Mobile County high school football coaches offered sharply different takes this week on one of the most contentious issues facing prep sports in Alabama: whether high school athletes should be allowed to earn money from their name, image and likeness.
Alabama remains one of a small number of states that still bars high school athletes from cashing in on NIL deals while keeping their eligibility under Alabama High School Athletic Association rules. State lawmakers have introduced bills to legalize high school NIL in each of the past three legislative sessions, but none has passed. The debate has taken on new urgency as neighboring states adopt their own NIL frameworks for prep athletes, and it dominated conversation at Mobile County Football Media Day on Monday.
St. Paul’s head coach Ham Barnett was among the most outspoken opponents. “If it comes here, I might get out of it, honestly,” he said, adding that he believes NIL has already reshaped college athletics for the worse. “I think it’s ruined college sports. The money that’s exchanged and the way coaches are working behind the scenes is ridiculous.”
Barnett argued that introducing money into high school football threatens the sense of community he believes the sport still offers. “Fifteen, 16, 17-year-olds don’t need a whole lot of money in their pocket to play a sport,” he said. “That’s not what sports is about. Sports is about playing for your team and your community. That’s what it’s about — building togetherness, building memories that last a lifetime, not switching schools every year.”
He acknowledged that recruiting between schools has quietly existed for decades but said adding cash payments would only make the problem worse. “I’ve got four kids and a wife at home. The last thing I’m going to do is worry about calling some dude from another school and trying to get them over at my school,” Barnett said. “It’s not worth it to me.”
Alma Bryant head coach Bart Sessions raised a related but distinct concern, arguing that NIL programs in other states have functioned less like marketability deals and more like recruiting inducements. “It’s not NIL. It’s pay for play,” Sessions said, pointing to what he described as NIL being “used as a tool to load up teams, to get a kid to transfer over here from here to there.”
Still, Sessions left the door open to changing his mind if lawmakers crafted stronger safeguards. “If they come up with a great plan to protect all those people, hey, I may flip sides before it’s over,” he said. “But that’s not how it’s been implemented in any place I’ve seen it implemented. It’s just put it in and then we’ll figure out later how to fix it. That’s a bad plan.”
UMS-Wright head coach Sam Williams offered a more measured view, saying he supports the concept of NIL for high schoolers if it comes with proper oversight. “I’ve had a lot of kids over the years that probably could have benefited from NIL if it’s done correctly,” Williams said. “I’m 100 percent for NIL as long as people understand it and we have the right people managing it.”
Williams warned that without strong regulation, young athletes could be exploited. “The problem is there’s so many people in these areas that don’t have the right intentions for the kids,” he said. He also pushed back on the assumption that high school NIL would mean instant riches for teenagers. “The thought on high school NIL is putting something away for the future,” Williams said. “But what people think right now is, ‘Hey, I’m a 14-year-old kid and I’m going to get a couple hundred thousand, a million dollars.’ They’re not ready to deal with that. Period.”
Daphne head coach Kenny King took a more practical stance, saying his program would adjust to whatever the state ultimately decides. “We’re ready for whatever,” King said. “I want to do whatever helps my players and supports them. We’ll be ready to adapt for whatever happens.”
For Barnett, the debate ultimately comes down to preserving something he sees as increasingly rare in sports. “And it’s not pure, but it’s the purest thing that we have right now in sports is high school,” he said. “So don’t ruin it. Adults, don’t ruin it. Please.”
Whether Alabama joins the growing list of states permitting high school NIL will be left to lawmakers in Montgomery. But based on the range of views expressed at Media Day, Mobile County’s coaching ranks remain far from unified on what that future should look like. Mobile County Media Days continued Tuesday with additional programs weighing in ahead of the 2026 season.