Top college football head coach calls for NIL reform as calls mount for change

Longtime Army head coach Jeff Monken is wary about the current state of the transfer portal as Name, Image and Likeness opportunities continues to entice college football players to search for what they believe to be greener pastures.

Monken enters his 12th season at the helm after leading the Black Knights to a school-record 12 wins in 2024 with the program's first finish inside the College Football Playoff Top 25 (No. 22).

Having started his college coaching career back in 1989, Monken has been a part of the major shift in college athletics in light of the transfer portal/NIL era. He doesn't think college football is in danger of losing its core, but the controversial new status quo needs guard rails to keep things sustainable.

"I think there's a lot of discouragement out there about the current state of college football, and I think there's some guard rails that need to be put in place," Monken said on "Next Up with Adam Breneman."

"This is a business, and we are in the entertainment business, and we're in the business of trying to make money for a number of reasons," he continued. "Because it helps all of us represent this institution and be the front porch for our institutions, which, to me, is is a great purpose for athletics and a great source of pride for universities. And I think it will remain that way."

Staying at a program all three or four years is becoming more of a rarity than ever, as more than 3,400 players entered the transfer portal in the 2025 cycle, according to ESPN.

While Monken supports players taking advantage of their NIL, he doesn't see an overall benefit in transferring multiple times.

"And that doesn't mean a guy's got to stay at the same school for four years," Monken said. "But to literally be able to play at one school in the fall, transfer to another school in the spring, don't like it there, go to another school in the fall, have one bad spring practice and leave again... A guy could play five years of college football and be at nine different schools, in the current state of affairs. I don't think that's healthy, because I don't think that's good for athletes."