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Josh Heupel joins Tennessee fight against NCAA in federal court over NIL rules
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- Josh Heupel joins Tennessee fight against NCAA in federal court over NIL rules
The state's fight against the NCAA in federal court will include the viewpoint of Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel.
On Feb. 9, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a brief in which Heupel declares his support of a preliminary injunction, which would freeze the NCAA's rules regarding name, image and likeness benefits for athletes until the case concludes.
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The preliminary injunction hearing is set for Feb. 13 in a Greeneville federal courtroom. The court denied the state's request for temporary restraining order Feb. 6.
"Respectfully, this Court's TRO decision—specifically, its analysis of irreparable harm—should not control its preliminary-injunction decision," Skrmetti said in Friday's brief filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee federal court. "This Court should find that Plaintiffs, at least at the preliminary-injunction stage, have shown irreparable harm."
Heupel, UT's third-year coach, is the latest person to submit a declaration on behalf of the state's argument that the NCAA's "NIL recruiting ban" violates federal antitrust laws. Others include UT athletic director Danny White, UT football player Jackson Lampley, Spyre Sports Group co-founder James Clawson and economist Andrew Schwarz. Spyre is the Knoxville-based collective that signs UT athletes to NIL deals.
In the brief, Heupel, calls current NIL environment complicated for everyone involved and says the rules "frequently change and they sometimes conflict with NCAA's prior guidance."
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Josh Heupel: NCAA's NIL rules could spur 'poor decisions'
Judge Clifton Corker previously found the states' argument about harm from NIL non-convincing, at least partially because players can make up the money lost, either in subsequent NIL deals or in some cases through court action.
But Heupel argued it's more complicated than that. A player making an uninformed decision on NIL could lead to "poor decisions," which wouldn't be easily fixed.
"Harms like these are impossible to fix after the fact. You only get one playing career and you cannot go back in time. These harms can drastically alter the course of an athlete's college education and their professional career (whether as a professional athlete or in another industry)," he wrote. "Many of these players don't go on so these four to five years are all they get. We need to put them in position to make the right choice and make the most of their opportunities."
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Heupel said athletes taking financial reasons into account is a crucial aspect of where they decide to go. For most, it will be the only opportunity for them to monetize their athletic ability, he said.
"Only a small minority of student-athletes go on to play pro. Because of the risk of injuries in college sports, an early NIL deal could be the best or only NIL deal they might ever secure," Heupel said.
Because of the confusing, ever-changing NIL rules from the NCAA, students are unable to discuss NIL opportunities on the front end. This can lead to them making "poor decisions," he said.
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"Recruits often don't know, like we do, the reputation and trustworthiness of who they are working with; without that information, they can pick a school that isn't the best fit for them based on false promises of NIL that never come to fruition," Heupel said.
Heupel also hints at broader anticompetitive issue by limiting UT's ability to land recruits.
"Without the NIL-recruiting ban, UT would be even more competitive in recruiting the best athletes to come play here," he said.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @AdamSparks . Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel joins Tennessee fight against NCAA in federal court over NIL rules
