We wrote about the pitfalls facing college football last preseason – sponsors, contracts, enticements. It’s not about scholarships and qualified “student-athletes” nor anything that this great American pastime was built on. Read our July Salvo from last season right here. NIL, transfer portals, conference realignments, TV money, booster money, contract money, and more money.    College football festered its cheaters, its scandals, and its deceptions to entice talent to win football games no matter what. Those who got caught eventually, paid a price. At least the threat existed to prevent this to some extent.  However, the power that was, basically Dr. Mark Emmert, CEO of the NCAA, just opened everything up for the benefit of the “student-athletes”.  Imminently, what we’ve seen since has blown up beyond expectations fueled by his inability to think long-term (short-term?).

Student-athletes: “Give me money , or…”

    Think about SMU receiving the death penalty in the ‘80s.  What they did then becomes the legitimate way of doing college football recruiting now.   Coaches go into a player’s home or school with the money committed from boosters to ask, how much do you need to play for our football (basketball) program?  A smart 18-year-old says, ”I don’t know, let me check with the other schools.”  As we posted last year, who needs a scholarship anymore?  Maybe schools will offer more money now for academics, right?  Being facetious here.

Still a roll of the dice

  The funny thing, what hasn’t changed is the crap-shoot recruiting can be.  There’s no guarantee that these high school “stars” will live up to expectations. We’ve witnessed this in the past. Of course, injuries can change some athletes’ fortunes as well. For this, universities should definitely compensate student-athletes who can no longer participate due to health limitations.

    Now, we will possibly see a new scenario.  For a million bucks, some kids will take the money and loaf, not run – on the playing field that is. Contractually, how does the school prevent this? Incentives? Complications set in.  Why do players have to listen to an assistant coach who’s paid less than they are?  The player’s got his money. What’s the incentive to play to get to the next level?   Some will be financially satisfied, some won’t. Grades?  Does it matter anymore?  Will they even go to class?  If they do, are teachers going to assure they have passing grades now no matter what their performance is in the classroom?

Waiting game

    After the transitions of USC and UCLA into the Big Ten, Notre Dame is their next target.  After the Irish, Oregon, Clemson, Florida State, and a few others come under consideration among the elite teams that make sense to the Big Ten and SEC to join up to form the new super conference(s).  Traditional mediocre members like Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Northwestern, and Illinois of the two major conferences will probably be offered significant payments to leave.  Non-elite programs from the ACC, Big Twelve, and PAC -12 will realign to fend for themselves with the Group of Five (will Cincinnati’s recent success qualify them for super conference play?).

     To us, in the end it looks like there will be about 40-50 teams moving into a new “professional” subdivision (FPS). Perhaps, the NFL coordinates with the new FPS.  Envision the pros drafting high school players and assigning them to the members of this new faction for player development purposes. Hopefully, the tightwads of pro football will compensate these schools for their new found student-athletes to relieve some of the financial pressures of state and private institutions involved to develop the supposed best of the best (fat chance!).

 Throw traditions out the window

     Basically, the newly formed alliance under some jurisdiction other than the NCAA will have different recruiting by-laws and play amongst themselves for billions of dollars of TV money under some new playoff system.  Competition among those based on newly formed rules will be as different as the current FBS and FCS.  Traditions will dissolve.  We’ll miss them.  However, going forward, we think it will be best for college football overall.

A lesson learned

      We give the Ivy League some credit when it comes to their perception of football.  They identified a standard they wanted to sustain, and they basically seem satisfied to play amongst themselves to standardize the level of play they want to compete within.  Granted, they have the money and alumni support to do this. The League isn’t among football elites by any means. Mostly, they play competition with common academic goals. They play ten games every season and crown a champion with student-athletes of equal talent among the traditions of the “Ancient Eight”. This model works for them.

   The 60+ remaining FBS schools and some FCS schools will join together to consolidate under some separate entity, possibly within the NCAA, possibly not, with the lack of any authority that organization seems to have. What remains to be seen, and most likely will have to be considered judiciously, will interaction be allowed among the new super conferences and the thrown-aside lower echelon? 

We would hope these new levels separate totally from each other similar to what the Ivy League established – meaning no inter-level games, no transfers or recruitments of players without adequate restrictions at least, separate television contracts, playoffs, bowls, and/or championships.  Not implementing separation continues to make things so murky.  How does basketball, in particular, and other sports including women’s student-athletes play into this? Title IX questions pervade already.  You know Congress will have to get involved.  Regretfully, they need to address more important issues right now. Regretfully, it comes down to legal solutions to resolve these matters here.

Light at the end of the long tunnel?

     What a mess.  At Collegefootballfan.com, as we surmised before last season, we’re just going to enjoy each game we attend this year for the competition we will witness on the playing fields.  As this entire fiasco about to occur somehow gets sorted out, we’re going to leave it up to some ultimate, albeit unknown authority to make it all work. The focus needs to balance fair play for all football-playing, academic institutions to continue to field teams in some equitable level of competition.  We just hope it doesn’t take too long, but we’re not sure how this will be resolved quickly once legal entities get involved.

     In the end, we hope everything is fair and just for all students who want to play college football at some level.  The game needs to be worthwhile for the majority of “student-athletes” who aren’t going to continue as professional athletes beyond their college years. College football preceded pro football.  College football developed originally to instill values outside the classroom for other valuable lessons in life.   These values must continue to be recognized today and in the future.

Ed. – Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! Click on the title to learn more about my book. Thanks!