College football hasn't been very collegiate and it's been pretty hypocritical and complicated for a long time. The value of a degree isn't what is used to be, especially outside of the kinds of major a college football player isn't gonna be allowed the time/energy to pursue. The money got way bigger in the past 25 years and made not paying the players worse and worse and worse.
I think the NCAA basically just caved and as long as the money is coming in for most no one cares and basically no one is running anything. Fleen and I were recently having dinner with one of the board members who was part of the group to rewrite college sports a few years ago and he disappointingly kind of just said well it's like pro sports now basically and the divisions have their own control or something really flimsy and thankfully someone else said it's actually way worse than pro sports. Pretty much confirmed my suspicions on what happened.
I think the bigger union and contracts and caps shit hopefully is coming but until the money forces it I'll hold my breath. I also think programs will push the margins but it's a lot harder to do that when you have a threat of getting in trouble.
I think there's little stuff they could easily fix now too like only allowing one transfer in a career if you're not transferring down a conference, mandatory compensation and bonus sharing from coaches with players, and any NIL contracts need to be public.
Most importantly the portal has and will be the biggest problems, much more than even unlimited bags for hs recruits. Bagging high schoolers you still had to scout and develop but now you can buy players who have already proven themselves at your level which is really fucking easy and prevents programs from having to rebuild at all, which was generally kind of a good part of college football.
UW can only be so judgy on it all too as UW basically this year has a bough roster of transfers though it's because they really had no other choice since everyone took there's.
Yes, UW had to go after transfers because their roster was gutted by other schools (and guys going onto the NFL). That's much different than buying guys who go into the portal for the biggest payday.
For instance come December (I think that's when the portal opens), Fisch and co won't need to hit the portal nearly as hard. They'll have to address shortcomings in Lake's and DeBoer's classes. For instance, when DeBoer was hired in late 2021 after the Lake debacle, he was only able to secure one OL (Brailsford) and Brailsford left to join DeBoer at Alabama.
So there's a big difference between selectively using NIL to fill out a roster decimated due to coaching changes and spending massive amounts of money on guys jumping around to the highest bidder.
I just think that most CFB enthusiasts want a level playing field as even the NFL (with hundreds of billions at stake every year) has a salary cap.
Nobody wanted Penix he was a 3* dude with an terrible injury history. He followed Deboer and you could say we lucked into both of them. I'm talking big picture here, we can't count on being lucky.
Accurate. UW was in a really bad situation. They really couldn't afford DeBoer to leave even though he was a shitty recruiter. It's a great example of the fucked out nature of the current situation in that UW's best potential outcome once DeBoer left and they hired Fisch was to fully raid Arizona and instead only like 30% raided them and now both programs are mediocre. Sweet.
The Arizona players know Brennan is mid now. I’d think someone like Paulido and anyone else that Carrol thinks might be an upgrade, will be more receptive to a move to UW. TMac was the lynchpin of everyone that stayed. He’s gone after the regular season. Arizona Raid 2, Electric Boogaloo.
I really, really like Seinfeld but I genuinely scroll right past any Seinfeld gif. I'm also just not a big gif guy in general if you notice I've never used one.
From what I remember most people were disappointed we couldn't get Haener back. I'd be curious if they even paid Penix to come to Seattle.
Which reminds me did they change the whole you can't transfer twice or something or is it just now the graduate transfer farce that allows guys to transfer to a third school? I think that's why Durfee BS had to sit out last year.
It's been a really bad 30 year run for breaks at UW. Penix turning out to be a GOAT level QB who just hadn't stayed healthy and got the right situation is the best break after only Petersen deciding to call up UW and volunteer for the job.
I thought the rule was basically 1 transfer plus 1 grad transfer, then there was a Covid waiver to allow for unlimited, then someone sued and made that permanent.
Unlimited is horrible for CFB, it's like being a free agent every year which doesn't even happen in the NFL. Even coaches have really high buyouts that make it virtually impossible to leave after 1 year.
It's ironic in the NFL it's the fringe roster players that have the most freedom to move around. We do see more and more top level guys now holding out and doing shit to demand trades though. But it's pretty funny that in college it's the best players who have all the options and worst are the most screwed and the NFL is the inverse.
No matter what, it's not healthy for a semi-college sport to have players go from team to team to team, unrestricted and for the most cash. What I loved (and hope to love again) is that most players stuck with their school for 4 or 5 years for continuity and you could see a guy develop nicely while staying in the community.
It sounds like changes are coming in 2025 with the $22 million limit and maybe that will also include that players are welcome to portal once for a bag but if they want to do it again, they have to sit out for a year (unless they are going down a level). At the very least, a player should have to sign a two year or 3 year commitment if they take a bag.
A salary cap kind of helps but not completely. It just stops the school itself from paying athletes.
Players are still free to earn money on their image and likeness just like pro athletes. Boosters will always be paying above whatever tv money is divided up for them to be whatever spokesperson.
Comments
College football hasn't been very collegiate and it's been pretty hypocritical and complicated for a long time. The value of a degree isn't what is used to be, especially outside of the kinds of major a college football player isn't gonna be allowed the time/energy to pursue. The money got way bigger in the past 25 years and made not paying the players worse and worse and worse.
I think the NCAA basically just caved and as long as the money is coming in for most no one cares and basically no one is running anything. Fleen and I were recently having dinner with one of the board members who was part of the group to rewrite college sports a few years ago and he disappointingly kind of just said well it's like pro sports now basically and the divisions have their own control or something really flimsy and thankfully someone else said it's actually way worse than pro sports. Pretty much confirmed my suspicions on what happened.
I think the bigger union and contracts and caps shit hopefully is coming but until the money forces it I'll hold my breath. I also think programs will push the margins but it's a lot harder to do that when you have a threat of getting in trouble.
I think there's little stuff they could easily fix now too like only allowing one transfer in a career if you're not transferring down a conference, mandatory compensation and bonus sharing from coaches with players, and any NIL contracts need to be public.
Most importantly the portal has and will be the biggest problems, much more than even unlimited bags for hs recruits. Bagging high schoolers you still had to scout and develop but now you can buy players who have already proven themselves at your level which is really fucking easy and prevents programs from having to rebuild at all, which was generally kind of a good part of college football.
UW can only be so judgy on it all too as UW basically this year has a bough roster of transfers though it's because they really had no other choice since everyone took there's.
Yes, UW had to go after transfers because their roster was gutted by other schools (and guys going onto the NFL). That's much different than buying guys who go into the portal for the biggest payday.
For instance come December (I think that's when the portal opens), Fisch and co won't need to hit the portal nearly as hard. They'll have to address shortcomings in Lake's and DeBoer's classes. For instance, when DeBoer was hired in late 2021 after the Lake debacle, he was only able to secure one OL (Brailsford) and Brailsford left to join DeBoer at Alabama.
So there's a big difference between selectively using NIL to fill out a roster decimated due to coaching changes and spending massive amounts of money on guys jumping around to the highest bidder.
I just think that most CFB enthusiasts want a level playing field as even the NFL (with hundreds of billions at stake every year) has a salary cap.
EXACTLY.
Nobody wanted Penix he was a 3* dude with an terrible injury history. He followed Deboer and you could say we lucked into both of them. I'm talking big picture here, we can't count on being lucky.
Accurate. UW was in a really bad situation. They really couldn't afford DeBoer to leave even though he was a shitty recruiter. It's a great example of the fucked out nature of the current situation in that UW's best potential outcome once DeBoer left and they hired Fisch was to fully raid Arizona and instead only like 30% raided them and now both programs are mediocre. Sweet.
The Arizona players know Brennan is mid now. I’d think someone like Paulido and anyone else that Carrol thinks might be an upgrade, will be more receptive to a move to UW. TMac was the lynchpin of everyone that stayed. He’s gone after the regular season. Arizona Raid 2, Electric Boogaloo.
all of the salary cap talk is great and all, but that has nothing to do with nil. that toothpaste is out and on the floor.
@WoolleyDoog never upvotes my Seinfeld gifs.
I shall confront him on the next pod.
I really, really like Seinfeld but I genuinely scroll right past any Seinfeld gif. I'm also just not a big gif guy in general if you notice I've never used one.
From what I remember most people were disappointed we couldn't get Haener back. I'd be curious if they even paid Penix to come to Seattle.
Which reminds me did they change the whole you can't transfer twice or something or is it just now the graduate transfer farce that allows guys to transfer to a third school? I think that's why Durfee BS had to sit out last year.
It's been a really bad 30 year run for breaks at UW. Penix turning out to be a GOAT level QB who just hadn't stayed healthy and got the right situation is the best break after only Petersen deciding to call up UW and volunteer for the job.
what the fuck are you talking about…
Nice avi, you savage. You hooked up with j yet? Like a play date or something.
I thought the rule was basically 1 transfer plus 1 grad transfer, then there was a Covid waiver to allow for unlimited, then someone sued and made that permanent.
Unlimited is horrible for CFB, it's like being a free agent every year which doesn't even happen in the NFL. Even coaches have really high buyouts that make it virtually impossible to leave after 1 year.
spilling toothpaste.
J rejected me. i was deeply hurt. thank you for bringing it up.
I wasn't literally calling you out and demanding an explanation. But I did think that you disliked Seinfeld so I did learn something.
That does happen in the NFL but the NFL also does it intentionally and has the ability to sign players to longer term deals.
It's ironic in the NFL it's the fringe roster players that have the most freedom to move around. We do see more and more top level guys now holding out and doing shit to demand trades though. But it's pretty funny that in college it's the best players who have all the options and worst are the most screwed and the NFL is the inverse.
No matter what, it's not healthy for a semi-college sport to have players go from team to team to team, unrestricted and for the most cash. What I loved (and hope to love again) is that most players stuck with their school for 4 or 5 years for continuity and you could see a guy develop nicely while staying in the community.
It sounds like changes are coming in 2025 with the $22 million limit and maybe that will also include that players are welcome to portal once for a bag but if they want to do it again, they have to sit out for a year (unless they are going down a level). At the very least, a player should have to sign a two year or 3 year commitment if they take a bag.
They need to limit the transfers for sure.
A salary cap kind of helps but not completely. It just stops the school itself from paying athletes.
Players are still free to earn money on their image and likeness just like pro athletes. Boosters will always be paying above whatever tv money is divided up for them to be whatever spokesperson.