By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
DALLAS – Retired college head football coaches might be envious of their successors and the successors of their successors.
Twenty years ago, just 23 head coaches were making $1 million or more annually topped by Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops $2.2 million yearly.
As of last season, 84 head coaches made $1 million or more annually, including 36 coaches banking $5 million annually led by now-retired Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s $11.1 million.
The head coaches of the newly expanded 16-team Southeastern Conference will deposit a collective $126.7 million in salaries this season.
But listen to each of them for a few minutes this week here at the league’s annual media touch on navigating the constantly changing climate of college athletics. And you realize they earn every bit of their mega-salaries facing new, unexpected off-the-field challenges.
Conference expansion has re-arranged traditional leagues. New rules such as coaching staffs now with no hiring limits on the number of assistants and support staff have added layers to each school’s organizational setups.
The NCAA transfer portal celebrates its sixth birthday in October, allowing athletes to be paid through name, like and image turns four years old in June.
The transfer portal rules have been changed at least twice and no coach knows if there are any sustainable, standard rules governing NIL.
It’s no coincidence the number of Division 1 football players in the portal jumped since NIL began in June 2021 from 2,914 in 2021-22 to 3,284 in 2022-23 to 3,843 in 2023-24.
Even LSU’s Brian Kelly, who’s starting his 33rd year as a college head coach, is still learning the ins and outs of the transfer portal and NIL.
“You need to use the transfer portal to top off the tank so to speak,” Kelly said here on Monday when he led off the four-day media circus. “You can add to a particular position and almost one that’s not needed but becomes a luxury.”
Yet for the most part, Kelly has spent three recruiting classes filling a huge roster deficit left by previous coach Ed Orgeron. The gaps have mostly been in the defensive backfield where Kelly signed mostly Power 5 conference castaways to fill LSU’s needs.
It showed up big for the Tigers last season, especially when transfer cornerbacks Duce Staley (Syracuse) and Denver Harris (Texas A&M) were a waste of scholarships and JK Johnson (Ohio State) was hurt in the preseason.
“If you’re in the transfer portal for need-based, you haven’t done something right in the natural recruiting season,” Kelly said. “Last year, it was need-based and that’s never a good situation when it comes to the development of your football program. If it’s strictly need-based, you’re probably in for some rough seas.”
LSU’s ship would have completely sunk in 2023 (instead of finishing 10-4) if wasn’t for Arizona State transfer quarterback Jayden Daniels’ unfathomable leap of improvement to winning the Heisman Trophy in his second and final Tigers’ season.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, supposedly college football’s “King of the Transfer Portal,” understands to proceed with caution when he’s mixing high school and transfer portal signees.
“It’s critical to have a really good balance,” Kiffin said. “With the evolving college football landscape of recruiting and portal changes and windows and now multiple transfers, you can’t be stuck and say we’re not going to take many transfers or this many percent of high school.
“We’re going to try to sign the best players, but we’re also going to really look at who they are. Especially in the portal, you’ve got to be really careful and do a good job of evaluating who they are, why they left where they left, and what do they want to do so that when you do hit some tough times they’re the right type of players that are there to help themselves but to help the team also.”
Georgia’s two-time national championship head coach Kirby Smart said he hopes recruits don’t make their scholarship signing decision solely based on how much NIL money he’ll earn.
“I’m happy that these kids get an opportunity to improve their situation or make money and give back to their families or in some cases their communities,” Smart said. “If it’s better for that young man because of a financial difference between us and another school, I respect that decision and opinion they have to make.
“But I don’t get to the finish line of official visits where that’s the primary objective. If it is, we’re probably not getting to that point. We’re probably not going to be in the conversation.
“As you go recruit a kid, staying power is important now. I don’t think there is a huge difference in the players we recruit. It’s a difference when they stay in your program. Retention is really critical.”
Ole Miss starting quarterback Jaxson Dart, who transferred from Southern Cal in 2022, feels like transfer portal recruiting is easier than high school recruiting.
“They (transfer portal recruits) want to understand the more business side of things and also understand what their role going to be and how they will be used,” Dart said. “There’s not as many things that come along with high school recruits.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com