Row the boat

The life of a college football coach has become much more stressful and complicated. In the “good old days,” coaches studied elite high school athletes, called them, visited them, then wooed them to sign and play for their teams. The higher-profile programs and colleges located in recruiting hotbed areas had an advantage. 

A college like Ohio State would get many five-star players: A college like U of M typically drew  three-star recruits and a handful of four-star individuals. With recruitment taken care of, it fell on the shoulders of the coach and staff to develop their athletes into program winners.

Back then, the NCAA’s job was to oversee college athletics and quietly investigate programs suspected of recruiting violations. 

A couple years ago, the NCAA decided to change things and has transformed college athletics into a wild, wild west show.

Enter the portal and the “name, image and likeness” (NIL) program. The portal means college athletes can transfer any time they wish, then be eligible to play immediately. The days of sitting out a year after transferring are long gone. If some athletes  become dissatisfied with the coach, playing time, or whatever, they just enter their names on the computer and they are in the portal.

Coaches must now be aware and recruit these players–if they wish. The terms of the NIL make college athletes eligible to receive money or perks, maybe an automobile, if some company or organization wants to use their names, images, or likenesses in any promotions. Star college athletes can be paid by major corporations to advertise United Airlines, Nike, AT&T, Instagram posts, and more.

Caleb Williams is the quarterback at USC. He won the Heisman Trophy for being the best college football player last year. Williams is making $2.6 million this year thanks to the NIL. Quite an income for a college football player.

Kaitlin Clark plays basketball at Iowa. She is a superstar in women’s college basketball and probably her league’s best player. Clark will make a million dollars this year due to the NIL rule. Minnesota’s star high school women’s basketball player Paige Bueckers plays for the University of Connecticut powerhouse. Due to her success and attention she has garnered on social media, Bueckers is now valued at $824,000 and has an endorsement with Nike due to the NIL. She’s probably better off staying in college than coming out early to play in the WNBA. The top salaries for women there are in the $500,000 range.

I really enjoyed watching several college football games on the season’s first weekend. Time and time again, the announcers called attention to big plays made by players who had transferred to a college via the portal. Duke beat Clemson, a national power with a quarterback and wide receiver who came to Duke through the portal; Duke had not beaten Clemson for many, many years.

The most entertaining game was Colorado playing at TCU, a contest which drew national attention on every network. TCU had lost in the national championship final game last season and is a highly regarded football program. Colorado, on the other hand, has had many lackluster seasons in a row.

Colorado hired a new football coach, Deon Sanders. Sanders is one of the best defensive backs ever to play in the NFL; his nickname was “Prime Time.” He arrived in Colorado with an all-new coaching team, as well as a great number of athletes who followed him via the portal. Among them was his son, a quarterback. His players all address him as “Coach Prime.” Sanders stood on the sidelines, coaching hat turned sideways, looking like some rapper musician. The cameras were on him several times during the game. It was a fantastic contest to watch, a real shootout with impressively explosive offensive plays. Sanders’ son threw for a record number of yards and several touchdowns. Colorado won by a narrow margin. I’m sure that viewer ratings for the game were among some of the highest ever.

I’m a huge fan of Gopher sports: basketball, volleyball, football. The Gopher women have a new coach; it will be interesting to see the new look with remaining players and transfers through the portal. The men’s coach, Ben Johnson, has not done well in his early tenure. Maybe his team will become much more competitive with transfers in through the portal.

I enjoy watching Gopher football and its coach, P.J. Fleck. Coach Fleck is enthusiastic and has done very well guiding the Gopher football program. The Gophers are currently 3-3 and may be hard pressed to win six football contests and be eligible for a bowl game. Coach Fleck recruited a young freshman running back who was outstanding running the football in the opening Gopher games. He is now injured and I hope he’s healthy for the Iowa Hawkeye game.

I can’t help but wonder what decision that freshman will make at the end of the season. Will he enter the portal, transfer to a high-profile program with many ties to the NIL? Or will he stay with the Gophers and Coach Fleck, rowing a boat in Minnesota?