Josh Heupel is handling new era of college football better than Dabo Swinney
College football has gone through a lot of changes over the last couple of years. Players can now enter the NCAA transfer portal at any time and transfer to a new program without sitting out a year. That change has added a new element to roster management and recruiting. Essentially, the recruiting never stops. Once […]
College football has gone through a lot of changes over the last couple of years.
Players can now enter the NCAA transfer portal at any time and transfer to a new program without sitting out a year. That change has added a new element to roster management and recruiting. Essentially, the recruiting never stops. Once a player signs, they still have to be "recruited" to some extent by the coaching staff.
There's also new NIL (name, image, and likeness) rules that allow players to profit from endorsements. The NCAA says that NIL deals aren't supposed to be used for recruiting purposes, but we all know that's exactly what these deals are being used for. It was happening before when it wasn't legal — now it's just out in the open.
These new changes make the job of college football coaches tougher. There's certainly more on their plate now.
But these new changes aren't going anywhere. While there may be some tweaking of the rules in the future — such as a transfer portal signing period — this is basically how college football is going to look for the foreseeable future.
Some coaches aren't handling these changes too well.
Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney went on a rant this week while discussing the new age of college football.
"It's total chaos right now," said Swinney. "Tampering galore. Kids being manipulated. Grass is greener and all that stuff as opposed to putting the work in and graduating. There's no consequences. So now you've got agents and NIL, tampering, and you have no consequences. No consequences equals no conscience.
"Education is like the last thing now," added Swinney.
Swinney's answer is to have players sit out a year if they transfer — the way it used to be.
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel also spoke this week about the changes in college football. But his tone was much different than Swinney's.
Instead of fighting against the changes, Heupel has accepted them as the new reality of college football.
"The core of how you recruit is not going to change for us here under me," said Heupel this week. "I believe in relationships. I think that matters in the short term and in the long term. The culture that you build is hugely important to me."
"It's a different era than it was twenty years ago," added Heupel. "The transfer portal is here, it's not going anywhere. Some of that's beneficial to coaches and recruits, and in some ways there's some things that probably aren't as beneficial. But it's here. I believe in building a really strong culture, one that players want to be a part of, and then with that you're going to have the right guys inside of the locker room."
Swinney sounds like a coach in a panic over the changing landscape of college football, while Heupel sounds like a coach with a plan to move forward successfully in the transfer portal/NIL era.
Which coach would you rather have for the next 5-10 years?
Sure, Swinney has a couple of national championships on his resumé, but he doesn't seem equipped to lead a college football program through the monumental changes coming to the sport.
College football is changing. What worked five years ago may not necessarily work moving forward.
Swinney sees his kingdom crumbling. And that's why he's furiously fighting these changes so hard.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel/USA TODAY NETWORK-Ken Ruinard / staff/USA TODAY NETWORK
