A lot has changed since Keith Carter took the role of athletic director with the Ole Miss Rebels.
NIL is now a factor in the minds of all athletic departments across the country, but Carter has made solid coaching hires both before and after the advent of this change.
Recently in an appearance with the Locked On Ole Miss Podcast, Carter discussed how much things have changed between hiring Lane Kiffin (football) in 2019 and Chris Beard (men’s basketball) in 2023.
“It changed a lot,” Carter said. “NIL has really flipped everything upside down. I think a lot of these coaches now are dealing in that space, and prospective student athletes want to know how your NIL program is. When we hired Coach Kiffin, that wasn’t even a thing. The transfer portal has really changed the game as well.
“In any industry, things change, and you’ve got to accept change and push forward and embrace it. I think our coaches have certainly done that.”
The arrival of NIL and the transfer portal have also impacted the structure and power of the NCAA on a national level, and Carter has a front-row seat to witnessing debates centered around these changes.
How have the SEC (and by extension, Ole Miss) responded in this landscape?
“When you look at how the NCAA and college athletics have been functioning forever before this, it’s kind of the ‘old dog and new tricks’ deal,” Carter said. “It’s hard to make that adjustment. We shouldn’t be in a pay-for-play world. We all understand that. There have to be services and things that happen through the collective to make sure they’re keeping their end of the bargain as student athletes.
“I feel really confident that our team here in athletics and the collective have done things the right way.”
These changes have also spurred other conversations…even to the point of debating the usefulness of retaining membership in the NCAA. A story from ESPN last week buried a nugget that some college chancellors and presidents feel “strongly” about pulling out of their membership, supporting an SEC-and-Big Ten breakaway instead.
That makes for some important conversations for Carter and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. They are both in a position of power, but this is still a tight rope to walk, given the current climate.
“I think our jobs are to navigate all of that,” Carter said. “My job is to make sure Ole Miss ends up in the best possible spot. Greg’s job is to make sure the SEC ends up in the best possible spot. I think we need to caution ourselves on believing everything we read. I think sometimes these stories get out there and they have some of the information, but not all of the information from these meetings.”
Still, these two conferences have elevated themselves as the top brands in college athletics, and to not attempt to assume a leadership role would be foolish, in Carter’s eyes.
“With the SEC and the Big Ten, having some conversations, trying to lead from the front, it makes a lot of sense,” Carter said. “It’s one of those things where you’re either going to be told how it’s going to work, or you’re going to help craft how it’s going to work.”
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