Superbly stated. If the current transfer portal and NIL system has communicated nothing else with searing clarity, it is the fact that, all too frequently, a player’s commitment to a given university, his program, and, arguably, even his own teammates is tissue-paper thin. As much as we enjoy watching these supremely talented athletes compete, the raison d’etre for universities IS NOT to provide a minor league for would-be professional athletes. It is to educate and, even there, all too many of them have devolved into indoctrination factories.
Whether the long-term consequences of this trajectory are deliberate, the proverbial powers-that-be are not giving due consideration to the fact that we actually CAN survive without collegiate, let alone professional sports, regardless of how much we have invested historically, emotionally and financially into our respective allegiances. It remains to be seen how much longer the current structure can or will survive, but the average American simply cannot empathize with someone who, for example, is contractually obligated to receive $765 million over 15 years, ultimately to play a child’s game.
With respect to Heupel, I would say that he is probably doing as good a job of maintaining a relative sense of program stability as can be done.
