College football is in a state of flux. Players have more freedom and control than ever. They can move around with ease to find a roster and playbook that is right for them thanks to the transfer portal. They can make money off of their name, image and likeness. There really has never been a time like this in the sport before.
Last week, we saw two millionaire coaches show their whole asses in a pissing contest to prove who is more out of touch with the realities of college football in 2022. It started with Alabama’s Nick Saban hurling wild accusations at Texas A&M and Jackson State as he bemoaned the state of college football in the NIL era. That was followed by A&M’s Jimbo Fisher calling a press conference in full dad rage threatening to turn this god damn car around!
Like my sports media colleagues, I was plenty entertained by it, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder how we got here. Why do we cover this sport in a way that lets these coaches play dumb without anyone calling them out? I know that doesn’t describe every media member covering college football, but there are plenty that do and fit perfectly into the lane I have just described.
I wanted to get some opinions on my opinion. I am open to hearing that there are things I do not understand. So, I reached out to three friends that cover college football on different levels in different parts of the country.
Chuck Oliver of 680 The Fan in Atlanta and the syndicated, college football-centric Chuck Oliver Show told me that he actually remembers the first time he heard a coach complain about the new realities of college football and how that made him feel.
“The tone most of us have when commenting about NIL in regards to improving a program’s recruiting class is way off,” he told me. “[Stanford Head Coach] David Shaw was the first I remember seeing comment on the record and thinking, ‘You’re too smart for that.’ He had gone to the press with ‘Before the Bama quarterback’s even taken a snap’ and how much money the kid had gotten.”
Chuck and I think a lot alike in this realm. Using NIL deals to get paid now is totally above board, right? So why would a coach waste time complaining about it? Why would he not embrace the practice and what it can do for their roster?
Oliver pointed out that framing NIL money as this evil thing other programs are doing doesn’t sound very evil to the kids that stand to make a financial gain.
“Talking about how much money recruits at another program are getting through NIL is the same as going public with, ‘The only reason those recruits signed at Michigan is because it’s an elite education and they have world-class facilities and great fans and it will likely give them an edge at playing professionally.’ NIL is just another category you’re competing in. The smart move would be to hush up about how awesome your competition is doing.”
Paul Finebaum has seen a lot of changes during the decades he has covered college football. The SEC Network and ESPN host told me that a lot of coaches want the media to amplify their complaints about the changing landscape of college football as a therapeutic device.
“In Saban’s case, it’s a combination of his age – 70 – and being an old school coach who hates losing control. That’s really what is going on here. I had a coach tell me recently, ‘if have to pay a large sum of money, I lose all control. They own me then.’ These are highly disciplined people who like to be authoritarian. They lose the leverage when players make money.”
That isn’t what Nate Kreckman has seen. He hosts the syndicated This Week in the Mountain West. The Mountain West Conference isn’t like the SEC. The SEC is what is designated a “Power 5” conference. The Mountain West is in the less powerful “Group of 5”.
The athletic departments at MWC schools aren’t as well funded. The schools themselves are usually pretty far away from where high school football talent lives, and they are all in states where there is more to do on a Saturday than live and die with college football.
Nate told me the conversations he has with coaches about NIL money tend to reflect that reality. I asked him why so many college football reporters don’t feel like they can challenge a coach that is spouting outlandish nonsense about kids getting money. He told me that he wasn’t the right guy to answer that.
“A lot of the coaches in this league, believe it or not, kind of get it. We have coaches like Andy Avalos, Marcus Arroyo, and Brent Brennan that are young and that are players’ coaches. You won’t make it at the G5 level being an out-of-touch hardass (see Addazio, Steve). Even older guys like Craig Bohl, I’ve had great conversations with him about the changing landscape. He coached Josh Allen, who was as big a G5 star as we’ve had in the last decade. These guys mostly get it. They have to make their programs desirable, and griping about players getting theirs is not a way to do it.”
So what is the path forward? It seems like any time I bring my frustrations up with someone that is covering the sport and the coaches involved every day, I hear agreement. We all kind of think the stock answer reactions are silly. Why won’t anyone say it out loud?
When Nick Saban says that Texas A&M “bought” its entire recruiting class with NIL deals, why does no one say “you know that is okay now, right coach”? Is it a level of laziness or complacency that comes with needing to create content even when we are more than 90 days away from the first kickoff of the season?
Not enough people are pointing out how dumb and strange this back and forth between Saban and Fisher is. Does that mean there will be a cycle to it? Without anyone willing to point out how irrelevant the two coaches’ complaints about one another are, do even the most respected voices in college football find a way to drag this out all summer and into October 8 when the Aggies visit Tuscaloosa?
“It’s a story now because it’s late May and there are no other college football stories,” Paul Finebaum said. “Also, it’s one of the craziest stories in recent history. This is something Nick Khan and Vince McMahon couldn’t have come up for the WWE. It won’t last though. It will be big at SEC spring meetings after Memorial Day and then Media Days in July. Then, it won’t matter until the week of the game.”
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
