Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin: “I think we’re losing the whole concept of what college athletics is all about”

Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin doesn’t know the entirety of what the NCAA’s post-NIL world truly encompasses, but he knows it isn’t what he’s used to.

Or what he thinks it should be.

Harsin sounded skeptical about the NIL rules (or lack thereof) in speaking during a session with reporters prior to the 28th Annual DEX Imaging L’Arche Football Preview event at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama.

The Auburn football HC said that the NCAA has lost sight of what college football is about:

"“Did it start like this? No. Is this where we are right now? Yes, but nobody really even knows what that means. And at the end of the day, it’s all about the players. I think we’re losing the whole concept of what college athletics is all about. Obviously, there’s money involved and there’s opportunities, which — if done right — all make the experience for them even better. And that’s really what college should be. It’s not a career. It’s an experience that they get to have. And you hope at the end of that experience, if you, when you ask them, would you do this again? They’d say yes.”"

Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin is not alone in his anti-NIL sentiment

Not many people know the deal about NIL rules and regulations, mainly because the NCAA has failed to properly release a set of guidelines for universities, coaches, players, and their agents to go by.

Erin E. Butcher, a higher education attorney at Bricker & Eckler in Ohio, spoke to the botched rollout of student-athletes being compensated this past season:

"“There’s not really any guidance from the NCAA. Where does a group deal cross the line from a permissible NIL deal to being some sort of improper recruiting inducement or pay for play?”"

Clearly, Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin is not alone in not knowing exactly how to navigate this brave new world in college football.