Speaking in Charlotte, N.C., at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet, TCU coach Sonny Dykes, the event’s keynote speaker, outlined the issues plaguing college football, poked fun at college athletics’ conference realignments but also sounded a resounding note of gratitude.
Dykes, whose first-year Horned Frogs last season defeated Michigan in the College Football Playoff before they lost to title-winner Georgia, noted that Monday marked the onset of the latest open window for the NCAA Transfer Portal.
“Today is the first day of the Transfer Portal, and I did a bunch of work on those guys earlier in the day,” Dykes said, referencing the five finalists for the Nagurski Award, which was nabbed by sensational Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts. “I don’t think I convinced any of them to come to TCU, but I tried.”
Dykes then expounded on the “challenging time” right now in college football, the sport to which Dykes has devoted the past 28 years of his life after he played collegiate baseball at Texas Tech.
“As you know, it is a very challenging time right now in college football,” Dykes told the sold-out crowd. “Lot of things going on. It’s a very difficult time to be a college football coach. There are just so many things happening with the Transfer Portal, with Name, Image and Likeness.
“A little something called the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. As we all found out this weekend, bless those guys because they have an incredibly difficult job but there are just so many things right now that in some ways are wrong with college football.”
Dykes, who emphasized the players, relationships and chance to achieve dreams still make college football the “greatest” sport, outlined his issues with each element.
“For years and years and year, the NCAA prevented the most important part of the equation, the players, from being able to earn any money from playing,” Dykes said. “So, thankfully, a couple years ago the NCAA came to their senses and they decided to enact this rule now where players can profit off their name image and likeness. It’s a great thing.
“The players, they’re the ones that people go to see. They’re the ones that star on television. The rest of us are just kind of a sideshow. So, I’m so excited that NIL happened.”
But, as Dykes pointed out, NIL coincided with another seismic shift in college football: open transfer.
“I think (NIL legalization) is one great thing for young people and to be able to provide for their families and create opportunities for them. Another thing occurred about the same time is called the Transfer Portal.”
Dykes noted the latent hypocrisy that surrounded athletes’ ability to transfer – at least in college football – before the rule was changed.
“Again, a fantastic way for players to be able to go someplace if they’re not having a great experience somewhere else,” Dykes said. “I always felt like as a coach we could leave and take another job. We could always feel like we could enhance our career by moving. Never could understand why a young man who was 18 years old, that got recruited by a coach to a university, the coach might’ve left, the coach might’ve gotten fired, the situation may have changed. There may be an issue at home. All of those things. I never could understand why a young person couldn’t leave and try to better themselves (with an immediate-eligibility transfer).
“So, the Transfer Portal I think is a great addition to college football.
“However, when you combine the Transfer Portal and NIL, what you end up with his free agency, and I think it drives us all crazy as coaches and it’s something we’re all having to deal with on a day to day basis.”
Dykes saved his final zingers – delivered with transparent sarcasm – for the conference mash-ups that have resulted from realignment across numerous conferences and the impending dissolution of the PAC-12.
“You also throw in conference realignment. Makes perfect sense,” Dykes said, setting his tone. “You’ve got Cal and you’ve got Stanford joining the ACC. Makes perfect sense as far as I’m concerned.
“You’ve got UCLA, Oregon, Washington and USC joining the Big Ten. Rutgers and UCLA? Natural rivals.
“So, you’ve got these things that I think some ways have been challenging for college football and have all left us, at times, scratching our head a little bit, saying, ‘What in the world is going on with this game?’.
“Because of that, I think we all sometimes get a bit discouraged. I know I feel that way, with all the challenges, all the things that don’t seem to make a lot of sense.”
Nonetheless Dykes praised the sport, the players and coaches and parents and others in attendance and left with this parting note.
“So, despite all the stuff we talked about, the craziness of the CFP, the craziness of conference realignment, the craziness of the Transfer Portal, the craziness of the NIL, all of that stuff is crazy and it is difficult,” Dykes said, “but there is nothing like the game of college football and the opportunity it provides these young men and all of us are so blessed to be a part of it.”