Bob Stoops has a few thoughts about the current state of college athletics.
With the entire landscape of college football going through dramatic changes, the NIL/transfer portal era has highlighted new problems already. While it’s ultimately a good thing that players can be compensated and have freedom of movement, the idea of tampering has raised eyebrows.
The transfer portal is as active as ever, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. All over the country, the past few weeks have been full of reports detailing top players receiving six-figure NIL deals to transfer. High profile athletes have flirted with transferring or even tested the waters because of potential money elsewhere.
NIL is a good thing when used how it’s supposed to be used. This offseason, though, it seems like it’s become more of a recruiting tool than athletes benefitting from their name. Collectives for schools, namely the big ones, can quite literally pay for players after a few loopholes. The big problem is that there are simply no rules or regulations. The NCAA, college sports, the transfer portal and NIL all feel a lot like the Wild West right now.
Stoops has voiced his displeasure with the NCAA on multiple occasions, and didn’t hold back in a Tuesday segment on SportsTalk 1400. In an interview with Tyler McComas and Teddy Lehman, Stoops detailed his clear and concise thoughts about the direction of college football.
“The bottom line … be careful what you wish for,” Stoops said. “My opinion, we need a new leadership group. The NCAA and the way it’s been has really failed overall. I don’t know who goes by any rules anymore, and how they enforce it just seems so ambiguous.”
Stoops went on to detail some of the recent mishandling that the NCAA has made headlines for, including Oklahoma State’s questionable postseason ban this year.
The NCAA’s inconsistency across the board has ruffled feathers since the existence of college football, but with the explosion of the NIL, any mistakes on the horizon could be too big to erase.
“Maybe we need to have a new league of Power 5 teams that have their own league, with their own whatever it be, commissioner, or governing board,” said Stoops. “You may have to put a salary cap on everybody and every team; who knows? I don’t know. Again, I’m not living it like these other people are. But from afar, it looks like right now nobody has control of anything. I don’t know if that’s ever good. Even the NFL has some rules, restrictions, guidelines, salary caps. Right? All of that. And I don’t know right now if college football has any of that.”
Some scoff at the idea of a mega conference, or a Power 5 league as Stoops suggested, but with Oklahoma and Texas set to move to the SEC, the landscape of college football is nearing a dramatic shift.
The NCAA has a tall task in front of them with the ball already fully rolling on NIL. With the momentum it’s gained, it’s going to be nearly impossible to fully repair the damage.
Until they can lay out a set of rules, or Bob Stoops makes a few more radio appearances, the bidding war for college talent will trudge on.
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