A Sport in Upheaval
For Steve Sarkisian, the head coach of the Texas Longhorns, the current landscape of college football has become increasingly difficult to navigate. Having coached at major programs like USC and served under legendary leadership at Alabama, Sarkisian finds himself at the center of a sport currently defined by rapid, often unrecognizable change. He describes the current environment as a “wild, wild West,” where financial interests drive decisions and traditional structures are crumbling.
“I try my best to not get consumed with how bad it is,” Sarkisian admitted. “It just wears you out.”
The Erosion of Standards
Sarkisian points to several systemic issues plaguing the sport, including the rise of private NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals, free player movement via the transfer portal, and the diminishing importance of academic standards. He notes that the current environment allows schools to act without fear of consequences.
One of his primary concerns is the disparity in academic requirements across institutions. “At Texas, we will only take 50% of a player’s academic credit hours,” he explained. “But at some schools, you can take minimal courses and still earn a degree.” This lack of consistency, he argues, undermines the original intent of collegiate athletics, particularly when less than 5% of these athletes go on to play in the NFL.
Criticism of the CFP Selection Committee
Beyond administrative chaos, Sarkisian has voiced significant frustrations regarding the College Football Playoff (CFP) selection committee. He argues that the committee lacks the necessary bandwidth to properly evaluate the growing number of teams involved in the expansion.
“The committee doesn’t have the bandwidth to watch that many games. They see the media and coaches polls, and they copy them,” Sarkisian stated.
He contends that the shift toward a 24-team playoff format, which some promote as a way to increase access, is a “spastic view” that fails to address the underlying issues of transparency and scheduling inequality. Instead of reactive expansion, he suggests focusing on a more streamlined, four-team playoff model that preserves the integrity of the season.
The NFL Comparison and Lack of Enforcement
Sarkisian believes college football is attempting to mirror the NFL’s commercial success without adopting the necessary guardrails. In the NFL, tampering or rules violations lead to severe penalties, such as the loss of draft picks or fines. In college football, he observes, there is no such deterrent.
“Right now in college football, there’s no fear. People do whatever they want,” he remarked. Citing recent controversies involving recruiting and gambling, he highlighted the silence from the NCAA as evidence of a broken enforcement system. Whether it involves illegal inducements or navigating legal loopholes, the sport continues to operate in an environment where litigation often trumps regulation.
A Potential Future: The Super League?
As the sport continues to struggle with governance, Sarkisian acknowledges that the industry might be heading toward a significant fracture. He suggests that the formation of an independent league with its own set of rules is becoming an increasingly realistic possibility. “There’s lot of sentiment for breaking away and having your own rules. That’s realistic,” he concluded, noting that the status quo of reactive, knee-jerk decision-making is proving to be unsustainable for the long-term health of the game.