Bryan Harsin says he hasn't been involved in NIL bidding war for recruit as Auburn football coach

Bennett Durando, Montgomery Advertiser
·2 min read
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HOOVER — Auburn football coach Bryan Harsin has not been involved with a name, image and likeness bidding war for a recruit, he said at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am.

Harsin, who was among the celebrities competing in a round of golf Wednesday, said there are "people way above me" working on NIL regulation and that he doesn't have all the answers.

"We're just kind of going with it as it is right now," he said, reiterating recent comments that he hopes NIL provides "a positive experience" for athletes while at a school.

But pay-to-play bidding wars for recruits and transfers have taken over the NIL conversation that was originally intended for athletes to arrange deals after arriving on a campus. On Monday, the NCAA approved updated NIL guidelines prohibiting boosters from involvement in the recruiting process.

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Described as free agency by some, the issue has even extended to coaches accusing others of tampering with athletes before they enter the transfer portal.

But Harsin said he has not been involved in a situation in which a player approaches him with information about an NIL deal the player would get elsewhere.

"No – NIL is so new, but no," Harsin said. "And there's not really an NIL department (at Auburn). This topic is one that there's a lot of questions on it, not just from the media but everybody. It's just so new, so there's really not a good answer on how everybody's handling it."

When the Advertiser asked Harsin last week at an alumni event in Huntsville whether NIL is bleeding into the recruiting space, the second-year Auburn coach said, "Everything that anybody does, no matter when, bleeds into recruiting. It’s always about that. As a coach, you always have to think about that."

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football's Bryan Harsin has not been in NIL bidding war for recruit