BYU lost two football starters to the portal today

[ProudUte]

On the one hand, this brings a smile to my face, as they are our rivals in everything, and they are getting a bit of their own medicine, given that their basketball team is paid more than any other team.

However, the portal and NIL have srewed college football, possibly forever. Imagine an NFL player having the right to leave every year and renegotiate for the highest bidder, or sitting out halfway through the season because they want more. This crap has got our of hand and has taken much of the fun out of college football and basketball.

I’m sure that we will learn about some Ute football players going to the portal this week, now that spring camp is over. It will mostly be subs looking for a better opportunity to play. But, I would not be surprised to see some starters leave for a bigger payday.

Very sad!!!

[The Miami Ute]

I totally agree. It’s absolute and total BS, and the only reason it happens is because these guys are able to latch on to the label of “student.” To me, if you’re getting paid to do something in affiliation with an university, you’re not really a “student.” I mean, how many college “students” does anyone know who have gone to four universities in five years like Deivon Smith? The powers that be need to get this under control and add some guardrails. And it doesn’t have to be anything draconian or retrograde. Just make college football (and college sports in general) like any other sports labor entity in the USA, where, if you sign a contract, you have to follow through or come to an agreement with the institution that has control over the contract. If this doesn’t happen, college football will be losing quite a few viewers outside of the B1G and SEC.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Simple solution: You can’t enter the portal unless your team’s head coach quits/gets fired.

[The Miami Ute]

That would surely be challenged in court, don’t you think? What if the head coach IS the reason you want to transfer? I personally don’t see any way to fix this unless you apply to college athletes the same rules that apply to professional athletes. Can you imagine baseball, hockey, basketball, etc… minor league pro athletes with signed contracts saying words to the effect “I’m entering the portal.” Neither can I. But that’s exactly what college athletes are doing in droves twice a year.

[UteThunder]

Simple fixes:

1. Portal only opens once per year.

2. Reinstitute the rule requiring athletes to sit out a year every time they transfer, or at the very least for each transfer after their first transfer.

3. In order to be eligible at a new school, athletes must be on track to graduate within 5 years from their high school graduation date at their previous school.

[The Miami Ute]

I like your take. That would put the “student” back in the term “student-athlete”.

[2008 National Champ]

2. A coach leaving a program has a far greater effect on the program, both positive and negative, than any individual player. Rather than making kids sit out a year when you don’t have the same requirement for coaches, attach a buyout clause to the contracts everyone is expected to sign starting this fall so that you at least get something in return and attempt to discourage poaching.

Two things of note:

A: the House decision hasn’t been finalized. All of the current changes to the system are based on what the powers that be expect it to be but nothing will be implemented until it gets done. So we are in a kind of weird period where kids are using what little leverage they have until it gets curtailed.

B. this is more to @TheMiamiUte than you but pro athletes hold out for more money all the time. Sure, not every pro can get away with it, but you’ll never stop people who have leverage from trying to exploit it to their benefit. And it doesn’t even take a holdout. Coaches and Players alike use the potential for better money elsewhere to renegotiate their deals whenever they can.

[The Miami Ute]

Actually, pro athletes (and specifically NFL players) do not hold out for more money “all of the time.” If you do a Google search on the subject, you’ll see that the actual number of players holding out on a year-to-year basis is minuscule compared to the player population at large. The only reason why any player holding out creates a splash is because of how rare it is to happen. The reality is that in a world of signed, ironclad contracts, the scales are decisively against any player who decides to hold out. Lastly, there’s a huge gulf between holding out and entering the portal. A pro athlete can hold out, but that doesn’t give him or her the right to go to another team without consequences. As it stands right now, there are zero consequences for individuals who have signed multi-year NIL contracts but then decide to move on to greener pastures.

[AlohaUte]

The only way it changes is if the players can collectively bargain.

[AlohaUte]

The only way it changes is if the players can collectively bargain.

[GameForAnyFuss]

What if the head coach IS the reason you want to transfer?

Then you shouldn’t have signed up to play for the guy (or gal). Decisions have consequences.

That’s why I support student athletes being able to transfer IF their HC leaves or is fired. Because the program is no longer what the kid signed up for. Can’t fault a kid for that. But if the player made a mistake, deal with it.

[DataUte]

Buyouts in NIL contracts

Restricting transferring (they come up with some reason – family issue, coach abusive, mental health) seems to be a no go with a lawsuit. Although SEC requires year off if you change SEC school – so not sure how that is enforceable. I think 1 transfer ‘free’ OR if coach leaves.

1 transfer window, not 2. Timing also is stupid (should be after bowl games, BUT I do get why they do it for enrollment in spring semester). Not sure when is best, but summer would make the most sense (the current open window while the spring semester is wrapping up is dumb).

[PhiladelphiaUte]

I would also like to include the players’ position coaches as well. But whether it’s the head coach, or the position coach, that player must be obligated to transfer to the same institution as that coach. Either that, or revert back to the old way of sitting out a year.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I would also like to include the players’ position coaches as well.

If we include position coaches, we might as well just keep it a free-for-all like it is today, because position coaches are always moving around.

Also, this would be a very football-specific rule. It seems like football teams have more layers of management than Goldman Sachs. I’m not sure how a carve-out for position coaches keeps all the other sports on equal footing.

[Central Coast Ute]

That’s the thing. The TV networks have showed they don’t care much for the teams outside of the B1G and SEC. And the those two conferences sure don’t care if those of us in conferences like the B12 get screwed by recruits leaving. They know they’ll get our best players and they don’t have to develop them. I agree, there needs to be changes and guardrails, I just don’t see it happening.

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t think NIL is going away, and I think the transfer portal, in some form, is here to stay. Professional leagues have already tried to challenge the idea of free agency in court, and we all know how that went. If the NCAA or some team ever tries to get rid of transferring, the players just have to point at the precedent set by the pro league cases and its case closed.

The only way these things go away for good is if courts can be convinced that NIL and/or the transfer portal have such huge anti-competitive effects that they need to be shut down. I suppose that is possible, but I don’t think it will work that way. You can’t say NIL is making it so only a handful of teams have a real chance at winning, because it was already that way.

The closest we will get to how things were is some regulation of NIL and transfers. IMO, there is no good reason for not allowing players to profit off of their NIL, and there is no good reason for not letting them switch teams once a year at least.

[Central Coast Ute]

I don’t think you can regulate NIL since it’s technically not pay for play, although we all know that’s BS. The only way to fix it at this point, at least in my opinion, is to adopt a pro model. Call them professionals like they, and make them sign contracts. They’ll lose a lot of the protections they get as amateur athletes and fewer kids will get a chance to play, but this is what they want.

[Uteanooga]

My expectation is that they will find a way to limit the overly frequent and spontaneous transferring but they will not be able to prevent Ohio State from paying more than Utah.

It is all new and occurred due to judicial intervention rather than an actual plan. It will improve. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for a level-playing field.

The good news is that Utah has had success without a level playing field before and I think they will again.

[The Miami Ute]

I don’t think anyone is calling for NIL to go away. What many others and I are calling for, is for the system to have some valid structure. Right now, the players are living in a Fantasyland where multi-year NIL contracts don’t mean squat. That’s how Nico Iamaleava was able to ditch Tennessee for UCLA after having one good season. Can you imagine a minor league baseball player under contract to the Marlins having a monster season in AAA and then, after the season is over, saying “I’m transferring to the Yankees.” Why can college football players who have signed multi-year NIL deals back out of them without any financial or legal repercussions? Because, at this point, there’s this romantic ideal that they’re not professional athletes, and that NIL, as Central Coast Ute said, isn’t “pay for play”, even though that’s exactly what it is. I have to imagine that, somewhere down the line, some school with deep pockets is going to call BS on the whole thing and say “see you in court” to the athlete(s) involved.

[Utah#1]

Welp, college sports wasn’t as messed up until NIL was born. Now you see the greed and vultures coming outta the woodwork, especially from TDS! They were always like that, just now that money is involved I see it has consumed them where they’ve become greedy showing their true colors. Utah needs to be very careful and not get like them! Utah has always done things in a methodical way over the years with limited resources and have been very successful doing it! I credit that to the culture of the program, the coaching staff and the players that they have recruited that has made Utah a two time PAC12 conference champions, 2-4 NY6 bowl victories and top 25 team. I say give it a year or two for Utah to return to Rose Bowl level caliber. Go UTES!

[TomahawkCruise]

Totally agree.

I don’t want Utah playing this “spend obscene amounts of money to bag a blue chipper” game that BYU is suddenly embracing in basketball.

It’s a bad look, it promotes bad messages, and it’s a shady world to live in. No way I want Utah to become that kind of a place.

BYU is gonna do it and watch and see it won’t get them much farther than they already are in the college basketball hierarchy.

[AlohaUte]

Honestly, considering that’s the game as it is today, I’d have no problem with Utah playing strong in the money throwing game for players. I don’t like it, but I’m fine with it conisdering the environment. There’s no reason to suck in the name of altruism.

[BungalowUte]

I watched some highlights of BYU from last season on YouTube today. They got some lucky bounces man. I still think that defensive holding call on 4th down was BS. I think BYU comes somewhat down to Earth this season. They’ll be a good team, but won’t get the same “lucky” bounces they had last year…

[Utah#1]

they beat the JV version of Utah’s football team. Had they played the varsity team with Rising at the helm, they lose by at least three scores and having made a last minute score to lose by 21 or 17 points. last year’s defense is why they barely won by one point because they were behind and outplayed before Rose got hurt. once he got hurt and left the game, TDS came back and that was it.

[Uteanooga]

The varsity-Ute version, sadly, did not exist.

[Utegator]

100%. But we can ignore whittinghams consistent inabily to manage the QB room.

[ProudUte]

Yes, BYU got a lot of bounces during he season, which helped them have an 11-2 season. However, I noticed that they enjoyed playing together. They were having fun, and showed confidence. This is much like the Utes from 2017 to 2022.

BYU did not lose many players from last season, and they return their starting QB. If their QB stays healthy, I think they will be a good team. If they lose their QB, they will likely be toast.

Their leading WR by a long shot, Marion, went into the portal yesterday, likely looking for a nice NIL payout. However, if he doesn’t find what he wants, he may be back.

[2008 National Champ]

I think you’ve found the secret sauce: teams who are winning are happy and enjoy playing together while teams that are losing do not. 🙂

[D T]

The zoobs didn’t win last year due to Retzlaff….Go ahead & look up his stats….Very mediocre.

I’m not concerned about him returning….Besides, they lost a good chunk of their OL.

[The Miami Ute]

I totally agree with that…in fact, you could make the case that the reason that BYU lost the games they did was due to Retzlaff’s poor play. He was absolutely horrible versus Kansas and ASU.

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