Today’s big sports news is college football coach Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss to go to LSU. A move like this at the end of a contract (not up until 2031), or even at the end of a season, is seen as normal. For Kiffin to voluntarily walk away from his current team just before they play in the playoffs is, well, sadly what college football has become. But that’s not all! As Kiffin sticks it to Ole Miss in this hyper-transactional world of college football, don’t overlook the lunacy on the other side here as well. LSU, only weeks removed from firing Brian Kelly and still owing him over $54 million, obviously shows that they have learned nothing by immediately signing Kiffin to a contract even bigger than Kelly’s! What’s worse, the disloyalty to your job (Kiffin), or the incredible irresponsible spending by a school (LSU)? And what’s barely being discussed, but should be, is around loyalty and commitment — do college coaches understand how ridiculous they sound in this moment expecting loyalty and commitment from their players, when they themselves won’t even hang around for the playoffs of their current team before jetting off to their next job?!
The college football landscape today
At this point we really need to ask if the NCAA, or a new governing board, will ever step in to right the ship that is college football? NIL remains largely unregulated, student-athletes can now transfer freely without penalty, newly legalized sports betting has fueled gambling addiction and even corruption among current players, and coaches are being paid tens of millions while retaining the freedom to bolt the moment a better offer appears—yet they still expect unwavering loyalty and commitment from their athletes. Throw in huge television contracts that have had a direct effect on traditional, geographic conferences being blown up (along with the storied rivalries), and what is left?
Change always occurs in life, and college football is not immune. With responsible leadership, gradual and controlled change unfolds, allowing the good parts to stay (i.e. rivalries!), and the not-so-good parts to be pushed away (legalized sports gambling??). Today, however, there appears to be nobody at the wheel, as the changes have been dramatic and the consequences very real. Incoming student athletes know that the more talented they are, the less oversight and restrictions they will encounter, tempting them with NIL deals, transferring, and even making sports prop bets. For coaches, that word “loyalty” that they like to dangle in front of student athletes seems pretty comical right now, as about the only certainty from college football coaches in this moment is, ironically, disloyalty.
Making things worse, there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel. What evidence do we see in this moment that any of the aforementioned will soon be regulated and controlled? And if college football is no longer a part of a university’s mission but instead it’s own professional thing, when will college football break off entirely and just be what it currently is: unregulated pro sports.
What “glue” currently holds this all together in this moment? With each new class of freshman student athletes, the focus becomes even more directed at NIL, transferring, gambling, and wondering why your coach is still preaching loyalty as he packs his suitcase in-season to go to the next lucrative opportunity? School pride, previously a major reason why student athletes played college sports for a specific school, is hardly a consideration anymore. Perhaps an argument can be made that what keeps it all together is simply money, and the amount that coaches and student athletes can make if they play this thing right! We know this model works in pro football, and it will likely work with today’s “college” football, but it is sad that this is what amateur sports have become, and the pride and innocence that leaves with these changes.
Final thoughts
While many people expected college football to change with the times, few people could have predicted how fast things would spiral out of control. Right now, aside from increased revenue, it’s tough to point to the other changes as being healthy for the game. Uncontrolled NIL money, unlimited transferring, breaking up century-long school rivalries, questionable gambling habits, and coaches who demand loyalty yet give none of their own….is any of this good? College football has grown over the last 125+ years because of the pride, loyalty, and commitment of coaching/playing for your school, but today it sure seems like that is the last consideration when talking college football.
drstankovich.com
