Grambling's Mickey Jospeh becomes latest coach to argue for pro model in college football

Grambling's Mickey Joseph is the latest coach to argue for a fully professionalized version of college football, even if he didn't explicitly state in those words or even realize it himself.

To start, Joseph was talking about -- what else? -- the transfer portal and its impact on his FCS program. Joseph, like his peers at the FCS level, has reached the acceptance stage -- he knows every player on his roster is one big year away from FBS. 

"If they have a big year and the Group of 5 or Power (4) approach them and they have the finances to pull them out of there and I can't match, then you know what? They're going to go. That's part of it. Coaches have been doing it for years. We shouldn't get mad as coaches when these kids make decisions to take care of their family because, like I said and I'm going to say it again, coaches have been doing it for years," he said.

Joseph then pivoted to a policy proposal.  

"But I also think there needs to be a buyout. If they move up to go to the Group of 5 or Power (4), I should get compensation for that. NCAA, are you listening to me? I need a buyout."

Of course, such a system already exists -- in professional sports. The NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball each provide compensatory draft picks to teams that lose free agents. British soccer has employed transfer fees for more than a century: in 1893, Aston Villa paid a then-record 100 pounds to purchase Willie Groves from West Bromwich Albion; in 2023, Chelsea paid 106.8 million pounds to buy Enzo Fernandez from the Portuguese club Benfica. 

The common denominator among those leagues is that they are, obviously, professional sports. The NCAA is moving from a system that was professional for everyone but the players to one that is, let's say, three-fourths professional. Assuming the House settlement is approved as expected next week, this summer colleges can begin paying (sorry, "sharing revenue") with athletes directly. Still, though, the NCAA argues that still does not make them employees. With employment comes collective bargaining, which brings certain protections (both to the employee and the employer) that make it more difficult for each side to break their respective agreements and compensates the injured party when those pacts are broken. I.e., buyouts.

So, Joseph is absolutely correct when he argues Grambling should be compensated for the time and expense it puts into developing players for (Insert FBS School Here). But the people he needs to lobby don't work at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, they work at Capitol Hill.