Man this just feels like a symbolic example of what this sport has really come to. We’ve know the nature of the sport has really transitioned as the cash started to flow in, but at first it was only evident at microscopic levels.
No more regional emphasis on conference programs and abandoning historic rivalries. I suppose this mostly just hurt the fans and their ability to travel.
Then players started skipping bowls (which I’m sure most can understand for the viability of the individuals’ career paths), next we introduced NIL (which, again, I’m sure most agree was the right move) way too late in the game, and all of that combined with realignment led the top dogs to try and consolidate their cash cows to the same field and leave the rest out to pasture. Here we’re starting to see athletic departments and programs impacted.
Now we have coaches leaving before we’ve even see the conference championship games played?! And for what, absurd amounts of money. The same people who champion raising athletes from students to men, and they can’t even give their players the decency of 15 minutes or a more formal departure. Imagine the teammates left behind while several enter the transfer portals, while prospects decommit just a week or two before signing.
I know this is very doom and gloom view but college football isn’t even a shell of what it was 15 years ago. For better or for worse. Now fans and schools just have to cling on and hope their administration and programs can continue to tread through the next wave of ****.
/rant