With the NCAA rules on name, image and likeness being changed and put into effect on Thursday, tons of college athletes are now pouncing on their rightful opportunity to make some money. Many athletes have signed deals with a variety of outlets and companies to cash some checks amid the new NIL rules. It has some remembering what Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said back in 2019.

Dabo Swinney has had an incredibly successful run at Clemson bringing home two National Championships during his time with the Tigers so far. He has also not been shy about voicing his thoughts on a variety of topics. This includes the idea of college athletes being paid. Back in 2019, Swinney made some pretty damning comments on multiple occasions that are now resurfacing everywhere on Twitter given the new NIL rules in the NCAA.

“Who knows? They may do away with college football in three years. There may be no college football. They may want to professionalize college athletics. Well, then, maybe I'll go to the pros. If I'm going to coach pro football, I might as well do that.” – Dabo Swinney in 2019 via ESPN.

That wasn't the only time Swinney has brought it up.

“We try to teach our guys, use football to create opportunities, take advantage of the platform and the brand and the marketing you have available to you. But as far as paying players, professionalizing college athletics, that's where you lose me. I'll go do something else, because there's enough entitlement in this world as it is.” – Dabo Swinney also in 2019.

Not the best look considering what is now transpiring. Of course, social media has come out in full force making a joke of what Swinney said while some have asked if he's going to live up to his work in a sarcastic manner. Well, some of them seem sarcastic.

 

Not everyone is going to be happy with the decision that was handed down by the Supreme Court, most notably, the NCAA. The Supreme Court gave the NCAA a massive dose of reality that has now opened up the flood gates for athletes. It was Justice Brett Kavanaugh that delivered a slam-dunk quote following the decision by the Supreme Court.

“NCAA couches its arguments for not paying student athletes in innocuous labels. But the labels cannot disguise the reality: The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America…Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing to not pay their workers a fair market rate on their theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. The NCAA is not above the law.” – Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

That's a tough one to bounce back from for the NCAA.

While obviously Dabo Swinney won't be resigning as head coach, it will be interesting to see if he speaks out about this or whenever he speaks to the media next what he will note as he will certainly be asked about the comments he made in 2019. For now, athletes are diving head first into all the opportunities now coming their way.

https://twitter.com/JrStingley/status/1410468921698930693

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It's certainly a brand new era in college athletics now. It's a change that has been a long time coming but there was always doubt as to if anything of substance would ever come to the light. Now that it has, athletes everywhere will be able to profit.

It is worth noting that schools still have the right to enforce certain rules of their own, so perhaps Dabo Swinney and Clemson will have something up their sleeve if he's truly salty about all of this.

One school that has stood out already is BYU. They sent out a memo in an email prohibiting athletes from signing deals that promote alcohol, tobacco, gambling, things that make sense. What doesn't make a lot of sense, they also banned coffee. Yes, coffee.

The other ones all make sense, coffee is tough to wrap the mind around but that's the rules that they have enforced at BYU. It still leaves more than enough opportunity for any BYU athletes to capitalize elsewhere.

Changes are here and here to stay in the NCAA. While Dabo Swinney won't be quitting his job as he said he'd do so in 2019 if this day ever came, he will have to face the music at some point when he's asked about these new rules. As athletes look to grasp on to money making opportunities, coaches like Swinney will now try to find ways to use this as a recruiting advantage to keep a leg up on the competition. Let the chess match begin.