• The KillerFrogs

College Football is Broken…Probably Forever

froglash88

Full Member
I will still support my beloved frogs, but this free agency is absolutely awful. These kids needed these 4 or 5 years to finish developing into adults. Some still will, but many more won’t with this disastrous NIL/Portal combo. How will many of them ever understand what discipline is? What an education is? What long term bonding with teammates is? Etc.

It is going to get harder and harder to know the players on our roster because they will be switching teams more than the pros do.

Please wake me up from this nightmare.
 

westoverhillbilly

Active Member
I wish that some authority could at least make these kids put the NIL money into a trust account after allowing a nominal sum for spending money and maybe helping mom and younger siblings back home.. I understand that these kids at 18 are legal adults and free to be stupid or smart with their earnings, but I wish some program like ours would consider making this a condition for signing a LOI or transfering in- I think this could impress upon recruits and transfers and their familes that we really have their backs.

I see some awful issues in the near future including IRS issues- evasion, tax fraud (due to ignorance) and massive penalties for these poor kids. Again, these young adults are free to be diligent or totally irresponsible when complying with income taxes. Perhaps as bad or worse, I spent 30+ years as an auctioneer/liquidator and I've seen the utter devastation to individuals that occurs when a high income ends and is not replacable while living the high life- which typically results in bankruptcy and other horrible lawsuits and actions from creditors, vendors and vultures.
 

Paint It Purple

Active Member
I wish that some authority could at least make these kids put the NIL money into a trust account after allowing a nominal sum for spending money and maybe helping mom and younger siblings back home.. I understand that these kids at 18 are legal adults and free to be stupid or smart with their earnings, but I wish some program like ours would consider making this a condition for signing a LOI or transfering in- I think this could impress upon recruits and transfers and their familes that we really have their backs.

I see some awful issues in the near future including IRS issues- evasion, tax fraud (due to ignorance) and massive penalties for these poor kids. Again, these young adults are free to be diligent or totally irresponsible when complying with income taxes. Perhaps as bad or worse, I spent 30+ years as an auctioneer/liquidator and I've seen the utter devastation to individuals that occurs when a high income ends and is not replacable while living the high life- which typically results in bankruptcy and other horrible lawsuits and actions from creditors, vendors and vultures.
Ever cross paths with an auctioneer by the name Ernie Croucher?
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
I will still support my beloved frogs, but this free agency is absolutely awful. These kids needed these 4 or 5 years to finish developing into adults. Some still will, but many more won’t with this disastrous NIL/Portal combo. How will many of them ever understand what discipline is? What an education is? What long term bonding with teammates is? Etc.

It is going to get harder and harder to know the players on our roster because they will be switching teams more than the pros do.

Please wake me up from this nightmare.
It's not hip, or cool to be a responsible adult. As long as aberrant, narcissistic, nihilistic behavior is celebrated, you'll continue to get more of it.
 

Purple Hearted

Active Member
Agreed. I’m a longtime HS coach and we’re starting to see the NIL-portal effect on our kids. They talk about it, are pretty aware of the who, what, how much and where.

I coached my first year of HS football in ‘94 and the gradual change in attitudes and behaviors since then is difficult to navigate at times. Especially for the older-old school styled coaches like me (GP too). And now we’re in the infancy of open market, money earning players, so we’re already seeing it affecting kids behaviors.
We (college football wise and society in general) have strayed so far from the foundational corps of self discipline, sacrifice for something greater than self, managing and overcoming adversity, etc that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to teach and learn these values in today’s world. I’ve always felt, besides the military, that football is the best arena to teach these things.
However, I’m beginning to feel like a hypocrite for pushing-teaching these values to young men when the governing body of the NCAA gave up on them.
I’ve had athletes note and comment on the hypocrisy of college sports. TEAM/me, your word is your bond, committing and giving all to something and all of the rest are in danger of no longer being lessons that the game teaches.
It truly is the end of the college football that I fell in love with by going with my Dad to every TCU home game from 5 years old to my college days. Portal-NIL has greatly lessened my fervent passion for TCU football and college football as a whole. It greatly saddens me but the closer it moves toward a professional minor league for the NFL, the less I care. Something I thought would never happen as recently as 3 years ago.

Ok, off soapbox. Merry Christmas to all here. Hope your holiday is a special one!
 

westoverhillbilly

Active Member
Ever cross paths with an auctioneer by the name Ernie Croucher?
Yes but not well as he and I are in different areas of specialization- I did real estate auctions and his specialty is/was personal property auctions as I recall.. I believe he's near Houston and I'm in Fort Worth.. I have a picture that we're both in from 1996..
 

Relic

Active Member
I read this superb book by Jim Dent many years ago, about Bear Bryant's coaching experience at A&M in the 50s. When compared to today's youths, it is staggering how different it all was in those days.
51vYAPEFz+L._SX335_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 

Paint It Purple

Active Member
Yes but not well as he and I are in different areas of specialization- I did real estate auctions and his specialty is/was personal property auctions as I recall.. I believe he's near Houston and I'm in Fort Worth.. I have a picture that we're both in from 1996..
Well, Hillbilly I bet that's a fine picture. One worth keeping. I'll bet Ernie had on a fine silverbelly Stetson and a big belt buckle. Hate to tell you, but 'ol Ernie died about five years back. Good man. Full of crap, but a good guy. We enjoyed many a whiskeys and him his cigar.
 

OICU812

Active Member
I will still support my beloved frogs, but this free agency is absolutely awful. These kids needed these 4 or 5 years to finish developing into adults. Some still will, but many more won’t with this disastrous NIL/Portal combo. How will many of them ever understand what discipline is? What an education is? What long term bonding with teammates is? Etc.

It is going to get harder and harder to know the players on our roster because they will be switching teams more than the pros do.

Please wake me up from this nightmare.
Money corrupts. Doesn’t matter if it’s sports, politics, the environment, or any other thing you care to name.
Look at the core values you learned as a child- care for others, take care of the earth, be faithful to the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, etc., you name it. When you find others, or yourself, running afoul of what you know deep down to be inherently good and right. . . You’ll always find money as the common denominator.
The trouble with the simplistic view on sports is, CFB hasn’t been pure for at least 50 years, if it ever was.
The upheaval we are seeing now with NIL is no more or less than the natural byproduct of all those Keith Jackson romantic moments that I grew up on, which were making him and ABC rich but in the moment nobody else. Then the coaches realized they could get rich because the product couldn’t happen without them. . . Now finally, the players have figured out the same thing.
No idea where it goes from here, but a strong suspicion that the end result is me, and my offspring, spending a lot more fall Saturdays in the deer blind, as long as that doesn’t require a sponsorship.
 

Double V

Active Member
I wish that some authority could at least make these kids put the NIL money into a trust account after allowing a nominal sum for spending money and maybe helping mom and younger siblings back home.. I understand that these kids at 18 are legal adults and free to be stupid or smart with their earnings, but I wish some program like ours would consider making this a condition for signing a LOI or transfering in- I think this could impress upon recruits and transfers and their familes that we really have their backs.

I see some awful issues in the near future including IRS issues- evasion, tax fraud (due to ignorance) and massive penalties for these poor kids. Again, these young adults are free to be diligent or totally irresponsible when complying with income taxes. Perhaps as bad or worse, I spent 30+ years as an auctioneer/liquidator and I've seen the utter devastation to individuals that occurs when a high income ends and is not replacable while living the high life- which typically results in bankruptcy and other horrible lawsuits and actions from creditors, vendors and vultures.
Screw it. They're adults. Some will learn the hard way, some will benefit greatly, some will crash and burn.
 

TCUdirtbag

Active Member
How will many of them ever understand what discipline is? What an education is? What long term bonding with teammates is? Etc.

I don’t necessarily disagree with you overarching point. But this is hyperbolic. How do the millions of other non-D1-football-playing-humans learn about discipline, education, and true friendship/teamwork? D1 football is one way to learn these things, but it’s anything but the only way.

Honestly we all stood by for a few decades while being a college football player went from being an extracurricular activity to being far more than a full time job. It’s all consuming. We fans pounded the keys on message boards, subscribed to pay sites, plunged money into our chosen athletics department that marginally expanded scholarship benefits while paying coaches $1 M, then $2 M, then $4 M, then $5 M, then $6 M, and now as much as $10 M per year. Everyone except the players have been getting rich and chasing the next higher paying gig, year after year, for 20+ years. What’s happening now shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s just the natural progression of what’s been happening. IMO, it sucks. But there’s been no going back for a long time now.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
Agreed. I’m a longtime HS coach and we’re starting to see the NIL-portal effect on our kids. They talk about it, are pretty aware of the who, what, how much and where.

I coached my first year of HS football in ‘94 and the gradual change in attitudes and behaviors since then is difficult to navigate at times. Especially for the older-old school styled coaches like me (GP too). And now we’re in the infancy of open market, money earning players, so we’re already seeing it affecting kids behaviors.
We (college football wise and society in general) have strayed so far from the foundational corps of self discipline, sacrifice for something greater than self, managing and overcoming adversity, etc that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to teach and learn these values in today’s world. I’ve always felt, besides the military, that football is the best arena to teach these things.
However, I’m beginning to feel like a hypocrite for pushing-teaching these values to young men when the governing body of the NCAA gave up on them.
I’ve had athletes note and comment on the hypocrisy of college sports. TEAM/me, your word is your bond, committing and giving all to something and all of the rest are in danger of no longer being lessons that the game teaches.
It truly is the end of the college football that I fell in love with by going with my Dad to every TCU home game from 5 years old to my college days. Portal-NIL has greatly lessened my fervent passion for TCU football and college football as a whole. It greatly saddens me but the closer it moves toward a professional minor league for the NFL, the less I care. Something I thought would never happen as recently as 3 years ago.

Ok, off soapbox. Merry Christmas to all here. Hope your holiday is a special one!
Damn, I could’ve wrote this, but I’m not a coach. My feelings exactly though. This version of college football pretty much sucks.

I’ll tune in next fall but I’m expecting to be turned off and pretty underwhelmed by it all.
 

geefrogs

Active Member
Funny how there's no mention of coaches switching programs at the snap of a finger as being a problem. Leaving their players hours after a loss to take a new job elsewhere, season isn't even over.


Not exactly the best leading by example.

Coaches can do it but the players MUST BE LOYAL.

I agree the portal is a mess right now but it should be addressed soon. Hopefully.

However, that's assuming the NCAA is competent which we all know isn't true at all.

College football is evolving into semi-pro football, called it.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
I don’t necessarily disagree with you overarching point. But this is hyperbolic. How do the millions of other non-D1-football-playing-humans learn about discipline, education, and true friendship/teamwork? D1 football is one way to learn these things, but it’s anything but the only way.

Honestly we all stood by for a few decades while being a college football player went from being an extracurricular activity to being far more than a full time job. It’s all consuming. We fans pounded the keys on message boards, subscribed to pay sites, plunged money into our chosen athletics department that marginally expanded scholarship benefits while paying coaches $1 M, then $2 M, then $4 M, then $5 M, then $6 M, and now as much as $10 M per year. Everyone except the players have been getting rich and chasing the next higher paying gig, year after year, for 20+ years. What’s happening now shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s just the natural progression of what’s been happening. IMO, it sucks. But there’s been no going back for a long time now.
I think a misconception is that the money is just going to keep pouring into the sport. Maybe it will (hell, the Kardashians are billionaires) but I don't know, in my view unless something is done they are well on their way to ruining the sport. I've heard guys like Klatt and Herbstreit basically say it without saying it, that this current model simply won't work.

It'll be interesting. ESPN and others could lose their arse if viewership starts to fade if people don't take to totally unregulated minor league professional sports, which is basically what this is.
 
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