:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66915934/usa_today_12365531.0.jpg)
ESPN’s top college basketball analyst and former Duke Blue Devils player and coach Jay Bilas ripped his alma mater Tuesday after a questionable statement from the school Vice President and Athletic Director Kevin White.
White released a statement voicing concerns about the name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation that will likely soon start allowing players to profit off their fame.
“As a former Olympic sport coach and as the Director of Athletics at a number of NCAA institutions, I am deeply concerned about the potential consequences of legislation permitting student-athletes to profit from the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL),” White said in a press release.
“I am concerned about potential complications attendant upon the actual implementation of NIL legislation. How will it impact recruiting? Will it create a wide-open marketplace in which institutions solicit businesses or boosters to offer ever-escalating endorsement deals to a star high school quarterback or point guard? Will resources from equipment, apparel, and shoe companies be redirected to a relatively few individuals rather than being shared equally among the lesser known, but no less valuable, Olympic sports? How will it affect the locker room in which the vast majority of student-athletes go uncompensated? These are but a few of the questions for which we currently have no answers.”
White added that North Carolina Tar Heels Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham shared the same concern saying, “Bubba and I are concerned about the potential for abuse of NIL legislation; you can dismiss our concerns as those of athletics directors eager to preserve the status quo.”
In response, Bilas fired back on Twitter, calling White’s statement both “stunning” and tone-deaf.”
This is stunning in its tone deafness. It says, “the money is ours, to pay ourselves fair market value, and should not be re-directed’ to where clear value lies. We shall call for strict equality here only, as we fail to provide equal resources to each sport or athlete.” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/NPTEYJpiBh
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) June 9, 2020
Bilas, who is often ripped by the Big Blue Nation for being a Duke homer sure made a case that he may not be one after all with this statement ripping his alma mater’s Athletic Director.
The athletic director at Duke, whose basketball coach leveraged his job as Olympic basketball coach into one of the biggest recruiting advantages in college sports history, is concerned about NIL's impact on a level playing field in recruiting. Consider that for a moment.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) June 9, 2020