NIL's Real Cost: Money Talks by Craig Domann

In this episode of Pro Mindset® Podcast, host Craig Domann delves into the transformative world of college football with insights on NIL and transfer portals. Discover how these elements are reshaping the landscape and what it means for athletes today. Craig shares strategies on thriving amidst chaos, emphasizing the importance of character and mindset in this new era.

Episode Takeaways:
💡 NIL Impact—Maximize Financial Opportunities
💡 Transfer Portals—Navigate Talent Dynamics
💡 Character—Stand Out in Recruiting 

Join us for an enlightening conversation on mastering the complexities of modern college football and turning challenges into opportunities.

💬 “In the chaos of college sports, character and strategy define success.” — Craig Domann 

🚀 Ready to Build a Mindset That Powers You Through Anything?
If Craigs’s insights on character and talent inspire you, the Pro Mindset® Coaching program can help you align your potential with purpose and adaptability.

 👉 Learn more or apply at www.ProMindsetPodcast.com/coaching or reach out directly to Craig at Craig.ProMindset@gmail.com.

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Transcript

PRO MINDSET (00: 0:00

01.41) Hey, welcome everybody to Pro Mindset Podcast. This is your host, Craig Domann. Hey, today we're going to talk about NIL recruiting and transfer portal as they all pertain to college football. College football right now, everybody knows it's like the wild, wild west. there's not a lot of rules and regulations at the moment. The, the power of the NCAA is pretty much evaporated. schools are kind of like managing themselves and I would say that every athlete out there is got the mindset of hey I want to get mine. I'm hearing all these stories about these guys hitting the lottery. I want to get mine. That's what everybody wants. And so what I'm going to talk about today is that whole process from an agent perspective, from a family perspective, and from a school perspective. The three parties involved in these relationships are the players, the parents, and the schools. The schools are the GM, the coaches, and so on and so forth, everybody associated with the program. I just got back from a three-day unofficial visit at a Power Force school that's been a perennial college football playoff team with one of my clients. got to experience and witness the, just the whole process. And I've got to witness also the mind process, the thinking, the decision-making process of an athlete. You've got these guys that are from the high school level that are 17 years old, that are making a life-changing decision. with only 17 years of life experience. And so they don't, they are trying to figure it out. most of them just love ball. They just love ball. They just want to play ball and the money's great, but they want to play ball. They want to play. They want to have fun. they want to be, a part of a program that believes in them, that wants them, that has a vision for them and the schools, they just want players that are authentic, that have high character.

PRO MINDSET (02: 0:05

27.246) They absolutely don't want to pay guys and give scholarships to guys that are not going to pan out. know, in the NFL, you got these first round bus, the guys are around a couple years, they got guaranteed contracts for four years, sometimes five. And there's a bunch of dead money involved when a team decides to move on from that player. That didn't used to be the case in college football. Give a guy a scholarship. Maybe he didn't pan out and he would just quit the team, transfer. No dead money, hey, just opened up a scholarship spot and then use that scholarship on another player. Today, college football is very similar to the NFL in the sense that the GMs have to be weary and mindful of dead money. They can't just be throwing money around to any player and hope it works out. And then if the player is not mature, if he's got an injury issue, if he's got a dedication issue, work ethic issue, all those type of things, it's going to come back to bite the school. Because they're going to have money invested in a player that's on the sidelines. They're going to have money invested in a player that may never play in future years. And that money could have been invested in a player. that either with some hot shot FCS player or power five D1 player that could come in and play right away or could be invested in an offensive lineman or quarterback that may take more time to develop. And they didn't use that money on that. They used it on the player that didn't pan out. So today what we're going to talk about is I'm going to give you a perspective of being the player. Even on an unofficial visit gets off the plane. checks into the hotel, goes by the facility and has a battery of interviews. It's almost like a 48 hour to 72 hour battery of interviews. One after another. If he's a defensive player, it's with this position coach, the D coordinator, the strength or performance coach and the head coach. And every single one of those coaches is selling and learning at the same time.

PRO MINDSET (04: 0:10

44.844) They are promoting their program, and at the same time, they're trying to figure out this young man to decide if they really want him or not, and how bad they want him. Because at the end of the day, not only is it do we want him, but how much are we willing to spend on him? And any head coach that wants to have a sustainable winning program can't be spending money on players that aren't producing. And so it's a two-way street, more so than ever. It's always been this way. but it's more magnified today because of the issue of money in NIO. So what happens is these players go through these, parents too, they see the life of a college football player. They meet with the academic people, they go to the training table and the cafeteria and see what that's about. They go, they witness weight sessions, know, weight room, like position groups working out. And during spring ball, the player happens to on an unofficial visit during that time can stand on the sidelines and witness the speed of the game. That's a lot faster than, than it is in high school and kind of get a flavor for how does this coach coach? Does this coach a coach, a player's coach? Is he a screamer? You know, is he negative? Is he positive on the phone? Positive in a meeting in a very controlled environment. But then you, when the proverbial S H I T hits the fan. in practice, does he lose his mind or is he a nurturer? And I'm not saying one way is better than the other. You just got to know. And as an athlete, you got to get to make a decision. What's your jam? You know, how are you going to be? How are you going to develop the best, feel the best about yourself, connect with your coach the most? Because if you've got a great relationship with your coach, that's step one. and enjoying the whole college football experience. Whether you get 200,000, 400,000, 800,000, of course, the more money the better. You don't have time to spend it anyway. You know, in most campuses, you don't even need a car. So it's like, don't need to bother spending the money on a car because they have these academic lodging facilities set up pretty close to the football facility. And just on the school side,

PRO MINDSET (07: 0:15

07.234) They typically get a certain amount of free cars from dealerships that are donors and sponsors of the program. They can't give everybody a car. So one guy is getting a free car. The guy with the locker next to him is paying for his car. And obviously as an athlete, you want to be so valuable that you're getting the free car and you're getting the most money. And so what's going on compared to the NFL and the NFL, everybody knows what everybody makes. There is a database of financial information, curated and held by the NFLPA. It's made available to all the certified agents and the players. And so everybody knows what everybody's making. So even when a player in the NFL signs a big deal and kind of like fudges with his buddies, hey, yeah, I got this. It's only a matter days before, but he figures out what he really got. So he can be us as his buddies and say, I got, you know, 10 million a year when he really only got seven. But in college football, it's a different story. It's very, private information. the freedom of information act doesn't allow people to get that information. The GMs can, can fudge about what they're paying players. They can say they're, they're paying guys more or less just to, to. frame it so that they can minimize the expense that they're going to have on your client. And it's bad because the players talk. They're going to go out and have a beer. They're going to be hanging out playing video games some night and somebody's going to say, hey, man, show me what you're getting. And they're going to find out how he's getting 400. And the teammate was led to believe he wasn't. So that creates mistrust in an organization when people are not honest about what people are making. So it's almost better if everybody knows. And if you don't like what you're making and you're player, you gotta play better. You gotta perform at a higher level. You gotta have higher standards. You gotta be more irreplaceable because if you're in that situation, you're gonna get the most money. They're gonna pay you more. They're gonna wanna keep you around.

PRO MINDSET (09: 0:20

29.26) The experience is different depending on whether you're a high school guy, whether you're a junior college guy, or whether you're a transfer, know, FCS to D1 or D1 to D1. And I'm going to talk about all three real quick. The high school guy, first time he's ever getting paid to play football. All these facilities, you know, are amazing. The arms race has been in full effect for 40 plus years. So everybody's got, you know, unbelievable weight rooms, the locker, everything is just stupid nice. Okay. So for a high school guy, it's really about finding the place where you feel comfortable, finding the coaches that you feel like believe in you that are going to invest in you, invest time in you, and give you grace when maybe you don't figure it out the first time. And other things that are outside of football, like how far are you away from home? How far away do you want to be away from home? It can be worked both ways. Some guys want to stay close. Some guys want to go far. Who do you know on the team? Has there been somebody that was either in your high school or in your conference that is at that high school, is at that school, at that college program that gives you more comfort? You know, there's some academic issues too. I know these guys are not really going to school to get degrees, but they need to get degrees and they do get degrees. But maybe one school over another has a better, a major that fits your future after football. There is going to be a future after football. Just like the general population, these football guys get degrees and they generally don't use them. Unless you're in a major where, you know, like medicine or veterinarian or something like that. These guys end up doing broadcasting. do a lot of them end up being coaches. So the major isn't as important as just the idea of getting one. Juco guys. Most really talented Juco guys are bounce backs. They're not guys that nobody knew about, even those, a few of those. They're guys that messed up. They stumbled. They didn't get on the field. They flunked out. had a, they had a problem off the field. And so they ended up in a Juco. And so it is, it's like last chance for you. It's like second chance you.

PRO MINDSET (11: 0:25

50.265) for Juco guys, because this is our second chance. So they've been around the block before. Now it's what if you learn from the mistake that you made? How are you gonna show up at this next place? How do you fit with this next place? And you've got a frame of reference to compare things to because you've already been there. For Juco guys, for colleges, Juco guys are need recruits. When you need a player at a certain position, you go Juco. With high school guys, Most of the time it's the best players in your footprint for recruiting in your state. It's offensive linemen that take multiple years to develop. It's quarterbacks that take multiple years to develop in most cases. And then power forward to power forward, D1 D1 transfers is looking for guys that are just awesome players that are going to upgrade the talent pool in your locker room. going to improve your offense or defense on the field and ideally have more than one year left. A lot of times these guys are making the move with one year left, which is fine, but it's ideal. It's more preferred by a program to get a guy that's got two years left. Maybe if they're lucky, three years left because he played as a freshman. And then the other thing I would say is that Recruiting before and after. Let's go recruiting before NIL and recruiting after. It's not the same. Before NIL, recruiting was go to camps in the summer. Come see our campus. We'll come see you. And then they have them come to games early in their high school career and then come for an official visit at the end. It's different now. Now it's about... We don't want to bring everybody in. Colleges don't want to bring everybody in because they're wasting resources and spinning their wheels. They can't go out and have as many home visits. So they've got to get guys on campus. So there's a lot more pressure from the schools with the athletes to have unofficial visits so that they can see the program, see the facilities, meet just more than one or two coaches. They meet the whole staff.

PRO MINDSET (14: 0:30

12.823) on their side of the ball because they're in the building. Go have a meal and see the training table. Meet the academic people. Have a chalk talk with the sports performance coach. All those types of things. So recruiting today is much different than it was five years ago. And then there's pressure that didn't used to exist. Before, take out the schools that cheated. Before it was just, scholarship, football facility, where am going to live, locker room, what number they going to give me, how close is it from home, all those kinds of things, what kind of scheme fit is it. Now you add the element of money. And so what I tell my clients and my athletes is that if the money is significantly different, money is a very major deciding point. If money is similar or the same, it is not a deciding point. And so if you're an athlete and you're thinking, my gosh, I want to go to the place that gives me the most money. What happens if two schools, three schools are willing to give you the same amount of money? Money is no longer a deciding factor. Now it's like, hey, how soon can you get on the field? Who's going to develop you the most? Who do you feel the most comfortable with? Because if you don't get on the field, you're going to be a one year guy. and then they're going to ask for your scholarship back. They're going to take away, there's going to be two negotiations happen with NIL. The one you agree to before you sign and go to that school. And then the second one is at the end of that year. We're on a one year game now, one year program for all these athletes. At the end of the year, you're either going to get more, the same or less. If you're not playing, you're going to get less. They need to take that money from you and give it to somebody else, just like the guy you were a year ago. So they hope that he ends up being a guy that can come in and make a impact as a freshman. If you're doing pretty good and you're on path, they'll keep you the same. And if you are that splash guy to keep you and to keep specialist schools and then your conference that know you intimately from keep them from coming after you, they got to pay you more. So it's not a sign in it, you know, a letter of intent show up.

PRO MINDSET (16: 0:35

39.285) and two, three, four, five years down the road, you get on the field and you move on and you go to the league or you go get a real job. No, it's one year at a time. So I think it's really challenging for athletes and for coaches and the programs and the parents, the one year system. And I know that President Trump in an executive order a couple of weeks ago said that, we're only going to let athletes transfer one time. during their college career, think that's a good idea. And with the caveat that if the coaches leave, they can leave. So if you happen to be in a situation where your coaches win or they lose and they're moving up or they're moving out, you've got a chance to move and you got unlimited opportunities to do that because there needs to be some equity and fairness between the coaches movement and the players movement. Let's talk about recruiting. How do schools recruit? Half these coaches have been at all the other schools that players talking to. Most coaches have been around for 20 years, have been to five, six, seven, 10 schools. Facilities are somewhat of a push. There's really not much difference. At these big time programs, there's game day experience. Really not much difference. If you got 80,000... people in the stands or 100,000 people in the stands for home games, it really doesn't matter. You're not counting them. And you're out there playing and you're feeling the atmosphere, but 80, 90, 100, 110, it's not going to make any difference. But yeah, if you're going to a school or 35,000 people show up for home game, you're going to notice a difference on game day experience. But what schools are doing, they're either selling the relationship. Hey man, you look like me. I'm from where you're from. I'm going be there for you. you know, I'm going to be your mentor. I'm going to make sure everything goes smooth. Great. Great. I mean, that's a great approach. Okay. But they all do it. They all do it. So that's a push too. Next thing they do is they talk about opportunity. Hey, if you come here, our guys that your position are moving on, there's going to be an opening here. It's for you to go get. It's all about depth chart.

PRO MINDSET (19: 0:40

03.855) roster composition and how do you fit in and how soon can you get on the field? Another great sell. But the only problem with that is they don't tell the athlete that if you're not developing the way we want you to and nobody else in the locker room is and these studs that are playing move on, we're going to go get guys out of the portal that we've played against. We've seen play. They've had a hundred tackles if you're on defense or whatever the case may be. They got They've got proven production. They're going to get recruited over. So it really boils down to how fast can you as an athlete get yourself on the field? How fast can you develop? How fast can you earn the trust of your coach? So he puts you on the field. because without getting on the field, opportunity doesn't matter anymore because someone else is going to get your opportunity. And the third thing that coaches sell is lifestyle. It's the bling, it's the city, it's the girls, it's the facilities, it's the uniforms, it's how many times you're on TV, all those types of things. And those are less impactful in recruiting for the players that you want to get. For the athletes that perhaps you don't want to get that are focused on the wrong things, that's going to be very enticing to those guys. schools need to be mindful that the more they promote bling lifestyle, all of the superficial things, the more likely they're going to get athletes that they actually don't want. Okay. So one of the things that I did for my guys before they went on their visit, as I kind of prepared them, I shared with them, hey, these are the types of questions the coaches are going to ask. And my counsel for my clients in those situations is just know who you are. Don't tell them who they are. I frankly don't know who they are. They know themselves better than anybody does. So.

PRO MINDSET (21: 0:45

23.085) The number one thing for an athlete is to have awareness and have an intentionality about who he is, what he stands for, what he's committed to doing, what his dreams and goals are, what he's willing to do to get them. Because when an athlete knows that knows that his own identity, the more intimately he knows his identity, the more attractive he's going to be to all the schools. Because it doesn't matter what the question is. I don't have this process where I say, hey, on this question, you need to answer it this way so you look good. On this other question, you want to answer different. No, can't do it. Because then the athlete feels like a fraud, and the school and the coaches sense that the athlete is a fraud. All I do is help the athlete figure out who he is. And every single one of us has made uniquely to think uniquely. We dream uniquely. And the more we understand who we are, the more successful we can be in every room we're in. So it doesn't matter for these athletes, if they're talking, being interviewed by the head coach, the D coordinator, whatever the case may be, the strength coach, the academic people, if you know who you are and what you stand for, those interviews go very smoothly. The second thing that I coach them up on is have an awareness about what your standards are. These are all pro mindset principles. What are your standards? What are you willing to do? You know, what have you been doing? What do you got to do better at? Especially in the areas of preparation, practice, visualization, you're previewing your pit crew, which is your support staff, your people, your circle of influence, and then your process. You know, not All of us had different processes. Anybody that's gone to college has had a different process. Some people actually went to sleep. Some people stay up all night and play video games. Some people study in advance. Some people are a krammer. I was a krammer. I'm staying up late the night before trying to absorb as much information as I can before the test the next morning. Now, it's something I don't condone, but that's something I did. So bottom line is everybody's got their own process.

PRO MINDSET (23: 0:50

41.487) And one of the beautiful things about college sports is there's a really, really good pit crew to help you in all facets of your life. But they don't put on your pants for you. They don't make you go to sleep. They don't make you eat. They don't make you be on time. There's just certain elements of this whole journey that is 100 % in the control of the athlete. And that's really where they separate themselves. because when, let's say for example, they're in two days or they're in fall camp and they're doing walkthroughs and they're doing on the field stuff, they've got meetings and they've got three meals provided, they got no time for individuality. It's going from one to the next. But during the normal flow of the season, during the week, there's some free time here and there. That is when players separate themselves because if they've got a great process, they've got elevated standards compared to their peers, they're going to show out better. They're going to know their playbook better. They're going to know the game plan better. They're going to take care of their body better. They're going to be more prepared for the game. And then when the games lights are on and we're all sitting in the stands and we're watching the game unfold, certain guys are making plays and certain guys aren't. The guys that made plays. have great processes because they all got athleticism. They're all fast, they're all quick, they all can jump, they're all strong. It's the process that separates them. Let's talk about the real challenge. I'm going to talk about the real challenge for two sides, player side, school side. Let's go school side first. The real challenge for the schools is to really know who they're getting. to do enough relational work and investigative work and evaluation work to know if the player's athletic enough. Is he smart enough? Is he committed enough? Does he want it enough? All those enoughs because college football is hard. College football is a job. For all these athletes that show up on high school football fields on Friday nights, they roll out the ball and these guys are generally the best athlete in every game they play in.

PRO MINDSET (26: 0:55

03.351) So for a defensive player, he could be playing, see ball, find ball, get ball, defense, and it works because he's the fastest athlete on the field. But when you get to college football, different game, you got to know your job. You got to know everybody around you job. You can't be trying to do their job. You got to do your own job. And if you don't do your job, you might give up six points and everybody on the team knows who messed up. because they either did their job or they didn't. If they did their job and you didn't, they know you messed up. So it's really from the school's perspective, it's about... Finding authenticity in their athletes. Finding out who they really are. Finding out how they're going to respond, projecting and predicting how they're going to respond under pressure. How are they going to respond in temptation in the dorms after midnight? How are they going to respond to competition? How are they going to respond to hard coaching? Do they have the mental capacity in the football IQ to learn potentially multiple options on the same play call, depending on the formations and the emotions and what, and the situation. It's not simple like it is in high school. And then on the flip side, the hardest thing for the players is also to know if the schools are being real. Because let's go back to the relationship recruit, the opportunity recruit, and the lifestyle recruit. And relationship and opportunity are the two most important. But of what they're showing you and telling you, is it real? How often does people interviewed for a job or told us it's be a certain thing and they show up the first week of work and it's different?

PRO MINDSET (28: 1:00

14.105) You thought you had more responsibility. You thought you were managing different, you know, you were managing more people. Thought you were answering to somebody different. Happens in college football too. Guys think it's going to be a certain opportunity and they're not getting the reps. They're really being signed as an insurance policy. A developmental guy. Like in the NFL, we got practice squads. What are practice squads? Those are guys that are not in the Act of 53. that if somebody would go down in the act of 53, they go get somebody on the practice squad who's been developing, going to practice, watching, being the scout team for the other side of the team, if they're a defensive player, they're a scout player for the offense and vice versa. And then they're gonna play in the games. They don't even get to wear a helmet and pads and warm up before the game. And when... A lot of teams make them be in the stands or be in the suite. Some teams will allow the practice squad guys to be in street clothes or team gear on the sidelines. But that is the developmental squad for a pro football. Well, as a college player, you don't want to be that guy. Unless you're an undersized... late bloomer, offensive lineman that's 6'5", weighs 260, and you've got to put on 40 pounds, you don't want to be that guy. If you're that guy, you do want to be that guy because you want to program that's going to be patient, help you get bigger, stronger, and be patient with you. So realness and authenticity is a two-way street for both sides. One of the things that I've always talked about when I talk to NFL guys about free agency, meaning they're an unrestricted free agent. They can reassign with their own team. Theoretically, they could sign with any of the other 31 teams. The reality is all 31 teams, the other 31 teams don't want them. And the team they're with wants them at a certain price. So you go through that process to kind of figure out what your value is.

PRO MINDSET (30: 1:05

29.697) See what your fit is. But for college guys, the similarity is in the fit. One of the best things you can do as a high school Juco or a D1 to D1 transfer is go to a place where you're a good fit. Culturally, scheme, football-wise, you fit in the locker room. There's nothing worse than going to a place where you just feel like a fish out of water. You're not going to be your best if you're in that situation.

PRO MINDSET (31: 1:07

06.211) Couple more things I want to Dealing with GMs. Most of the GMs are, I would say, a majority of them are either ex-NFL guys that colleges have plucked from the NFL ranks because they understand roster construction, salary cap, being able to make tough decisions about different players. Might love them all, but you can't pay them all. Or they're young guys. that in a lot of cases are the puppets for the head coach. And they are the hatchet man. are the, you know, they do guard the money. They communicate about the money, but they're not making decisions about the money. The coaches are making the decisions about the money. And so the thing that's probably the biggest difference between college and pro is in pro football, you have a hard salary cap. This year for the NFL in 2026, it's going to be like $304 million per team. Now teams can spend more than $304 million in cash, but in the cap calculation, it can't be more than $304 million. Where in college football, you have a soft salary cap, meaning that a lot of these big time programs are hoping to be around $28 million, but it seems like a lot of them are going to be around $40 million. But if they have an opportunity to pick up a guy they didn't expect, or they really, really want a guy and another school is offering that guy prime time money and they make the executive decision, hey, we can't live without this guy. Pay him what you got to pay him to get him. There is no salary cap. That means it's soft. It means it is what it is, what you want it to be, what it needs to be to get the players you want. Okay. The thing that colleges are struggling with in the the NIL money area is the idea that money talks. They don't want money to talk. They want their good books, their success on the field, their facilities, their reputation, their history, all those type of things to count more than the money. And like I said earlier, if the money is the same or similar, all those things do matter.

PRO MINDSET (33: 1:12

28.825) But if the money's not the same, money talks. And I think the other issue that colleges are struggling with is this whole one-year game. know, players can come, they can make whatever money they make, they can go explode on the field, maybe outperform even what the school assigned them expected, and they can transfer again. And I don't know what's going to happen with that one chance for a role, but for the moment they can transfer every year. So it's created a lot of instability and uncertainty in college football. makes it tough on the fans to know who in heck to root for because sometimes your team is playing against a, uh, another college that has a player that was one of your primetime players the year before. Um, kind of like, in my opinion, uh, hurts the integrity of the game. But if I look at it from the player's perspective, he's got to do what he's got to do. He may only, he only may get one or two bites of the apple. He's got to take advantage of those opportunities when they come. He's one injury away from never playing football again. He's one injury away from never playing in the NFL. College football may be his NFL, maybe his opportunity to play ball pro ball and get paid. So you got to capitalize and take advantage of those opportunities. and then one more thing is that. I think is perplexing to colleges is they don't mind dead money for firing a coach like LSU. Paid Kelly crazy money. Penn State paid crazy money for their coaches not to coach. Colleges will do that. It's an informed decision. They go and get. authorization and coverage from big-time donors and boosters before they do it. And usually those are the guys that are driving the decision in the first place. Whereas in college football in the locker room, the schools themselves do not want to pay players to sit on the bench. They don't want to make mistakes on paying big-time dollars to big-time players that end up having less than big-time results.

PRO MINDSET (35: 1:17

52.739) but that's always going to be there. I don't think there's ever been a program that's, you know, went out and signed a class of recruits and they ended up panning out the way they expected. A lot of times the no star is better than the five star. Sometimes the four star ends up getting hurt and never playing. All those types of things happen and that's just part of the business. But one of the things that I feel like colleges are doing is their level of evaluation, research, just understanding the character, getting to know the player from 360 degrees. What's he like in the classroom in high school? What's he like in the hallways? What's he like out of the building? Who are his friends? What kind of stability do his parents have? All those types of things. Those things matter more than they ever have. They've always mattered. But I promise you, there's not any college football program that's successful that a week before signing day goes on a rabbit hunt and says, hey, we're going to sign this guy. Talk to this guy. Talk to his high school coach. Look at his film real quick. Oh my God, let's offer him. Let's give him big money. Doesn't happen. There are so many people in every, all these big schools have so many student interns doing work for them. They all have a pretty hefty staff of people that are doing their due diligence on behalf of, you know, the university. in diving into the backgrounds, diving into the character, all those types of things for these athletes before they even put a dollar on the table. And official visits start June 1. So we're seeing a trend right now where players are going to their, they can only take five and they're going on these official visits the first couple of weeks in June. And then they're making a decision.

PRO MINDSET (38: 1:22

05.103) And what the colleges hate is the decision, if the schools want it to be, is about money. But if everybody's thinking a kid's and everybody's at 600, it no longer becomes about money. But it never ceases to amaze me you have schools from time to time that offer 200, but they think it should be looked at as 600. Now 200 is 200. If somebody else is offering 600, I'm telling my son, I'm telling your son to take the 600 because the money is so different and that's real money and you can be happy anywhere. You you've you've had certain players that have been successful in four more colleges, four colleges. Holy smokes. So was it the player? or was it the school? was obviously the player. He had it figured out so he could take his game anywhere and be successful. So my perspective and my advice and my mentoring for athletes is become the best version of you so that no matter where you go, you can be successful. And if I'm at college, I am going to do my due diligence. I want to understand how that player is going to perform in his big moments. Is he going to crumble? he going to choke or is he going to excel? And I want to know how stable his life is, all those types of things. Because if I'm, if I was hired by a school to be a GM, I'm just not throwing around money. I'm giving the money to the players that are in play. I'm going to give money to the players that have high character and I'm going to give money to the players that are going to be loyal. Question is. If you ask me, how do you measure loyalty? I have no idea. I have no idea. You know, being in the athlete representation business for a long time, sometimes even the most loyal guys, pivot.

PRO MINDSET (40: 1:27

15.395) just the way it works. So I don't know how you measure loyalty. I'm going to wrap this up and say that we're in a new era. We've been in a new era for a couple of years. Fans need to jump on board that there's going to be a lot of volatility and a lot of movement on the rosters. And players need to understand that if they want to maximize their money, It's not about brown nosing. It's not about what you're wearing. It's not about how cool you are. It's really about your character and how you show up on the field. And for schools, you know what? If you look at the team that won the national championship. Coach been there two years, second season. Changed the whole paradigm for the whole industry. Now coaches that are in year four, five, six can't say I need more time. Signetti did it in two. I went undefeated and he was in one of the two powerhouse conferences being the big 10. So at the end of the day, NIL is here to stay. There's probably going to be more regulations down the road. I hope there is more regulations down the road. Schools are still going to struggle with valuing talent. They're going to win some, lose some, undervalue some, overvalue some. But at the end of the day, if you're a young man out there, you're a parent out there, and your son has an opportunity to go through this experience. In addition to being the best football player, He can be the best athlete he can be. He also needs to focus on being the best person he can be. The highest character, the most versatile, the most well adjusted. So we can literally blindfold your son and have him throw a dart at the wall and have five or 10 schools up there he likes that have made him legitimate offers.

PRO MINDSET (42: 1:32

26.435) that are offering him similar money. And it wouldn't matter what school he hit with the dart. He could go there and thrive and be very successful because the reality of it is, and this is a pro mindset principle, You are the most important person in the room. And how you show up in every room you go into is influenced by how you view yourself, your beliefs, all those types of things. And if you don't like your circumstances, you don't like your situation, look in the mirror and upgrade your standards. Because when you up-level your standards, you change yourself. And when you change yourself, you change every circumstance you walk into. There you have it, 2026 NIL discussion. If you have any questions, you know how to get a hold of me. Everybody go out and have an awesome day.