Former NFL head coach Jon Gruden didn't hold back when talking about the state of college sports while speaking with Dan Dakich.
The former Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach appeared on OutKick's 'Don't @ Me with Dan Dakick' and lamented the lack of player-coach relationships in college athletics.
Gruden noted that these relationships don't take long to build, but appear to have little to no value in college sports.
“Repetition is the mother of learning,” Gruden said. 'Right now you're seeing a lot of rental clubs. Have you ever played golf and rented a set of clubs? It's like, 'I don't know how to hit this club.'
“I never played with this putter.” You make a lot of excuses,' he continued.
Additionally, Gruden discussed how the NIL era has affected the nature of college sports.
Former NFL head coach Jon Gruden called the current state of college sports 'disgusting'
Gruden, like many other coaches, highlighted the bad effects of NIL and the transfer portal.
'That's what I'm seeing in college sports right now. Everyone is paying attention to the transfer portal and how much money we deserve. It's really disgusting.'
Gruden is not alone in his assessment, as the name, image and likeness era leveraged with the transfer portal has been grinding coaches across the NCAA.
In February 2024, former Alabama football coach Nick Saban criticized the NIL age and its effect on college sports.
'What we have now is not college football, not college football as we know it. You hear someone use the word “student-athlete.” That doesn't exist,' Saban said in an interview with ESPN.
Legendary Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski acknowledged not having a method to master the NIL era despite believing it has benefits.
'The game of college basketball is still very exciting, it's just that college sports are in this incredible period of change. A lot of times when you're changing, you know where you want to end up, and I'm not sure right now with the change, it's anyone's guess where things will end up. It's kind of chaotic,' Coach K said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“There's no transparency and the NCAA really hasn't done a great job on this. “So I think it takes the leadership of the power four conferences, their commissioners, more than the NCAA,” he added.
“I think there has to be a new model, and I think those commissioners are the ones who have to come together to figure it out.”