Is the NCAA trying to destroy College Football?

You say it’s not? Well, if they wanted to destroy it they couldn’t do a much better job. Things have to change and change FAST.

Having the NIL and the Transfer Portal come out at the same time led to a problem only a moron couldn’t have seen coming. Not only these two controversial legislations come out together, the came out with no guard rails or enforcement. There was little or no regulation. The NIL was supposed to be a REWARD for a company using your name, image or likeness to sell a pr oduct. Saquon Barkley’s jersey is selling like hot cakes at the PSU bookstore. The NIL was a way of giving Saquon a piece of the pie. Makes perfect sense. BUT that was far too easy. College Coaches killed the goose that was churning out “Golden Eggs” – let’s face it “cheaters cheat” it was ONLY a matter of a short period of time before the NIL was no longer a REWARD but instead an INDUCEMENT. A way to out recruit or better put, out bid other schools. The bigger the money bags, the better the recruiting class. It got ridiculous fast for example Arch Manning, the promising back up
Quarterback at the University of Texas, NIL agreement was more than the 49ers starting quarterback’s NFL’s contract! And Brock Purdy is one of the best Quarterbacks in the National Football league. The Oregon Ducks paid Bo Nix a hefty some to leave Auburn to wear Nike gear & be their Quarterback.

This brings us the second devastating NCAA brainstorm: The Transfer Portal! The Transfer Portal is the next part of the NCAA’s assault on College Football. Giving a player the right to transfer without having to sit out a year is begging for corruption. A Division I power is in need of a Quarterback, a perennial loser has one – maybe he’ll jump at the chance at a shot at the National Championship? Now throw in NIL money! Now he can have that shot AND become rich on top of that. But maybe he doesn’t know the D1 power wants him? So the D1 Power lets him know he would be rich if he enters the portal. That’s not how it was supposed to work but that’s how it is working. Or maybe a coach gets a new more glamorous coaching position, now he convinces his
current players to enter the portal. It can’t get much slimier. The combination of the NIL, the Transfer Portal, no regulations and the lack of values is a recipe for disaster. But there is another bombshell to drop.

The Timing the next landmine in this chaos – the Transfer Portal is open during the bowl season and the playoffs! Why would you create this mess during the very thing everyone wanted – an expanded playoff format? Because the schools players are transferring to want them there for Spring Practice which means the players must be enrolled in their new school for the Spring
Semester. A player has no choice, if he wants to transfer, he must quit his team either for a bowl game or the playoffs. So how important is this? This year there are 2,366 players in the portal! Bowl Games will basically become JV Football games. What fan is going to spend money to fly to a JV Game (With walk-ons & subs playing) get a hotel room, buy tickets and have a big expense for a bowl game that is not any representation of their team? The concept of non-playoff bowl games is going the way of the dinosaurs. Players won’t play, coaches won’t coach and fans
won’t come or watch.

Player Agents are the one who entice players to get in The Transfer Portal & find deals for their clients. So, they’ll find a school in need of say a Quarterback, then contact various Quarterbacks and suggest that if the get in the Transfer Portal, they have a school that will pay them big bucks, but they have to act now so the can enroll for spring semester to practice in the Spring.

This player brokering must be abolished.

Values. Aristotle said that the purpose of education was to pass on values. Football was a great vehicle to learn values. A player was only as good as the team around him. Archie Manning was arguably the best quarterback of his era but never realized his potential because did not have the supporting cast. But with the portal there is no commitment to being part of a winning team.
Now, it’s not about “What can I contribute, it’s what we will be best for me”. Also, what about graduation rate, suddenly that’s not important. Football is no longer part of a student’s education- it’s apart from his education.

Tomorrow will be Part Two