Tom Brady Makes Impassioned Plea to Parents and Coaches of NIL Era College Football Players originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Tom Brady played four seasons in the Big Ten with former coach Lloyd Carr’s Michigan Wolverines, serving as a member of the Wolverines’ 1997 national championship team and leading Michigan to an Orange Bowl win over Shaun Alexander’s Alabama Crimson Tide in his final performance.
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Brady has cited being a Wolverines team captain as his greatest football honor, outranking seven Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
On Monday, video was shown of the NFL legend in conversation with Joel Klatt of ‘The Joel Klatt Show,’ during which he was given a platform to vent his thoughts, and frustrations, about the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) era of college football and whether or not he would have changed his college football experience if he had the chance to go back and do it all over again.
Brady had a searing, passionate message for college football parents as he shared his raw thoughts on the transactional atmosphere that is currently ruling over the sport.
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Aug 8, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Retired Hall of Fame New England Patriot player Tom Brady talks with Brian Hoyer during the first half of a game against the Washington Commanders at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
“Would Tom Brady have finished his career at Michigan if the rules were the same then as they are now?” Klatt asked Brady in the interview video segment.
Brady said what Klatt asked is “such a hypothetical question” and added that based on his college experience, he “wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Brady added that his college experience was very challenging and very competitive, saying that it instilled values in him that he feels many of today’s college athletes may be missing out on.
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He called those values important whether in the world of business or football and made a plea to parents to make sure their kids are making smart choices.
He called avoiding competition by transferring “absolutely the wrong thing to do to a child.”
“I would challenge all the coaches and all the parents, they’re the ones that have to guide these kids… You can’t expect a 17 or 18 year old to make these great decisions,” Brady continued. “They’re young, they don’t have life experience. It should be the parents, be a good parent, teach your kid the right values.
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“What’s going to sustain them in their careers over a period of time?”
Related: Tom Brady Points to Key Test Bill Belichick Faces in College Football Transition
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
