Arizona State football coach says NIL is 75-80% of recruiting, shares hopes on how it will be used

July 19, 2023 at 19:42 PM EDT

Kenny Dillingham is hoping that NIL money can be used in a way that the amount of money an athlete makes isn't the determining on where he or she will play.

Some of the most important figures in college athletics have been vocal that NIL needs fixing.

An SEC contingent that included Alabama head coach Nick Saban, LSU's Brian Kelly, and conference commissioner Greg Sankey even traveled to Washington, D.C., to make a case for federal assistance in regulating how college athletes can earn money off their fame.

Finally permitted in 2021, it has changed the landscape of college sports, and one football coach has an estimate of how much of a role it plays in recruiting.

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"NIL is 80% of recruiting. 75% of recruiting," Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said earlier this week. "So to think that it's not is naive."

However, Dillington wants money given to his players to be via the local community.

"I hope the players that choose to come here get paid the maximum amount of money they can ever get paid, more than anybody in the country. That's what I hope. I hope I do such a good job that people, that business flock to pay our players more than anybody in the country, because we have a Valley behind it. And if you don't think that your one business can make a difference, you're false. It's not true. Your one business supporting one player, reaching out to one player on Twitter saying ‘we’re gonna pay you blank amount of money a month to do this' - it's critical. It's huge. You don't understand, because there are so many businesses…

"NIL is essential, but I want to reward our guys who are here. I want people to get NIL who wanted to be here, not getting a kid here illegally…to entice them with NIL. I want the Valley to support the people who choose to be here…

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"That's how I want NIL. I want the city to wrap around this team and use this team… That's what it's for."

Kelly said that college sports are "in jeopardy" "if this doesn't get fixed."

Saban argued that the disparity in compensation in the college ranks was at risk of becoming worse in the future due to the current model that exists in the sport.

Dillingham is entering his first season as ASU's head coach, his first head coaching gig, after being an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Memphis, Auburn, Florida State, and Oregon since 2018. He is the youngest head coach in the FBS at just the age of 33.