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Two issues that the UIL was asked about Monday were vouchers and NIL for high school athletes. UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison declined to give an opinion on either one.
“Those are ongoing conversations for us. I’m not intending to dodge it, but the true answer is that it depends on what type of voucher system passes,” Harrison said. “There have been a number of different voucher programs that have been discussed amongst the legislature.”
When asked if the UIL thinks name, image and likeness deals should be made available for Texas high school athletes, Harrison said, “The best we can say is there is currently a state law in Texas that [doesn’t allow that]. Until that changes, then there is not a whole lot of our opinion that will matter. We will follow the state law. That’s going to be a decision for our legislators.”
Joe Martin, executive director of the Texas High School Coaches Association, said Monday that 30 states now allow some form of NIL deals for their high school athletes. That includes Oklahoma and Louisiana, which border Texas, and Harrison realizes that Texas could start losing athletes to those states.
“We haven’t seen much of that, but that’s a concern,” he said.
But the flip side of that is also true.
“If we make NIL legal in Texas, what is to say it wouldn’t be even easier for me to lose my high school player to another Texas high school because they got a better NIL deal?” Harrison said.
It could also lead to the creation of collectives, like are seen at the college level.
“We have talked to other states, one is a big state and I won’t name them, but as soon as it became legal, they started getting calls from school booster clubs,” Harrison said. “They said they want to change and be a collective. They would raise money the same way they’ve done before, but instead of using it to support the program and buy uniforms and helmets, they would use it to give NIL deals to kids to get more kids to their school.”
Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire, who won three state titles in 14 seasons as the head coach at Cedar Hill, was emphatic in saying that he believes that NIL doesn’t belong in Texas high school athletics.
“There is some really bad legislation out there that has been voted down, and I hope it continues,” McGuire said. “When you are talking about some of the money that I’m sure would be talked about, it is already tough enough that an 18-year-old kid is going to have to handle that amount [in college]. But you are talking about high school athletes.”
Former Mansfield Timberview coach James Brown, now SMU’s director of high school relations and scouting, said, “I think you have to figure out how it’s going to work at the college level before you even speak about it at the high school level.
“The college ranks are still trying to figure it out. I know that no matter what happens, there has to be more regulation than what there is right now,” he added.
State championship games staying at AT&T: The UIL told Dave Campbell’s Football that the state championship games will remain at the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
The last time the state title games were played somewhere else was in 2015, when they were at NRG Stadium in Houston. That year, only two games drew more than 16,000. Last season, four games drew more than 28,000, including 40,056 for Duncanville’s 28-21 win over Galena Park North Shore in the Class 6A Division I title game and 34,891 for DeSoto’s 42-17 victory against Austin Vandegrift in the 6A Division II championship game.
On Twitter: @DMNGregRiddle
Find more high school sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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