I’ve made my utter loathing for NIL and the transfer portal and, at this point, even having the team referred to as students pretty known.
But I still watch and I still cheer for the Utes (it’s starting to feel like some kind of addiction). Anyway after 40+ years (of being a fan) this year it’s really hitting me…we have always had long term commitments (4 years from most players) and except for Urban, very steady head coaching since Mac came on the scene. So most of my adult life.
That era seems over. If Scalley does great I don’t expect him to stay in Utah if someone else offers him 3m more a year…and that’s the era we are in.
So I’m really wondering this morning…even with the PE, the B12 just isn’t the brand to bring in the billionaires of the big boys. So what realistic changes do we have to be more than a farm team for coaches and players going forward? I mean, of course we can have a good year here and there. But if we find a great QB or RB or WR or Lineman..or OC/DC or even HC and have 1 year of success, it now looks like the entire sport is just money vultures waiting to swoop in and buy out anyone who shows real merit.
Am I wrong? if so, what am I missing? I would like to think there is something that we could do to avoid this but frankly…I don’t see it. And for me…that means a painful annual cycle of constant rebuilding and a mercenary system that beggars anything we see in any other sport.
Someone explain all the ways I’m wrong. I’d be very happy to be wrong.
I’d love to, but you’re not wrong. You’ve exactly nailed what college football has become in the NIL era.
Barring a billionaire sugar daddy, Utah - and every other school outside of around 15-20 “blue bloods” - are simply a farm system for the larger schools to come pick and choose whoever they want. They will then throw piles of money at them.
You’ll have “new money” come along every now and then who can make a splash by buying the right mix of players (like Texas Tech did this year), but I don’t think that’s sustainable and if/when the money dries up they’ll be right back in the farm team mix with the rest of us.
Hence why I’ve been intentionally distancing myself from college football, tbh. I can’t imagine a scenario where Utah will ever be in the cool kids club, and this cycle will just continue over and over again. I think that we’ll likely do better than most, but we’re still going to be the equivalent of a farm team for bigger fish to pick off as they choose.
On the yearly rebuilding, I think that’s pretty common at the higher level, like Indiana’s QB playing at Cal last year, and Miami’s QB being at Georgia last year. Or Dampier turning our offense around in one year.
In some ways we’ll be at a disadvantage - the Big House is a different level, for the competitors who want to be on the biggest stage.
This playoff game between our old conference mates and our new conference mates should be interesting.
Oregon as the relative “blue blood” (cough) vs TTech as the upstarts with a big check book. (If Oregon can play disciplined, I think they have an advantage against TTech, whose offense has been “good” but not great.)
Ultimately, Congress will need to get involved, IMO, as the money tide starts to disrupt the NFL and leads people like Ted Cruz to come to the defense of Iowa State, who has been decimated. I think they will.
The NFL & NBA are going to start putting pressure on to get things under control. Could BYU’s $7M hoops player make the same as a rookie in the NBA? It’s upside down.
This is interesting. TTech has 97 athletes on one year NIL deals, and some number of athletes on 2-year deals.
Not in this article, but not surprisingly, they’ve spent more on the football team’s defense than on offense. $7M for the DEs, the whole DL and LBs look NFL bound. QB Morton is at $1M, which Whit a few years ago said was the going rate for a really good QB. Maybe an outlier, Duke’s QB Mensah, a transfer from Tulane, makes $4M a year.