Talk about touching them all on your way out.
Congratulations to former Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore, who slammed the Name, Image & Likeness and NCAA Transfer Portal, which have been systematically soiling so much about college athletics, after his final game Sunday.
Gilmore, 66, previously announced his retirement as of the end of the 2023-24 season, which ended on Sunday with a 12-5 loss at Clemson in the NCAA Regional round.
PARTING SHOT: Gary Gilmore Homered In Last Press Conference At-Bat
"The fourth-string offensive tackle gets NIL money," Gilmore said. "NIL is supposed to be because you actually did something, and I just don't think that's what it's about. It should be for the guys that actually accomplish something, and not just everyone across the board. They've turned every booster and everything all loose."
Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore retired effective at the end of this season, which happened Sunday, but he did not go quietly. (Coastal Carolina photo).
Thank you, Gary. Couldn't have said it better myself, and I've been trying since NIL started in 2021. At least when so many boosters paid players illegally for decades, they paid the right players - you know the good ones. The collectives pay everyone. What a waste of American dollars and slap at the American way. Everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets paid, even if you're not any good.
"There has to be a better way," Gilmore said. "It shouldn't be just who can raise the most money and give it away. It's a complete mess."
College players have been compared to free agents, but it's worse than that because they have no binding contracts like professional players. What the NIL and portal have made them is something closer to hookers than free agents.
"They can come out in July and go, 'I'm up at the Cape (Cod League), and someone's going to give me a big NIL deal,'" Gilmore said. "‘You were held accountable coach, You had to honor that scholarship you gave me, but now I’m going in the portal and leave you hanging.' That's a messed-up system."
Coastal Carolina Coach Suggests Trusts For NIL Dough
And Gilmore made an excellent point about how too much money in the hands of those too young and uneducated can lead to bankruptcy. Just watch the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called "Broke," which details how so many professional athletes blew all or most of their money, particularly former NFL star receiver Andre Rison and the late Keith McCants, who played linebacker at Alabama before a short NFL career. And they were in their 20s, 30s and beyond - not millionaire teenagers, which NIL has created.
"The fact that there are teams in college baseball giving $2 million of NIL money away, I mean, come on, man," Gilmore said. "A real system would be they get a little money, and they put money in trusts. So you don't have the horror stories you see in the NFL and different places."
Gilmore got one part of his totally awesome rant wrong, however.
"If Major League Baseball had a system where everyone was a free agent every year (or every few months in some cases), do you realize what chaos there would be?," he said. "It would be the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, Texas, and the rest of the teams couldn't compete. There's not a level playing field. It's just ridiculous to me."
That has not been the case, particularly with the freewheeling portal when players can transfer multiple times and never have to sit out. Players are so hellbent on leaving in some cases, they'll go anywhere where they are needed or wanted, or where they think they are wanted or needed. Many players would rather play at lesser known programs than have to wait at a major brand-name program.
NIL AND PORTAL DO GIVE THE MEEK HOPE
And the lesser, non-brand name teams have found success. Look at Ole Miss in football. For most of the last half century, Ole Miss has been one of the have nots. Since the portal and NIL and an extremely talented coach Lane Kiffin and a great NIL collective, the Rebels are now a have and are expected to compete for a national championship in many circles this season.
And look at some of the teams in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament in baseball that starts this weekend. It's not just the haves.
University of Evansville outfielder Korbin Williams (right) is congratulated by teammate Stewart Nelson after scoring a run in the NCAA Regional round over the weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky. (Getty Images)
Look at the University of Evansville, a small private school in Evansville, Indiana, with 2,290 undergraduate students and probably not much of a collective for its sports.
But the Evansville Purple Aces (38-24) play their first-ever Super Regional game at No. 1 seed Tennessee (53-11) on Friday (3 p.m., ESPN2). Evansville is in the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2006 and just its sixth appearance since 1975.
NIL And Portal Didn't Stop The Aces
Evansville has a minimal number of transfers. Senior Kip Fougerousse, who leads the team with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs, is a transfer from Indiana. Junior Cal McGinnis, who is hitting .337 on the season, came in from Bradley. Junior Harrison Taubert, who is hitting .301, is a junior college transfer. That was common in baseball long before the portal.
All the other top players have been Evansville lifers. Mark Shallenberger leads the team with a .390 average and has 17 home runs with 63 RBIs. He is a fifth-year graduate student. Senior Brent Widder, who has 12 home runs and 55 RBIs, is also a fifth-year grad student. Pitcher Shane Harris (8-6, 3.63 ERA) is a senior as is Donovan Schultz (6-2, 5.84). They hope to keep freshman Kenton Deverman (9-1, 3.81 ERA) from transferring. Surely, Tennessee is already looking at him. LSU tried to poach a pitcher from Southern Mississippi while playing Southern Mississippi in an NCAA Regional in 2022. That's the world we're in.
But some Old School schools are winning the old-fashioned way.
West Virginia Mountaineers Making History
West Virginia University is in its first-ever Super Regional. The Mountaineers (36-22) play at No. 4 seed North Carolina (45-14) on Friday (6 p.m., ESPN2). Top power hitter Reed Chumley (.310, 15 HRs, 48 RBIs) is at his fourth school. And Kyle West (12 home runs) came over from Charleston. Senior pitcher Derek Clark (8-2, 2.82 ERA) and junior pitcher Tyler Switalski (5-2, 5.34 ERA) are also transfers, but from small schools. The nucleus of the team for the most part has stuck.
West Virginia coach Randy Mazey, 58, is transferring, though, so to speak. Like the Evansville coach, he also announced his retirement last year effective at the end of this season.
"It means the world that we’re able to do what we’re doing right now," junior pitcher Aidan Major (5-4, 5.48 ERA) said. "To do another first in program history, which it seems like we’ve done every year since I’ve been here, it’s incredible."
Every year that Major has been at WVU, he came back the next year. So has junior shortstop JJ Wetherholt (.345, 8 HRs).
"I’m going to try as hard as I can to win the super regional so they can experience the College World Series, because you can’t put into words what that feeling is like," said Mazey, who made it to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series as an assistant at TCU in 2010. "They’ll remember it the rest of their lives."
And they may be glad they didn't transfer for more money just like that.
"I hope somebody fixes it," Gilmore said. "I'm going to be honest with you. That part I'm going to enjoy not having to mess with."
Super Regional TV Schedule
FRIDAY
Connecticut (35-24) at No. 8 seed Florida State (45-15), Noon, ESPN.
Evansville (38-24) at No. 1 seed Tennessee (53-11), 3 p.m., ESPN.
West Virginia (36-22) at No. 4 seed North Carolina (45-14), 6 p.m., ESPN2.
Kansas State (35-24) at Virginia (44-15), 7 p.m., ESPNU.
SATURDAY
North Carolina State (36-20) at No. 7 seed Georgia (42-15), Noon, ESPN.
Florida (32-28) at No. 6 seed Clemson (44-14), 2 p.m. ESPN.
Oregon (40-18) at No. 3 Texas A&M (47-13), 2 p.m., ESPN2.
Oregon State (45-14) at No. 2 seed Kentucky (43-14), 6 p.m., ESPNU.
