Few head coaches have been as much of a quote this offseason than Mike Elko at Texas A&M. While Jon Sumrall could be giving him a run for his money ahead of his first season at Florida, Elko has been around a little while longer. Elko offered his takes on College Football Playoff expansion on Tuesday during the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin. Sumrall and Florida fans may agree with him on this take.
Elko perfectly encapsulated the paradoxical nature of how many playoff teams would coaches want.
“I don’t know why you ask us. It doesn’t matter what we think. I don’t know why we’re trying to become a trophy sport. What does Mike Elko want? 40. Then, I won’t get fired ... We don’t have to find a number that allows everyone to get in. It’s OK for it to be hard to get into the playoff. None of us are answering for the good of the sport. We are answering for the good of ourselves.”
While Sumrall may agree with him on that topic, the one on NIL regulation might not be a total yes...
“If we don’t find a way to create some level of regulation in the market, a lot of people are going to go bankrupt pretty quick. We’re two and a half years away from having an NIL budget that’s greater than the TV revenue for our entire university.”
The idea of NIL regulation would impact all SEC teams differently. For programs that have struggled with it like Alabama and Georgia, this would help them. While it still being the wild, wild west may serve SEC teams like Texas and Texas A&M, it is interesting to hear Elko argue in favor of more red tape. As far as schools who are good at NIL like Florida and Tennessee, let's not put out the guard rails just yet.
Sumrall is going to need a little bit more time to turn this around at Florida, and NIL can help with that.
Jon Sumrall needs for NIL to be the wild west a little bit longer at Florida
Follow along with this... If the SEC were to implement an NIL salary cap, here is how that might play out. The programs who have historically done the best with managing their teams will get it right more so often than others. Those who have been historically dysfunctional will continue to be that. While there may be a few outliers in either direction, more red tape will help the haves than have nots.
So for a program like Florida, one that is among the SEC's truest of blue bloods, Sumrall and his staff are more likely than not going to navigate any sort of recruiting restrictions that may come their way. However, less regulation in that department for the time being serves teams like Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee more so than Texas A&M... Those traditional powers need more time to get back to great.
In theory, putting NIL restrictions in place helps teams who have been strong recently and historically. The game has changed, and it has put programs like Alabama and Georgia behind the eight ball a little bit in the NIL space. They will adjust, mostly because they have to... Those who have taken advantage of it the most, namely Texas and Texas A&M in the SEC, will still be successful, but muted.
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And as for the Auburns, Floridas, and Tennessees of the world, any little extra advantage they can carve out during this time will help them in the long run. Auburn has a new head coach too in Alex Golesh. He is the greatest disciple of Josh Heupel at Tennessee, but even his biggest mentor needs to adapt. Ultimately, these schools could really use less regulation to catch up with Alabama and UGA.
Elko makes a ton of sense in his arguments, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution for the entire SEC.
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