The Grocery List Era: How NIL Stabilized the Roster but Broke the Coaching Staff

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The era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) has officially moved past its “Wild West” phase and into a period of professionalized consolidation. As of January 2026, college football is a multi-billion-dollar economy where a $2 million increase in NIL spending is statistically linked to one additional win per season.

While players are finally seeing a share of the revenue they generate, the shift has fundamentally altered the DNA of the sport—creating a landscape that both empowers the locker room and exhausts the coaches’ office.

How NIL Has Helped: Parity and Empowerment

For decades, the narrative was that NIL would allow the “rich to get richer.” However, 2025-2026 data suggest a more nuanced reality:

1. Leveling the Recruiting Field

A landmark Carnegie Mellon study recently found that NIL has actually increased parity. While blue-blood programs like Texas and Georgia still land stars, mid-tier programs are now using aggressive NIL collectives to “buy” their way into the conversation. For a 4-star recruit, the choice is no longer between “prestige” and “nothing”; it is now between “prestige” and a “life-changing $500,000 package” at a smaller school.

2. Player Philanthropy and Leadership

We are seeing a new “trickle-down” economy within the locker room.

Dillon Gabriel (Oregon): Used his NIL earnings to gift custom jewelry to his entire team.
Rocco Becht (Iowa State): Leveraged his deals to fund youth football camps in his community.
Retention: Interestingly, overall transfer portal entries dropped 23% in 2025. Experts attribute this to schools paying players directly through the new House v. NCAA revenue-sharing model (averaging ~$20.5M per school), giving players a reason to stay put rather than “shop” their talent every winter.

How NIL Has Hurt: Burnout and “Grocery Lists.”

While the players are flourishing financially, the structural integrity of the “student-athlete” model is under immense strain, primarily felt by the coaching staff.

1. The Coaching Exodus

The “grind” is no longer just about film study and recruiting; it’s about fundraising and roster maintenance.

Chris Klieman (Kansas State): Recently cited the “lack of guardrails” as a driving factor in his decision to retire in early 2026, stating he was at his “wits’ end” with the lack of limits.
Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State): Following his departure in late 2025, reports highlighted the exhaustion of managing a roster where players essentially hold one-year, high-stakes contracts.
The “CEO” Shift: Modern coaches like Deion Sanders and Lane Kiffin have embraced the GM role, but traditionalists are fleeing the profession, leading to a 2025 coaching carousel that saw record-breaking turnover in the SEC and Big 12.

2. Locker Room Friction

NIL has introduced “professional jealousy” into a college environment. When a star quarterback like Arch Manning ($6.8M valuation) or Shedeur Sanders (Nike) pulls up in a Lamborghini while his offensive linemen are still struggling to cover rent, the “team-first” culture becomes harder to sell. Coaches now spend more time acting as financial mediators and “cap managers” than actual tacticians.

3. The “Grocery List” Problem

Collective heads have reported that agents now send “grocery lists” of players to schools before the portal even opens. This has led to a rise in “warehousing”—where collectives offer a flat fee to a player just to “secure” them, without a specific business purpose for their NIL. This practice led the College Sports Commission (CSC) to reject nearly $15 million in deals this past season.

The 2026 Verdict: A Professional Reality

As we enter the 2026 postseason, the “help” and “hurt” have balanced out into a new reality: College football is a professional sport in everything but name.

The Good	The Bad
Parity: Talent is more spread out across the Power 4.	Burnout: Elite coaches are retiring earlier than ever.
Stability: Revenue sharing is slowing down the “portal mania.”	Ethics: “Pay-for-play” remains rampant under the guise of NIL.
Opportunity: 1.5% of players are now millionaires before the NFL.	Disparity: 84% of revenue still flows only to Football and MBB.