Mike Gundy has an idea to bring sanity to the transfer portal

Mike Gundy got to talking about the portal and, well, I'll be darned if he didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I'll quote his comments in full, then we'll break them down. 

"Well, you got several issues there," Gundy said. "One, you have federal lawmakers making decision, not the NCAA, and you know as well as I do — well I don’t know if you do, I read a lot of politics, but lobbyists and things happen for a reason. And that's just the way it is. You're not going to control them. They're going to control you. And until we get contractual scholarships in high school recruiting the portal is never going to settle down. For example, young men should be able to sign a one-, two-, three- or four-year scholarship. That's their choice. Whatever they sign, that's what they're committed to. That's what we're going to now. That's the only way that we are going to have a chance to manage rosters. So, let's just say that at the end of this year I've got 19 guys whose contracts are up. They may be a senior or a freshman. So, if you're a five-star guy, like you're a heavily recruited guy, you might just sign a one-year deal and then say, ‘Well, I'm good enough to sign another one-year deal, or I can leave if I want.'

"So, until they do that, we don't really know who's in and out for that upcoming year. So, it's hard for us to balance our numbers. So, I've suggested (modifications) . I don't know if anybody's listened or cares, but high school kids ought to have an opportunity. So, you want a four-year deal? Sign a four-year deal, but you're bound to that four-year contract unless your head coach says he'll sign off and let you go. And then that puts more pressure on the head coach, but at least it gives a young man a chance to leave if he comes in and says, ‘Coach, I'm not good enough to play here. I want to go to this school.’ I sign off and let him go. Or whatever reason. But that's the only way they're gonna be able to manage numbers in my opinion. That would slow the portal down."

The Gundy Plan would make both sides of the aisle happier, would it not? 

The idea of signing student-athletes to contracts -- icky as it may seem on the surface -- works on the same principle as the idea that's percolated for a while now to eliminate national signing day, thereby allowing schools to offer, and players to sign, scholarship papers at any point in high school. 

Under the Gundy Plan, if Oklahoma State offered a 4-star quarterback a 4-year contract and he countered with a 1- or 2-year deal, Oklahoma State coaches could then proceed knowing exactly where they stood with the player. Conversely, if OSU presented a 3-star quarterback with a 2-year deal and Tulsa offered a 4-year scholarship, he could then make a more informed decision on his future.

The idea works because it binds both sides to each other. Sure, coaches are frustrated because players can leave at any point... but let's not pretend coaches don't use the portal as a trap door for underperforming players. Portal Avenue runs both ways. If a school offered a 4-year deal, it would have to carry that player on scholarship all four years, no matter if he panned out or not.

It would take some getting used to for sure, but in time I think the Gundy Plan would work. In theory.

In reality? I... I don't know.

I am not a lawyer, but I just don't know how the NCAA, the conferences, or the schools can legally ask non-employees to sign what amount to employment contracts. 

The NCAA has argued for decades that student-athletes are not employees, and continues to make that argument today, even in a post-NIL, post-Alston world. In fact, just yesterday, Florida State softball player Kaley Mudge said in a Congressional hearing on NIL that she'd be against the idea of becoming a formal employee of Florida State University.

Granted, that's the opinion of one student-athlete out of thousands, but all the data we have says the college sports industry will only classify athletes as employees at figurative gunpoint.

There's also a question of, when push comes to shove, the NCAA could (or would) actually enforce those contracts.

Last week, the NCAA sent a memo to schools notifying of its intent to crack down on undergraduate athletes transferring twice. A needed effort, to be sure. The 1-time waiver was supposed to be just that, a 1-time waiver. Yet, even still, many athletes were still transferring and playing immediately twice within their undergraduate careers.

And even within the NCAA's memo, they still provide a loophole for athletes to transfer and play twice "(f)or reasons related to the student-athlete's physical or mental health and well-being." 

We can all see where this is going: any athlete who hires a lawyer to file the appropriate documentation would be eligible to transfer a second time and play immediately. That's the same reason the 1-time waiver was approved in the first place, because athletes were working the system to get around the year-in-residence transfer rule. The NCAA recognized that, so they smartly eliminated the year-in-residence rule... but the system outlined in the memo would create the same process for 2-time transfers. 

(Necessary caveat: The NCAA should not be in the business of forcing athletes with legitimate mental/physical health issues to remain at their current school. The question is whether it's necessary to preserve his or her well-being to transfer and play immediately a second time within their undergraduate career.) 

That's a long way of saying... in the current environment, I don't see the NCAA forcing an athlete to remain at his current university under any circumstances, even if he's one year removed from signing a piece of paper that ostensibly committed him to remaining at State U. for four. 

In a world where college athletes -- or even just college football players -- in a union or players association with a collectively bargained contracts, the Gundy Plan makes loads of sense.

In the broken and dumb world of 2023, I don't see it happening, unfortunately. Even if it would make both sides happier.