Why Tennessee Vols need a personnel department in NIL, transfer portal era | Adams

Ask a college administrator about the NIL and transfer portal and you’re apt to hear: “It’s the Wild, Wild West.”

That was true when the NCAA announced student-athletes could profit off their name, image and likeness and also could transfer from one school to the next once without having to sit out a year. It’s just as true today.

In fact, the West is wilder now. And it could be even wilder tomorrow.

State legislatures are passing laws related to the NIL. College coaches and administrators are pleading with Congress to police their sports. Even the IRS has voiced an opinion on the subject since boosters donating to a sports collective are counting on a tax break for supporting their favorite sports program.

Question: When was the last time you heard someone say, “If we can just get Congress and the IRS involved, everything should work out splendidly.”

The challenge of succeeding in this era is mounting by the day. You might have noticed Tennessee seems intent on meeting that challenge.

The Vols have won back-to-back SEC all-sports titles. They finished No. 6 nationally for the 2022-23 school year in the Director’s Cup standings. And athletics director Danny White is committed to continued success in all sports.

“It’s important to us to cultivate a championship culture across all 20 of our sports,” he said recently in a press release. “Buckle up, Vol Nation. We’re just getting started, and it’s going to be a heck of a ride.”

You need that kind of commitment from your AD to excel. You also need a commitment from your donors to maintain and enhance facilities.

Tennessee has that in its favor as well. For example, its Board of Trustees recently approved a $95.8 million budget to fund renovations to Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The project will expand the baseball park’s seating capacity to 7,600 – an increase of about 3,000.

However, to compete at a championship level, colleges need more than a commitment from an ambitious AD and the kind of facilities that can appropriately accommodate their fan base and turn the heads of recruits. They also need a top-drawer sports collective.

UT sports have benefited so far from the help of Spyre Sports Group, a collective that serves as a liaison between boosters and student-athletes. But prospering today doesn’t assure you of prospering tomorrow.

Who knows where the NIL business is headed? Will the NCAA increase scrutiny of NIL deals? Will there be national legislation assuring NCAA schools of uniformity from one state to the next? Will the IRS be more restrictive as to what constitutes a charitable donation from donors to sports collectives?

Amid all the uncertainty, you can be sure of this: If a school aspires to winning championships, it can’t back off with either NIL deals or the transfer portal. Never mind what rules or legislation might be forthcoming. Programs must function in the here and now without being influenced by what’s to come.

But they also need to keep improving. The improvement isn’t based solely on money.

Organization matters. So does leadership. That’s why athletic departments could benefit from having a personnel division, just as NFL teams do, in an era as fluid as this one.

Players can come and go in a flash. Some of them already have decided on their next destination before they dive into the transfer portal.

The portal and NIL deals often go hand in hand. And the combination is too much for a coaching staff to handle, especially during a season.

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A personnel director – and his staff – could stay in contact with coaches, boosters, the collective and players. He also could maintain an awareness of the NIL market for transfers. What’s the going rate for elite quarterback transfers? Or top-flight point guards? Or premier starting pitchers?

This would be an added expense. But it could become a necessary one. Football coaches haven’t hesitated in beefing up their operation by adding quality control coaches. A personnel department could be even more important, and not just to a school’s football program.

This isn’t for everyone. Just because you’re a Power Five school doesn’t mean you have the resources to compete for national championships in the NIL/portal era. The championship field is probably limited to 25 schools.

Tennessee is one of those schools. It’s hiring good coaches, feverishly working the portal, benefitting from generous boosters, and has an athletics director dedicated to success in all sports.

But the combination is fierce at the highest level. You need to find an extra edge whenever possible.

A robust personnel department could provide that edge.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Tennessee Vols need a personnel department in NIL era