BATON ROUGE – There are no more Cinderella stories in college athletics.
Cinderellas who once fantasized about playing college sports now sells the glass slipper for a bag of cash.
College head coaches’ “dream jobs” no longer exist.
The only place coaches now “always wanted to be” is the one that puts the most zeroes on the end of their paychecks.
Recruits often once said they committed to “a school I’ve wanted to play for since I was a little kid.”
In the brazen new lawless world of college athletics in which everything is negotiable and everyone has a price, athletes commit and decommit to a list of suitors while trying to squeeze every penny from NIL deals and jock-sniffing sugar daddies.
Each decommitment is announced through a social media post with the recruit asking the general public “Please respect my decision.” Which is ironic since each decommitment is waffling that subtracts respect.
There are rarely any surprises in college athletics.
Not even Texas A&M head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle after his team’s Monday night loss in the CWS finals to Tennessee, sniping at a reporter daring to ask him (“I think it’s pretty selfish of you to ask me that question,” he said) to address rumors he may be leaving to become Texas head coach (“I took the job at Texas A&M to never take another job again, and that hasn’t changed in my mind,” he said) and then accepting the Texas job before suppertime the following day.
No one is naïve enough to think college athletics weren’t getting paid under the table for decades and decades.
But despite being against the alleged amateurism rules, maybe because not every other athlete was demanding an annual six-figure salary or because it wasn’t done blatantly in the open or because rigid NCAA transfer rules kept athletes from rarely jumping schools, there was a bit of remaining pureness in college athletics.
Sure, it was a business. But because every athlete wasn’t being bought, there seemed to be a sense of loyalty between athletes and their schools.
Fans appreciated that and in return gave unconditional love. They could build relationships with players because they stayed at the same school for at least three years or more. This doesn’t happen anymore.
The only legislation the spineless NCAA approves these days as rules is anything goes.
Care to transfer as many times as you want? Go ahead.
Want to renegotiate your NIL agreements or cash deals with your school after every season or you’ll leave for a new situation with greener money pastures? Give it a whirl.
Hire as many assistant coaches as possible on a football staff? The NCAA gave greenlighted that on Tuesday.
Sooner or later as college athletic departments became financed mostly by network TV contracts in their respective conferences, it became clear athletes needed a share of the bounty.
Why? Because college athletes train year-round. It’s a job, not a sport. They deserve a piece of the pie.
But college sports have accelerated at an alarming pace into a soulless money grab where athletes promoting their brand override individual development and team goals.
There’s an argument that college head coaches – especially those with multi-million contracts coaching football, basketball and baseball – are just as transient and money-hungry as athletes.
The difference is coaches, now more than ever, earn every penny of their salaries. Because there aren’t rules limiting anything, coaches must recruit and drastically re-build their rosters yearly.
Coaches either adapt or retire. Ones that attempt to retain their principles and speak honestly about how the transfer portal and NIL deals are intended to work risk losing recruits.
Back in early May in a TV interview after he couldn’t convince several top defensive tackles in the transfer portal to sign with LSU, Brian Kelly had the cojones to say what other head football coaches won’t.
“We’re not in the market of buying players and unfortunately right now that’s what some guys are looking for,” Kelly said. “They want to be bought. If you’re just looking to get paid, you’re looking in the wrong place.
“If you like all the things that we do here in developing our players, bringing you into a championship program, playing in front of the best fan base in America, playing for championships and having an opportunity for NFL, you should be a Tiger. But if you just want to get paid, this is not the place for you.
“What we’re asking our players to do is all part of a bigger picture. And if they can be helped out with NIL money, absolutely. We’re going to be able to provide those opportunities for you. But if you’re looking to retire playing college football, this is the wrong place.”
In the meantime, Texas A&M is looking for a new head baseball coach. Whoever the Aggies hire won’t be taking over a team that was the national runner-up.
By the time A&M makes a hire, the 2024 squad will be a carcass, stripped to bare bones by opposing speed-dialing rival head coaches plundering the transfer portal like dive-bombing vultures.
The only thing remaining should be the stench of what college sports have become. And no one yet has a solution to get rid of that stink.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com