Georgia HC Kirby Smart aims cheeky dig at Dan Lanning’s unlimited NIL deal with Nike’s Phil Knight
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart has thrown shade at Oregon head coach Dan Lanning's recent NIL deal. As per reports, Nike co-founder Phil Knight is set to give Lanning an unlimited pool of funds to help the program win the national title.
During SEC Media Day 2 on Tuesday, Smart aimed a cheeky dig at Lanning while requesting Knight to share some of the money to his program.
“And this year, we took Nike, who I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Phil Knight and his wonderful wife Penny. And I wish I could get some of that NIL money that he’s sharing with Dan Lanning. But that’s another note,” Smart said.
Smart shares a close bond with Lanning. The latter worked as an outside linebackers coach at Georgia for four years through 2021. Lanning went on to take up the head coaching job at Oregon after leaving Georgia.
In his closing statement, Smart thanked Knight and Nike for hosting their in-school study sessions at Georgia.
“But the study of Nike for us has been incredible,” Smart said. “I didn’t know some of the things about when Nike originated, and we took a week-by-week look at in-school sessions, breakout sessions, as well as to gather and study kind of their model. And one of the first things we studied was the belief of assume nothing."
Will Dan Lanning receive an unlimited NIL deal from Nike?
Reports of Oregon's "unlimited NIL" deal by Nike garnered interest when former Arizona coach Rick Neuheisel spoke about the topic a few weeks ago. On SiriusXM's College Sports Radio, Neuheisel said Phil Knight is providing Oregon with hefty financial resources to help the program win the championship.
However, neither Dan Lanning nor Knight have confirmed this.
The Ducks have never won the national championship in their 130 years of existence. Oregon has won 14 conference titles and last made the College Football Playoff in 2014.
Lanning, who has a 22–5 record with the Ducks across two years, will be eager to etch his name in Oregon lore by winning the program its first national title. Needless to say, it won't be an easy task.