo! Sports.