The times they are a changin'

[Tollboothmgr]

i am a bit hesitant to post this comment in what is still a fairly early stage of the transfer portal era but.... i feel a need to point out to you and our new HC that the previous world of love and loyalty (yes i know that's a rose-colored opinion but give me a little help here) is fading fast and it saddens me to think of BV dipping his head, slumping his shoulders and letting out a heavy sigh as the young men leave his office after delivering the transfer news to him. and he wonders what ever happened to playing for a school? a team you grew up dreaming about...a field of dreams at your stadium you hoped one day to compete on? well this at least gives me a chance to vent some of my fears at what the future holds for my beloved sooner football team, and by extension, college football in general. the pandora's box is open my friends, whether our new coach embraces it or not, and the kids of today are free and able to pick up and move as they please. remember these are teens or young adults who have only the slightest idea of what the real world is like. the old fashioned concept and certainly the importance of loyalty and stubborness and dogged determination have not yet been engrained in many of these student-athletes. one could argue the same about coaches obviously and perhaps it's their own "butterfly" example that allows many of the student-athlete transfers to feel vindication and validation. yet one must only look at the example set by professional sports and free agency to see what happens to rosters of tenured veterans to realize a team is now merely a city and a uniform and it's fanbase and not much more. thinking the pro athlete has much loyalty to the team that drafted, trained and promoted him is a long-gone concept, and now the college boys are following suit. yes it's becoming a level playing field for all 18+ age athletes. our world is after all a capitalistic one, where dollars move mountains and old fashioned principles like love of team and town and fans no longer hold sway. the portal is here alright, and we better get used to it and use it. certainly other schools are/will. but will it erode some of the love and loyalty I have? sadly i can feel it happening already... sigh

 

[Oklabama]

Great post!!

 

[veritas59]

We now have unrestricted free agency without a salary cap. Think Steinbrenner's Yankees - The King with the most gold will build the strongest armies. NIL won't level the playing field; it will make it more unbalanced than ever.

 

[Belldozer1]

Parameters have to be put in place or it’s going to be more of a fiasco. Who the heck wants to take a roll call every year to see who’s coming back or portaling out? No thanks. It’s going to drive some good coaches out, who wants all that stress and no loyalty. We need Bama and Georgia to be effected to make nstiture some changes quickly

 

[aix_xpert]

At a minimum, there's going to need to be a permanent adjustment of the 25/year rule. Whether its a 1:1 ratio based on external transfers, or transfers not counting against that number, but the losers in the transfer scramble (I expect that to be the mid-majors and the bottom rung P5 schools) will likely lose more than 25 players per year to attrition, graduation and transfers.