The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - BEST BITE: Breaking down the spring transfer portal window & how to fix it

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Fox Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt breaks down the spring transfer portal opening on April 16th. He explains how this upcoming transfer portal window is different from other years. Joel analyzes how NIL has affected the transfer window, how players are utilizing this to their advantage and how coaches are reacting. Then, he explains how he would fix the spring transfer portal window. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The spring transfer portal opens on Tuesday in college football. Tuesday, April 16th, this thing kicks off and is open for 15 days. And at the end of this, April 30th, that's kind of the point of demarcation. And Brady and Coach Meyer and I were talking about it during the course of Ohio State Spring game last week. Players can enter this at any point. And as we know, there are very little, if any, parameters. on transfers, number of transfers. So let me just start with this.

Coaches around college football, and I've been talking with coaches all offseason, whether it's been texting them, calling them, traveling and visiting them. I've been to Texas, I've been to Colorado, I've been to Ohio State. I'm going to go to Michigan next week. I'm going to go to Oregon and May.

I've been to a lot of places. We've got spring meetings coming up. I've talked with everybody. And at no point during the course of the last couple of years, Have I sensed the level of panic that I'm starting to hear from coaches about this spring transfer portal period? And I think it's indicative of where we're at, and in particular with the fact that the NCAA has given notice to the schools and to the programs, that they are just not going to enforce even current on the book's rules. they're just not going to do it. Based in large part due to the fact that the rules that they tried to enforce

or against Tennessee, which we talked about a few months ago, Tennessee turned around and said, hey, what are you doing trying to penalize us? Everybody's doing it. Everybody was right, by the way, in that. Tennessee was correct. Everyone was doing it. You can't just penalize us and target us. And the NCAA was right because, yes, technically all of these things fall under

existing rules and are technically against those existing rules. So what did the NCAA do? They're like, well, we don't want any more litigation, so have at it. And they threw their hands up like they've done with everything. And they've basically said, we're not going to do anything. And at this point, this spring transfer window is going to be a free for all. If in the past, in the last year, like last year, let's just give an example, last year in the spring transfer window, it was more in line with guys that lost position battles in spring ball would maybe try to go find a new place to play. So last year at this moment, coaches were actually, I would just say like not that excited about the spring window because they thought to themselves, you know, there's just not going to be a lot of great players in there. We're not going to transform our roster, even if we have an area of need.

Maybe we'll go get somebody if it's an area of need, but it's not going to be anybody that's like super impactful. All right. Okay. So that was their thought before the spring transfer portal window last year. This year it's become something totally different. And it lies in the vein of the NCAA throwing their hands up and creating this atmosphere where it's no longer a one-time transfer where everyone can transfer, basically unlimited times, and here's what it's become. Any transfer portal opening up, any window that we have in the transfer portal,

becomes a leverage point for players. It is free agency for every single player, every single transfer portal window. So now the coaches are in a full panic, a full panic about the spring transfer window. And it's not just one. there's a lot of schools worried about a lot of players on their teams. They feel like trying to retain their own roster becomes like another bout of free agency. Because even guys that are getting NIL deals and healthy ones at their school can and are and will come up to them in the next week and say, hey, I want more money. Or I'm going to go over here because this school is offering me that.

And the maddening part about that is that that is illegal. You can't have an inducement. There can't be tampering. And yet that's running rampant right now. And because of that, every player is a free agent over the next 15 days starting on Tuesday. That's terrifying for coaches. It's totally terrifying for coaches. And you can see why.

You can absolutely see why. And so as opposed to last year, when this window wasn't a lot of fireworks and wasn't all that exciting, I feel that the next 15 days, we could have some transformative names jump into the transfer portal and change the balance of power and some conferences and maybe even in the country in terms of what we think of these teams and how we will rank them in the preseason going into the fall of 2024. That's interesting to me. That's incredibly interesting to me. I don't know who it's going to be, but I guarantee you there's a big name or two. And the reason is, is that it's a leverage point for the players. So listen, do I blame the players for using this leverage point?

No, it's a tool in their toolbox. Okay? And I've said this for a long time. I do not ever disparage someone that's trying to earn more money for their services. I just don't. You know, like people move networks. People, coaches move from school to school. And it's like, hey, like, you're going to do that.

I don't care when the PGA Tour guys jump to live golf. It's like, all right. Like, that's a decision that you have to make, okay? That's a decision that you have to make. I'm not going to disparage guys that take advantage of those opportunities. Now, I'm also not going to call guys crazy if they don't, right? I'm not going to sit there and do either of those things. I think these are very personal decisions.

Now, where does that leave us in the broader scope of where we're at in college football? Well, can we just for a moment pause and think to ourselves like how hypocritical and crazy it is to have a transfer portal open up on April 16th? Okay. In one sense, the NCAA, if we're going to pound on them, and I could just say like this industry as a whole, because the college football playoff people do this and athletic directors do this all the time. They talk about December as this holy month that they have to protect because of academic. We can't move the playoff up near the regular season. These kids have finals. What are we talking about?

Even though every other sport plays right through their postseason and travels right through their post seasons right during the finals time. So it's always been a lie, but this really lays it bare for all of us to see. Because what hasn't happened April 16th? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? We haven't concluded the semester.

And yet it doesn't matter now, does it? Does it? No. And so in both the December transfer portal window and here in the spring transfer portal window, we've got this window open before guys are even concluding those semesters. Academics have always been second fiddle, and this lays it bare for everyone to see. All right. So April 16th, that's a random spot because, what, we need to be done by April 30th.

well, guess what's not also finished by April 16th across the country? Spring football. So here we are again for the second time. We have two transfer portal windows, and in both of the windows, we open up the transfer portal while teams are still trying to practice. What are we doing? That is crazy. That is crazy.

The portal should not open up until everybody's spring conclusion. Now, if you want to put a point of demarcation, and I understand every school kind of chooses when they play spring football. So are some of these programs to blame if their spring ball bleeds over the April 16th transfer portal window opening up? Yeah, sure. You could blame those schools. But why not get on the same page? What are we? One, do we need 15 days?

No. Does it need to be open April 16th? No. We've got some teams like Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, USC, Florida State. haven't even finished spring ball yet. Colorado's spring game is two weeks away. Meanwhile, like Ohio State is finished and some other schools have finished. So now those kids know whether they've won or lost a position battle in some cases,

and so they can use the transfer portal for opportunity. Now, these other schools that have not concluded their spring practice, you're creating this incredible sense of fomo in these players, because if they're sensing that they're losing a position battle, they might be looking out there and thinking to themselves, well, I need to get into the transfer portal right now because remember, this is like a game of musical chairs. You don't want to be the one without a seat, without a spot,

without a scholarship, without a starting opportunity when the music stops playing. So what are we doing? Like, the system sucks. You've got to change it and beat somebody, be smarter than what's going on. This has got to be fixed. It's not good for the players.

They don't know what seats are opening up. They can't be fully committed to their teams because they're thinking about a transfer potentially so that they can have an opportunity to play. It sucks for the coaches because they've got to recruit every one of their players twice a year and try to sign incoming high school recruits and try to recruit guys out of the transfer portal window.

this is unsustainable and in so many cases we do it to ourselves. Okay. So let's stop complaining, Joel, and let's start getting with the program of how do we fix this? All right. Well, I think it's pretty simple. The first thing I would do is that I would not have an open transfer portal window when teams are actively playing. Whether that's in the fall transfer portal window or in the spring transfer portal window, that's a very easy fix. that's just in the structure of how we do things.

That's going to make things a lot better for players and coaches. Now let's get to a fix that is more meaningful and structural in terms of what we're actually doing with NIL and the transfer window. We can't have free agency to this point twice a year with every player. It cannot be a leverage point for every single player every single time. See, for years, for years, listen, when I played, was I taken advantage of? Yes. Have players historically been taken advantage of? Absolutely. Nobody would say that they haven't been. Okay? So the pendulum was all the way on this side. Right. And then in the blink of an eye, everyone was like, well, we got to start swinging the pendulum back.

And do we swing it back to the middle? Nope. We slammed it all the way to the other side. All right? And all I'm saying is that we have to be a dull. and slowly bring that right back to the middle. Okay? There needs to be a negotiation. There needs to be some pain on both sides, and there needs to be some gain on both sides. I know.

It's a dumb pun. When I wrote it down, I was like, am I really going to say pain and gain on both sides? And I did it. I did it just for you. All right. And I hope you like it.

What I'm talking about here is a collectively bargained agreement. That's what has to happen. We have got to get to this point and we've got to get to it quickly. All right. Now, some have argued, and I've even brought up this term about employment. But the problem with employment is that you go into about a million rabbit holes really quickly. Because remember, every single state has different employment legal issues. And so we would be in the same boat that we are now where some states have a name image and likeness law.

And it's a little bit different than other. states. And so we are trying to compete in the same sport and yet everyone's doing it 50 different ways. Well, it would be similar with employment. So I don't want employment. I want these players to essentially work as independent contractors. I want them to be able to enter into, excuse me, contract. And I want that contract to be governed by a collectively bargained agreement. This demands a players association. I think the players should be unionized. Now, some people hate that word.

And to be honest, not my favorite. But an association would allow you to collectively bargain with the players. What would this achieve? A lot of things, I want to talk about three specifically, that you could collectively bargain these issues that would make the sport much more sustainable. and it would make life better for both the players and the schools, the enterprise, if you want to call it that. All right. Let's go. Let's walk through them. What would a collectively bargain agreement achieve?

Well, let's start with the fact that I would limit transfers. All right. And the way that you can limit transfers is threefold. threefold. Number one, I would establish a revenue share. Jim Harbaugh has talked about it. A lot of coaches are starting to get on board with this, and I am in full agreement with this. I believe that the television revenue that is distributed to these schools should be shared with the players. Now, what that percentage is, I don't know. Okay. I'm not sitting at the table and negotiating the deal. but I do know that a revenue share is needed. And it's needed for two reasons. Because, well, really three, competitive balance,

not every school has the opportunity to raise the funds needed in their collective in order to pay the players out of the collective via the boosters. All right. And the other things that this would do is the players would get a new budget and every school would have that budget. and they would know what the budget is. So there would be a more, it would not be as secretive in terms of what are the funds available for every school, every coach, and every player. The other thing is that the schools would get a sustainable output of distribution.

And I think that this is an important point. See, right now, boosters, which have traditionally given to the athletic department to fund out, athletic department endeavors, including things like training table and weight room and facilities and all these different things. Well, now all of that money is being funneled just to collectives. Well, that's going to hurt these athletic departments. And they're not going to be able to provide the services to the players that they would normally provide because they're trying to take their budget and move it to the players. Well, in a lot of ways, if we just cut into the television revenue and shared that with the players, now that booster money could still go to the school.

So now it's more sustainable. You're not having to go out there and raise some unspecified number every single year. We would know what it is and you could start to allocate it to players. So that's number one. Number two, you could negotiate with the players and limit the mobility. Okay. And this is a big one. And for me, it's one that on the surface level, you would think to yourself, why would the players do this?

But I think it would also be good for them. I really do. I would try to negotiate with an association and say, rather than unlimited transfers, I would allow one transfer in your undergraduate and one transfer in your postgraduate. So if you get a degree, you can transfer a second time. But if you don't, you can only transfer once without penalty. A lot of kids are graduating within probably about three and a half years as the average, three in change right now because most of them are coming in the second semester of their senior years. Most of them are taking summer class. About three and a half, you know, just under four years. That's about the norm in college football. And in that time, getting a free transfer is plenty. Any more than that, and you're just trying to out leverage the system by becoming a free agent as many times as you possibly can. Okay. One as an undergrad, one as a postgrad. You earn your degree, bam, now you can go wherever you want. And this also achieves something else. Let's say you've waited, you're in a position battle. Let's say it's a spring football like Joe Burrow and Dwayne Haskins. You're in a battle and you want to win the battle, but you don't win the battle. Well, guess what? As a postgraduate, even if you transferred into that place, you should be allowed to go and further your opportunities. You have held up your end of the bar. by achieving your degree, so then you earn that second transfer without penalty. I think that this would do a couple of different things.

Think of it from this perspective. It would, even with two transfers, it would encourage kids and young men to mature because they would have to be more committed to their program, even though they could still have one trend. They would be more committed. Nick Saban had a great quote with us. us. When talking about his fear is that when kids are halfway committed, they will never reach their potential. What they don't even realize is that getting through hard things,

being refined by the fire, maturing, that's in their best interests. And when we allow them to essentially take their ball and go home, unlimited times, that's not allowing them to be their best. Why not allow them to be their best? By telling them that, like, listen, your decisions are going to impact you, even though you have freedom to move and you have autonomy to move once as an undergrad and once as a postgrad, now at least you're going to have and be forced to go through tough times in order to mature. On the flip side, for the enterprise, for the coach for the program, now it's not every single player that would be eligible to transfer in every single transfer window. So now you don't have to worry about your entire

roster. Let's just say for sake of argument, sake of argument. Let me give you an example in this regard. Imagine if right now, after free agency in the NFL, when Kirk Cousins signed with the Atlanta Falcons, imagine if he could just be like, hey, you know what, I'm a free agent again. What do we think? Bitter, bidders, let's go, who wants to start the bidding? No, that wouldn't happen. Of course, that wouldn't happen. So why do we allow that to? happen in college football. We should limit that. We should limit that. Just like they do through a collectively bargain agreement, through a contract, through all of these things that we have mechanisms to fix and encourage a brighter future for college football. And we need to take those and

implement those. The last thing that a collectively bargain agreement would achieve, or one thing that I would negotiate in, is that third party representation would be forced to register with the association. Just like if there is, agent that wishes to represent an NFL player. He's got to register with the NFL PA. Got to go take a test. They know who he is. They know his pregnant. They know it's out of the shadows. Okay. We desperately need that in college football because we have far too many young men and families that are being taken advantage of by third party representation that doesn't know what they're doing or they're taking advantage of. or they're taking advantage of the families and those players

by working in pay structures in perpetuity. I have seen this now several times. Now, if we have an association and we have a collectively bargain agreement, guess what we force those people to do? Be registered with the association. So if someone was shady, they wouldn't get to do business. Bring them out of the shadows. So this obviously protects the players

and the enterprise, the program and the coaches, what do they get out of this? I think we limit tampering. Why? Because we know who they are. You see, in the NFL, we can enforce tampering to a much more, more, I would say, strong degree or accurate degree, because we know all the parties involved. They're in the light. We can say, oh, let me see your phone. I'm sorry.

You represent him, right? Okay, let me see your phone. You're a registered agent with us, aren't you? Let me see your phone. Was there tampering or was there not? So if these agents are registered and if they start to tamper, like for instance, what's happening right now is that agents, not the players themselves, are out there shopping their players around the country with the players currently on rosters. that's not what this is supposed to be. That's not what this is supposed to be. Then they'll get offers and they'll take it back to their player and they'll say, hey, you know, school X is going to give you $200,000. And so now player goes to his coach and says, hey, coach, like,

I'm going to get a $200,000 offer. And the coach is like, what do you mean? From who? Well, I do. Why are we playing that game? We have tools to fix this. So we should fix this. And I think we do that with a collectively bargain agreement.

And all of those things would be better for both parties, better for both parties. So what are they again? Number one, we need to negotiate in a revenue share with the players. I think we need to limit mobility. One transfer as an undergraduate. One transfer as a postgraduate. And then we would force third party representation to register with the association so that we can bring all this shady activity into the light. We can stop tampering. We can stop these people, if you will,

from taking advantage of players and their families. So those are a couple of things right there. I get a little worked up about this stuff because, again, we are on the precipice of such an amazing era of college football with the playoff expanding, with the quality of play, with the amount of parity that we've seen come into the game in the last few years, we really are like right at the tip of the spear in terms of this era that will catapult college football, you know, into the stratosphere. And we just have to fix the structure. And it's totally fixable. Totally fixable.

We have the tools necessary to fix the structure of the sport.