Look for more college coaches to look for a way out

A few years ago, the decision of Boston College coach Jeff Hafley to leave college football to become defensive coordinator of the Packers would have made no sense. Given the ongoing revolution in college football, it makes perfect sense.

NIL money changes everything. It will make some programs a lot stronger. It will make plenty of programs a lot weaker. It will make it particularly difficult for schools that can’t conjure massive piles of NIL money to thrive.

Boston College falls into that bucket. And Hafley knew it. It has become, and will continue to be, more difficult to hold a team together.

Previously, mid-level schools competed by taking lesser recruits and making them into great players. Today, those great players will be poached by someone who can pay them more.

That’s why more college head coaches will be looking to go to the NFL, as assistant coaches. It’s widely believed that UCLA coach Chip Kelly wants to return to the NFL as an offensive coordinator. Other coaches are surely having similar thoughts.

But, obviously, not those whose programs have the support to attract and retain great players.

There’s only one practical solution to the problem. If all college football players become employees and if they unionize, the NCAA and the member schools can set up an NFL-style multi-employer bargaining unit, crafting rules for acquiring players and paying them. With a union covering all schools, there can be a salary cap and collective work rules. Without that, it’s all one big antitrust violation.

That’s right. The one thing that can save college football is the very thing that college football has resisted, for decades. To be as competitive as it was when the NCAA was able to make sure the players paid nothing, the NCAA needs to have a system in place that gives the players a real seat at the table.

That’s the way…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/look-more-college-coaches-look-174219080.html

Author : ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-02-01 17:42:19

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