A Different Time and Place

To start with, let’s get some things out of the way about college football.

Here is where I agree with most fans:

I long for the good ole days, even though I know they are in the rear-view mirror. I know and understand the “Alabama Standard” as much as anyone. I hate to lose more than I love to win. I know about the small things it takes to win.

Here is where I disagree with most fans:

Most coaches who won more than 10 years ago could NOT win using those same coaching techniques today. Referees do not get together and conspire against your team. Recruits and transfers do NOT put “tradition” near the top reason for their decisions. The best answer after a bad game is not to “fire them all, starting at the top.”

Let’s take a deep breath and think from a pragmatic standpoint. Forget your school allegiance. Forget about YOUR playing days or school days. It doesn’t matter if you went to school there or have been a lifelong fan. Both are equally important to each university.

Now, pick a school and a successful coach from more than 5 years ago. Still with me? It could be Bryant and Saban at Bama, Dye and Jordan at Auburn, Spurrier at Florida, Hayes at Ohio State, Paterno at Penn State, Bowden at FSU or Royal at Texas.

HOW and WHY did they win?

Let me help you. 1. Recruiting and stockpiling talent. 2. Solid, patient fan bases and total control. 3. Coaching through fear and respect. 4. Adaptability. 5. Staff and administration continuity. Remember these points.

Look at the changes:

As a former recruiting coordinator and college assistant coach, recruiting was the lifeblood of the program. Players were evaluated, starting in junior high. The process of getting them to campus, gathering tape, studying transcripts, visiting with their high school coach, and finding their “hot button” or decisionmaker took months or years.

A school could only sign 25 players in a year and have a total of 85 on scholarship. The player was “stuck” with you for 2 years (because of the sit-out transfer rule) and you were “stuck” with them, even if you made a recruiting mistake. Most players were signed and redshirted, giving them an extra year to develop. One year, Alabama redshirted 18 of 25 signees. Prior to the early 70’s, freshmen were ineligible.

Today, with the NIL and transfer portal, much of that went the way of 16mm film. One SEC staff won’t even bring a recruit in to visit until they know his NIL price. When you see programs like Indiana, suddenly winning it all mostly through the transfer portal, it’s a version of “rent-a-player.” Some players, especially quarterbacks, have played at more than 4 different colleges. Loyalty? LOL.

I will use Alabama as an example of winning national championships through recruiting, redshirting and stockpiling. It’s common knowledge that Paul “Bear” Bryant signed numerous athletes just to keep them from going to Auburn or Tennessee. A friend of mine who I coached with at Louisville, became an NFL scout. He told me that one year while scouting Alabama’s practice for its championship game, the redshirts on the scout team could probably line up and beat half the teams he had watched earlier. By the way, they DID win it all the next year.

Now, those backup players wouldn’t stick around. They would enter the transfer portal for more NIL money AND be eligible immediately. If it were your son (take off your crimson glasses), would you be in favor of his going to Texas Tech or Miami for 4 times more money and a chance to start? To borrow a Jerry Maguire phrase “Show me the money.”

The only way to develop depth is to spend more money on backup players. It becomes a vicious cycle since you are probably developing them for another school. Smaller schools have become a feeder system for the big boys.

Speaking of money, the deep pocket donors are bled dry. Naturally, the more they give, more access and say-so is expected. Donors are being asked to give to the general fund, the athletic department and the NIL collective. That’s all in addition to paying for the right to buy season tickets and the cost of tickets.

Coaches complain that the playing field isn’t level since their rivals have deeper pockets for better players, better assistants and better facilities. In our day, you could out recruit and outwork other teams. Not now.

The transfer portal is a microcosm of today’s society. ”When things get tough, threaten to quit and move on to greener pastures.” In life, we like to say that tough times don’t last; tough people do. College coaches never know when a player’s agent might come in their office with threats to transfer IF they don’t get more playing time.

One SEC coach said that on average, he will get two different players daily wanting to meet and discuss their NIL payments. When I coached, my biggest coaching worries were teaching my backs to pick up the blitz, ball security and getting their degree.

I am not against players receiving some compensation. We live in a capitalistic system. I never thought I would see the day, however, when the player makes more than 5 times what his position coach makes.

Yes, fans are impatient just like the jerk who blows his horn for you to speed up so he can get to the next red light, 4 seconds quicker. No, it’s not all “gloom and doom.” College football viewership and interest is at an all-time high.

Each school still has its own standard.

The road to that standard is quite different.