You didn't honestly believe K-State would be a pioneer on the NIL frontier now did you?
Most of our alumni believe that we should only recruit kids who want to play football and get a degree the old fashion way. Then, maybe their senior year we'll give them a jersey deal, you know, if the season is going well. Gene and his stance is nothing more than a reflection of this.
We'll get smoked for a few years on this front, and then when the mouth breathers have finally realized that college football is just a minor league for the NFL, we'll finally start trying to compete.
No, I didn't expect K-State to be a pioneer on NIL. I don't even know if that's a thing that exists. What I did expect is that the athletic director didn't sound regressive every time he opens his mouth up about the subject.
K-State's fan bases view on college athletes and college athletics isn't any different than any other school. In fact reading other message boards, our online presence tends to skew a very slight bit more progressive on student athlete issues than certainly SEC schools and most big 12 schools.
Any athletic director can hide their regressive views behind fans if they want to, but only Gene and Vince Tyra have made quotes that seem as if they aren't fully embracing this. Most other athletic directors have the good sense to just stfu.
Despite gene's whining, I don't think us or anyone else will "get smoked" on NIL. Like with implementation of the cost of living checks, I think fans will and are freaking out about this but the overall impact on the sport won't be anywhere close to what people think it is.