College coaches who know the gates of transitions and the NIL deals that turn college athletics into the Wild West are the new salmon crudo, aka a very popular and frequently served dish. so much so that Padma and Tom mocked its versatility in an episode of Top Chef.
Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney complain about it – transfer portal, not salmon crudo, that dish was delicious – last week. Anonymous Coach had a problem with it in february. Alabama Coach Nick Saban and Coach Georgia Kirby Smart had it on their chair right before they go head to head for the national title.
Complaining about re-recruiting your squad is as cliché as a Will Smith joke, only when complaining about your squad’s re-recruit is funny and never gets old. (Seriously, the other day I was crossing the street behind a bunch of sly 10-year-olds, and one of them said, “Don’t say my wife’s name,” and I giggled along with them.)
The coaches weren’t wrong about the transfer portal creating a suffocating atmosphere. Go through a few spring football stories and tell me you don’t get a free agency, the same faces/new sensations after reading a few of them.
Former Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler came on the field as a journeyman in this piece about his move to South Carolina. This state of Kansas story about QB Adrian Martinez, who hails from Nebraska, talks about him as Daryl Morey raves about buying James Harden. Ohio State Transfer Quinn Ewers has “Drop Dimes” during practice at his new stop in Austin.
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There’s no point in sticking around at a school that can only offer tutelage under a starter and not instant gratification/baptism by snaps. Coaches technically can’t pay cash bonuses even though I’m sure recruits are well aware of where the good NIL deals are. (That’s not entirely true, schools have the ability to pay student-athletes bonuses for good grades, but only 22 of 130 FBS-level universities opted to do that this year, according to an ESPN study.)
If the frivolous aspects of college life lose their novelty, the only incentives coaches have to offer are playtime and the road to the NFL. When either of those things don’t turn out the way the employer suggests, the push starts between those looking for what’s best for a child/transferring push and a coaching staff. begging for another chance.
Florida quarterback Emory Jones has announced he is entering the transfer portal after the Gasparilla Bowl just to get new head coach Bill Napier coax him back. Napier’s argument for getting Jones to stay includes key points often made by new hires.
It was a “new culture” and a “new environment,” which Jones said was enough for him to buy and trust the Gators again. Cases of fatigue like this — the kind kids have probably heard many times during the hiring process — work from time to time. But lately, more often than not, they’ve landed in their ears full of AirPods.
If only there was another form of currency to help these unemployed coaches retain their workforce, student-athletes. What could be better than the promise of a potential payday? How about an actual payday. This piece is not only intended to compensate freelancers making millions of dollars for colleges, but it is also a solution for coaches looking to cut their workload. Paying players won’t completely eliminate the transfer portal – there will always be a finite amount of rep and chances – but it could provide coaches with a world where the grass is not constantly greener than in another campus.
It’s unrealistic and unfair to think that a rich get richer scenario wouldn’t widen the gap between the Alabamas and the Vanderbilts, so how do you create a school pay scale and deliver Benefits for players and coaches without full declaration -over capitalism?
Here’s my recommendation that will never be considered: Every freshman starts with a base salary, say $25,000, and every year a player stays at school, they get an extra $25,000. la. So a senior would earn $100,000, a junior would make $75,000, and a sophomore would get $50,000. I just withdrew $25,000 because it was easy to do the math but you get my point.
This is a mandatory point, if a player transfers, the salary will reset to freshman level. I would make provisions for extenuating circumstances like if your coach is fired you can transfer without penalty – this will also make schools hesitant to go through staff like the Tinder profile.
I don’t know of players who followed a coach leaving for a better paying job, as was the case with USC, Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams. Not that it matters, but I’m leaning towards, no, they have to reset the salary. (However, as long as I’m making the rules, what if that happens, and a player follows a coach, that coach has to pay the difference. So Riley will owe Williams 25 thousand dollars from his new padded bag every season. Williams plays USC.)
The idea hasn’t been fully thought out yet, but it’s one of thousands of potential solutions that could be done with money.
Those who say money doesn’t solve everything are probably just never broken. And these coaches aren’t broken, which is probably why they care more about the transfer portal than whether the system that makes them millionaires is ethical.
