Photo Credit: Jacqueline Cordova/Cyclone Fanatic.
If you thought Iowa State football roster goings and comings were crazy the last two weeks, well…
You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
When the transfer portal opens Jan. 2, that’s when it’s really going to get crazy, and that’s not just at Iowa State, but everywhere.
College football’s talent market has never been meatier, with thousands looking for better roster fits, better programs, ongoing relationships with a coach that recruited them and, ahem, more money, and not necessarily in that order.
At Iowa State, new coach Jimmy Rogers was immediately greeted with more transfers than other schools experience during coaching transitions. There are holes throughout the roster, starting at quarterback, where Connor Moberly, a redshirt freshman from Southeast Polk, is the only holdover from the previous coaching staff.
Don’t be surprised if at least two transfer quarterbacks join the roster, and one of them could be Jaylen Raynor, formerly of Arkansas State. New player acquisition is largely about relationships, and in this instance, the Cyclones’ new QB coach is said to be former Arkansas State offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Keith Heckendorf.
That’s just one position’s example of what could happen. Only three starters in the final game against Oklahoma State are likely returning. All positions need players during the 15 transfer days that very well could define Iowa State football for at least next season.
That seems an appropriate setup for delving into who to blame for what will be the most massive roster turnover Iowa State football has seen.
Contrary to what was a knee-jerk narrative, Iowa State football players’ rush to the transfer portal isn’t totally Matt Campbell’s fault. Sure, his sudden departure to Penn State got the players’ outta-here ball rolling. Had he stayed, you can bet most stars would have hung around, too.
And when five seasons at Iowa State, with multiple opportunities to go elsewhere, became eight, nine and 10 seasons, fans logically wondered: Could this be another long-term marriage that Kirk Ferentz enjoys at Iowa and that Bill Snyder enjoyed at Kansas State?
When the Penn State job opened, many people read too much into Campbell’s past Cyclones loyalty, conveniently neglecting that, to him, coaching in Happy Valley would be like returning to his eastern Ohio roots.
You cannot blame him for accepting his dream college destination job. Again, don’t fault just him for the rash of players electing to leave.
Blame a new college football business model that’s been out of whack since players were freely allowed to come and go after each season. Blame NIL’s unplanned and unintended consequences, like athletes going to the highest bidder.
As of this writing, 20-something past Iowa State starters officially plan to be part of college football’s open season. Some want more playing time. Some are running toward more money. Some discovered they’re not good enough to compete at the Power Four level. Some want to follow Campbell and the staff he took with him.
Some will be left standing, with offers only from programs inferior to the one they left.
It’s Iowa State’s first football coach transition since NIL became a thing in July 2021. The anticipated fallout that accompanied it has been head-spinning, to say the least.
So who do you blame?
It’s the fault of a system that actually encourages annual player movement, with no regard for fans and boosters who purchase tickets to attend games and who pay handsomely to buy players for the schools they support. Doing all this in moderation is great. But today’s all-out, and mostly unregulated, richer-gets-richer world needs rules that could include:
** Not allowing players to declare for the transfer portal until May, after spring semesters, which still allows time to participate in sophisticated summer workouts that are becoming more of the rage than spring ball.
** Multi-season player contracts that include buyout clauses, similar to what coaches pay when moving from one school to another. Force either a player or their new football team to be financially responsible.
** Defining who specifically determines how much money athletes receive. Is it the coach, the program’s general manager, the athletics director, statistics or the entity paying the money?
Will that change anything?
Not as long as the NCAA continues to do nothing. But anything is worth a try before college football eats itself and turns into something none of us want it to become.
***
Like an entire depth chart entering the transfer portal.
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at [email protected] or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)
