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SPORTSSPORTS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 27, 2024 

HUDDLE UP

With HARVEY HYDE


CONSEQUENCES -- RETIREMENTS

(Or, should this be titled: “I don't want to do this anymore. It’s time!) 

College football has been changing so much and so fast now, that it 
is altering the tradition of the long-lived school/coach connections 
we have so loved in the past. Bear Bryant, Bo Schembechler, Ara 
Parseghian, John McKay—Nick Saban 

Coaching has become much more complicated than it used to be. 
The slogans used to be: “Win and graduate student athletes.” “No 
individual is more important than the program.” “All students are entitled to the same advantages 
and rewards.” Those were hard enough. The tee shirts I created one year for my team was: [There is 
no “I” in TEAM!] Those were the ideas we were supposed to live by. 

Now, those ideas are reversed. Now, the extra benefits are standard. Let’s look at the “portal” and 
the NIL. “I’ll outbid you for your player.” (at any position) Everybody wants to be special. The Super 
rich schools steal from the rich. The Rich steal from the Mid group. The mid group steals from 
the smaller or traditional program. Everyone is looking for a better deal. Players, parents, coaches, 
schools, alumni? (Conference, League, University.)

You really can’t blame a student athlete who has a full scholarship and a few extra bucks who is offered 
an additional $250,000 to transfer to another school with those dollars where he will get to play on a 
bigger stage. The idea is, get to the “big time” through the portal and with an NIL. Thinking (or being 
told) they will be more noticed at a bigger school, a more known conference. If you really look at the 
NFL rosters, and check the schools where some of those players are from, you will realize that if you 
are good enough, those teams will find you. The “portal” and NIL are just more complications toward 
that goal. With players transferring in and out and on and off of a team, coaches now often have no 
firm idea what their team will be. 

You ask the question, “Is it all worth it?” Ask Nick Saban, who doesn’t have to prove anything to 
anybody. He has coached and taught many players and coaches into greatness. Ask, is it not fun any 
more? Is it time to say goodbye to the game as a coach? I think he just got tired of being asked, “Is 
this your last year?” “How many more years?” asked by everyone: media, parents, players, University 
of Alabama, other coaches. With the portal, Saban is not faced with the dilemma of other coaches, 
because kids are usually transferring toward Alabama, not leaving it. But for other coaches, each 
season/ each team has the possibility of being a different team with different guys at positions. Pretty 
tough for planning.

Coaching change anywhere is a big deal. Alabama had to be getting ready for Saban’s departure. They 
had to be ready for the day when coach said, enough is enough. Two days or so after his retirement, 
a new coach was named. They were ready for the moment. Didn’t have to get a search committee. 
Alabama knew what their choices were. “We must get the best and get it quick!” And even at power-
house Alabama, with a new coach, new staff, new everything, Confusion. Who is in and who is out. 
Coaches, secretaries, trainers, conditioning, academics, medical staff, equipment, office furniture. 
Everyone has a new boss in the football department! Will I stay or will I go?

At Washington, their people are saying the same thing. Am I in or out. Will coach Kalen DeBoer 
take me with him to Alabama or will coach Jedd Fisch keep me on at Washington? Who knows. How 
many families are faced with these changes? We have coaching changes in lots of sports. Every year. 
But the changes in the college game, the “portal” the NIL, have made it a difficult situation for most in 
college football. With coaching changes at just these two schools, there are over 20 players from each 
school who’ve entered that portal, waiting to see what happens. 

An athletic scholarship used to mean so much to family and athletes. “ A full ride!” Today, for some, 
it’s not enough, I think it will take time to get in and straighten this out. Just like the PAC 12 demise, 
who’s to blame? Same people. 

Follow me at coachhyde and Harveyhyde.com 


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