The problems of college football are not unlike the issue facing Dallas City Council over what to do with City Hall<\/a>. Decades of deferred maintenance have rendered I.M. Pei\u2019s Brutalist masterpiece nearly unfixable. Maybe that was the goal all along. Makes a land grab easier.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Anyway, the NCAA might not have been able to prevent everything that\u2019s happened the last few years to its precious amateur example, but it could have kicked the can down the road long enough to put up some guardrails. Had officials offered stipends and long-term health insurance instead of fighting lawsuits in a vain attempt to hold on to the past, maybe we\u2019d at least have a framework for something workable.<\/p>\n As it is, they\u2019re asking everyone to go back to their cells once the lock\u2019s been sprung. Next thing you know, you\u2019re Kevin Bacon, flattened by a mob in \u201cAnimal House.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, the NCAA has to look like it\u2019s doing something. Which is why this week its football oversight committee announced it will recommend legislation at its D-1 cabinet meeting in April to curb illegal transfers.<\/p>\n Any coach who accepts transfers outside the official window of opportunity would be prohibited from all recruiting, on-field coaching and team meetings for six games. The program would also be fined 20% of its football budget and lose five roster spots the following season.<\/p>\n Sounds tough, right?<\/p>\n Except who\u2019s turning in whom? A few schools are no doubt worse than others, but everyone\u2019s swimming in the same water these days. Most coaches are old enough to know the lesson of the late, lamented Southwest Conference.<\/p>\n Rat out your neighbors, and they\u2019ll just rat you out next.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Kirby Smart and Mario Cristobal were only half-kidding when they swapped barbs this week at \u201cThe Steve Spurrier Awards.\u201d Normally you\u2019d think the host \u2014 who famously said FSU stood for \u201cFree Shoes University\u201d and once labeled a dormitory fire at Auburn that burned 20 books a \u201ctragedy\u201d because \u201c15 hadn\u2019t been colored yet\u201d \u2014 would steal the show. But not this week.<\/p>\n During his remarks, Smart, noting that Miami\u2019s playoff quarterback, Carson Beck, once played for his Georgia Bulldogs, said you have to be \u201ccareful\u201d around Cristobal.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes he\u2019ll take your players, if you know what I mean,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Cristobal returned playful fire when his turn came. First he pointed out what Beck accomplished as a Hurricane under \u201cgreat coaching,\u201d then he spoke directly to the parents of a Georgia defensive back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have more than one restaurant in Miami,\u201d he said, \u201cas opposed to Athens.\u201d<\/p>\n Funny.<\/p>\n Also true.<\/p>\n The lack of any clear direction from the top these days has emboldened coaches, players and administrations into taking matters into their own hands. Cincinnati recently sued Brendan Sorsby \u2013 who reportedly received $5 million to sign with Texas Tech \u2013 for $1 million, claiming that\u2019s the buyout for transferring under terms of his NIL agreement<\/a>. Not the first such case. Georgia sued a player for $390,000 in December after he transferred to Missouri. The parties eventually settled, which would no doubt be the best result in the Sorsby matter.<\/p>\n Speaking of which: Could Texas A&M<\/a> get a refund on the Trans Am that Eric Dickerson drove from College Station to SMU<\/a>?<\/p>\n Look, there\u2019s only so much you can fix in college sports at this point without a radical reorganization. Do what\u2019s easy. College coaches already are on record in support of a football calendar that ends on Jan. 1 with the transfer portal opening the next day. Do that, and coaches and players might at least wait until the season\u2019s over before quitting on their teams.<\/p>\n But the runaway spending that threatens to price out most programs? Another matter entirely. The crazy thing is, Cody Campbell, the billionaire who fueled Tech\u2019s playoff run, is also the impetus behind the \u201cSaving College Sports\u201d movement<\/a>. Maybe he\u2019s the man for the job, at that. Turning Tech into one of the \u201chaves\u201d was his first miracle.<\/p>\n Campbell\u2019s supposed to be among the crowd next week at the White House. So is Nick Saban and Mack Brown and Adam Silver and Condi Rice and Ron DeSantis, Florida\u2019s governor. Tiger and Bryson DeChambeau, too. Ought to be a hoot. My guess is if they don\u2019t get anything hammered out, the President can at least work up a good foursome.<\/p>\n Twitter\/X: @KSherringtonDMN<\/a><\/p>\n SEC, Big Ten release study that calls pooling TV rights \u2018dangerously unworkable\u2019<\/a>Texas Tech\u2019s transfer-heavy defensive line reaps benefits at NFL combine<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Businessman](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FPPVHS7CHVBDZNW2TXZG2KQROA.jpg\")
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