Is College Football Broken?

[Cavalot]

Lots of discussion as of late about the state of college football. Not necessarily from a fans perspective, (although I agree), but from coaches and AD's throughout the country. What say you?

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

I do hate it right now. I get that things are driven by money, but it really sucks. I just hate the movement of players.

 

[That SOB Van Owen]

There’s a growing consensus—even among coaches, ADs, and conference officials—that college football isn’t functioning the way it was designed to anymore. “Broken” might be too strong for some, but the system is clearly under massive structural stress. Here’s the clearest way to frame what’s going on:

---

✅​

1. The Player Market Is Totally Unregulated​

NIL was intended to let athletes profit from their name, image, and likeness.

In practice, it became:

→ A de facto free-agent salary system with no contract structure​

Players can:

• leave after one year,
• take NIL offers elsewhere,
• negotiate like pros…
  …but without multi-year binding contracts, salary caps, or transparency.

Coaches say:

• “I’m re-recruiting my own roster every day.”
• “Tampering is everywhere.”
• “You can’t build a developmental program anymore.”

This is the largest complaint nationwide.

---

2. Unlimited Transfers → No Stability​

We now essentially have:

→ One-time transfer rule + waivers + portal windows = near-constant churn​

Roster management is chaos:

• Losing 20–40 players a year is normal.
• Teams rebuild like NFL free agency, not college development.
• Even star players portal-hop for better NIL.

Many ADs and coaches argue for:

• Longer transfer windows
• One transfer without penalty, second requires sitting
• Multi-year NIL contracts tied to education

---

3. Realignment Blew Up Regional Identity​

Oregon/Rutgers in the same conference?
UCLA trips to Rutgers mid-season?
Oklahoma vs. SEC East every year?

→ Conferences no longer make geographic, cultural, or academic sense.​

Most realignment was driven by:

• TV networks
• Playoff positioning
• Money to stabilize athletic departments

Fans, players, and coaches are stuck dealing with the schedule consequences.

---

4. The Gap Between “Haves” and “Have-Nots” Is Massive​

The arms race is widening fast:

• SEC and Big Ten are pulling away financially.
• Everyone else is trying to keep up through NIL collectives.
• Mid-majors essentially serve as “feeder systems” for P4 programs.

Even Power Five coaches say the sport is becoming:

→ Two or three super-leagues with everyone else hanging on.​

---

5. The Calendar Is Unsustainable​

Coaches complain the sport is now:

• Year-round recruiting
• Portal windows overlapping with bowl prep
• Donors needing constant engagement for NIL money
• Staff burnout at an all-time high

They argue the job is now 70% roster management, 30% coaching.

---

🔥​

From a fan perspective:​

It’s still entertaining and the on-field product is often great.

From an internal perspective (coaches/ADs):​

Most will tell you the system is structurally broken but fixable.
They say it’s unsustainable because:

• Players function like professionals
• But the system governing them is amateur-era scaffolding
• And schools don't yet have a framework like pro teams

Which leads to the most common refrain:

“We need a collective bargaining structure.”​

Many in the industry believe the future will be:

• A players’ union or representative body
• Standardized NIL contracts
• Revenue sharing
• True roster rules (transfer limits, tampering enforcement)

---

⭐​

The sport isn’t dying.
But it is absolutely in the middle of its biggest structural identity crisis ever.
Coaches and ADs aren’t imagining problems—there are real governance failures.

The next 2–5 years will determine whether the sport evolves into:

• A semi-pro, stable system (most likely)
  or
• A chaotic open market with constant turnover (status quo)

---

If you want, I can break down:

• What fixes are being proposed
• What fans actually want vs. what coaches want
• Which schools are best/worst positioned in the new system
• Or how all this affects Nebraska specifically

Just tell me which direction you want to go.

 

[Cavalot]

There’s a growing consensus—even among coaches, ADs, and conference officials—that college football isn’t functioning the way it was designed to anymore. “Broken” might be too strong for some, but the system is clearly under massive structural stress. Here’s the clearest way to frame what’s going on:

---

✅​

1. The Player Market Is Totally Unregulated​

NIL was intended to let athletes profit from their name, image, and likeness.

In practice, it became:

→ A de facto free-agent salary system with no contract structure​

Players can:

• leave after one year,
• take NIL offers elsewhere,
• negotiate like pros…
  …but without multi-year binding contracts, salary caps, or transparency.

Coaches say:

• “I’m re-recruiting my own roster every day.”
• “Tampering is everywhere.”
• “You can’t build a developmental program anymore.”

This is the largest complaint nationwide.

---

2. Unlimited Transfers → No Stability​

We now essentially have:

→ One-time transfer rule + waivers + portal windows = near-constant churn​

Roster management is chaos:

• Losing 20–40 players a year is normal.
• Teams rebuild like NFL free agency, not college development.
• Even star players portal-hop for better NIL.

Many ADs and coaches argue for:

• Longer transfer windows
• One transfer without penalty, second requires sitting
• Multi-year NIL contracts tied to education

---

3. Realignment Blew Up Regional Identity​

Oregon/Rutgers in the same conference?
UCLA trips to Rutgers mid-season?
Oklahoma vs. SEC East every year?

→ Conferences no longer make geographic, cultural, or academic sense.​

Most realignment was driven by:

• TV networks
• Playoff positioning
• Money to stabilize athletic departments

Fans, players, and coaches are stuck dealing with the schedule consequences.

---

4. The Gap Between “Haves” and “Have-Nots” Is Massive​

The arms race is widening fast:

• SEC and Big Ten are pulling away financially.
• Everyone else is trying to keep up through NIL collectives.
• Mid-majors essentially serve as “feeder systems” for P4 programs.

Even Power Five coaches say the sport is becoming:

→ Two or three super-leagues with everyone else hanging on.​

---

5. The Calendar Is Unsustainable​

Coaches complain the sport is now:

• Year-round recruiting
• Portal windows overlapping with bowl prep
• Donors needing constant engagement for NIL money
• Staff burnout at an all-time high

They argue the job is now 70% roster management, 30% coaching.

---

🔥​

From a fan perspective:​

It’s still entertaining and the on-field product is often great.

From an internal perspective (coaches/ADs):​

Most will tell you the system is structurally broken but fixable.
They say it’s unsustainable because:

• Players function like professionals
• But the system governing them is amateur-era scaffolding
• And schools don't yet have a framework like pro teams

Which leads to the most common refrain:

“We need a collective bargaining structure.”​

Many in the industry believe the future will be:

• A players’ union or representative body
• Standardized NIL contracts
• Revenue sharing
• True roster rules (transfer limits, tampering enforcement)

---

⭐​

The sport isn’t dying.
But it is absolutely in the middle of its biggest structural identity crisis ever.
Coaches and ADs aren’t imagining problems—there are real governance failures.

The next 2–5 years will determine whether the sport evolves into:

• A semi-pro, stable system (most likely)
  or
• A chaotic open market with constant turnover (status quo)

---

If you want, I can break down:

• What fixes are being proposed
• What fans actually want vs. what coaches want
• Which schools are best/worst positioned in the new system
• Or how all this affects Nebraska specifically

Just tell me which direction you want to go.

 

[rsmacke]

While Nebraska sucks, yes
When Nebraskas good, No

 

[Alcaus]

Coaches leaving their schools mid playoff seems like a pretty retarded blindspot.

Adjusting that means readjusting the portal window which would be another feather in the cap of the NCAA… one of the most shortsighted bureaucracies in America.

 

[doublewing]

I'd call it comically absurd. The positive advancements have been undone by the stupidity.

2 positives - expanded playoff and players getting compensated.

Negatives - transfer portal with little guardrails, conference realignment, the ESPNization of the sport, the haves vs have nots and no continuity within rosters. On that last point, I always laugh when people look ahead a few years to say "we'll be stacked in 20xx." Most those players will be gone.

I still love watching CFB but have tuned out of recruiting, the transfer portal, and most off-season news. I just want an executive summary of things so I don't have to deal with the noise. I used to be 80% CFB to 20% NFL fan but it's coming to the point where it's almost flipped.

 

[Tsakoi]

American college football is slowly morphing into European soccer.

The sooner everyone realizes it the sooner things will start making more sense.

You won't like the sense it makes but at least you'll understand.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

American college football is slowly morphing into European soccer.

The sooner everyone realizes it the sooner things will start making more sense.

You won't like the sense it makes but at least you'll understand.

I was just going to say the closest analog is European soccer but even they are protected by contracts that can't be unilaterally terminated. Regular movements happen all the time but clubs are at least compensated for losing players

 

[BeerConsumer67]

I'd call it comically absurd. The positive advancements have been undone by the stupidity.

2 positives - expanded playoff and players getting compensated.

Negatives - transfer portal with little guardrails, conference realignment, the ESPNization of the sport, the haves vs have nots and no continuity within rosters. On that last point, I always laugh when people look ahead a few years to say "we'll be stacked in 20xx." Most those players will be gone.

I still love watching CFB but have tuned out of recruiting, the transfer portal, and most off-season news. I just want an executive summary of things so I don't have to deal with the noise. I used to be 80% CFB to 20% NFL fan but it's coming to the point where it's almost flipped.

Expanded playoff a positive right now, but opened up a slippery slope. It is going to expand even more and make the regular season, the best part of college football and what differentiates it from the NFL irrelevant.

 

[Tsakoi]

I was just going to say the closest analog is European soccer but even they are protected by contracts that can't be unilaterally terminated. Regular movements happen all the time but clubs are at least compensated for losing players

The analogy I was making was more about how the power gets consolidated at the top in a few regions and is never relinquished.

Also,

Money buys championships. You will never have another Manchester United or Barcelona academy heavy team win anything notable like we've seen in in the past.

Youth development is for small clubs. Big clubs now spend 100s of millions each transfer window on players.


There are about 5-6 other analogies I could make but this would turn into a book.

 

[Cavalot]

I was just going to say the closest analog is European soccer but even they are protected by contracts that can't be unilaterally terminated. Regular movements happen all the time but clubs are at least compensated for losing players

Interesting I didn't know that. Im not a soccer fan at all. Is this a college soccer thing or are we talking professional only?

 

[redzoner]

Coaches leaving their schools mid playoff seems like a pretty retarded blindspot.

Adjusting that means readjusting the portal window which would be another feather in the cap of the NCAA… one of the most shortsighted bureaucracies in America.

Having all of this tied to an academic calendar forces some weird timing.

It would be so much better if the championship game was on New Years Day so the portal could start right after that to allow guys to enroll in time for spring semester.

But even with that the NCAA sucks.

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

We're in a retarded transition phase between a pretty fun college football model & a new semi-pro development league model that currently has most of the worst of both worlds.

 

[SoCal_Corn]

While Nebraska sucks, yes
When Nebraskas good, No

I voted YES.

But ^^^THIS^^^ is also true

 

[Alcaus]

Having all of this tied to an academic calendar forces some weird timing.

It would be so much better if the championship game was on New Years Day so the portal could start right after that to allow guys to enroll in time for spring semester.

But even with that the NCAA sucks.

I kind of like the playoff teams having to commit extra resources to processing their rosters mid-season.

It’s a weird spot but kind of gives everyone else an advantage. It’s an unintended advantage in the portal.

 

[redzoner]

I kind of like the playoff teams having to commit extra resources to processing their rosters mid-season.

It’s a weird spot but kind of gives everyone else an advantage. It’s an unintended advantage in the portal.

I can live with this but I do think they should move the HS signing day back to February.

 

[EwokRhuler]

Yes it's broken but Frost is just using that for cover

 

[Mr.Bojangles]

While Nebraska sucks, yes
When Nebraskas good, No

It's been broken for a long time then.😒

 

[Juro]

It ain't broken; people just hate change.

And its changing quickly because the conferences and NCAA didn't do anything for years, so when the floodgate opened up, it opened up quickly.