Bakich waves NIL flag as a way to cover attendance costs for his players

Clemson coach Erik Bakich would like to use NIL to cover attendance costs.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jul 22 07:00:16 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – College baseball scholarship limits place hardships on players and their parents, and Clemson head coach Erik Bakich hopes fans will start taking a different approach to NIL.

College baseball teams are only allowed 11.7 scholarships in total. With a roster of 40 players, coaches have to dole out those scholarships piecemeal, and many players don’t receive any assistance.

Even the best players don’t receive a full scholarship; Bakich said about 70 percent is the highest he will give – and that he hopes to change the perception of NIL when it comes to baseball.

“NIL, you start saying those letters, and people start getting this icky feeling and start cringing. For us, it's understanding what NIL is,” Bakich said Thursday. “You could do NIL equals - and for Clemson baseball NIL equals scholarships. If I could wave my NIL magic wand, it would be that our players could tell their families and parents that they don't have to take out student loans. And they don't have to pull out of pocket to pay their bills to come to school. And they can choose Clemson because it's the school they want to go to, and their cost is covered.”

Bakich broke down how scholarships work in college baseball and for his program.

“Currently, in a 40-man roster, 11.7 of our kids are covered via a baseball scholarship. And 28.3 kids are paying their own way. That is our current model, and that is all of college baseball,” Bakich said. “And so we are trying to utilize NIL as a way to cover the costs of attendance for our players. It's not a pay-for-play thing. If a player does so well in our program that he can capitalize on his Name/Image/Likeness and does that on his own after being established in our program, then great. But in terms of what we are trying to use it for, we are trying to use it so they can cover the cost of their education. Which is why NIL for us equals scholarships. “

Bakich said he spent much of Thursday morning meeting with donors and spends large chunks of his time trying to ensure that everyone understands what NIL means for his program. I asked what the figure would look like if he could cover all 40 of his players and their expenses.

“It's north of seven figures if everyone was going to be covered,” he said. “We look at the blend of our roster, and it's 50-50 in-state and out-of-state, and the cost of attendance for a 28.3 kids is a big number. But it's not an insurmountable number. It's something we are full-steam ahead with.”