USF players and the Transfer Portal

[Dave_Glaser]

I guess I’m old school. When I played ball, I did so because I loved it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have played. I wasn’t a collegiate athlete, but if I were, I can’t imagine I would have had an expectation of being paid or taken any time to calculate my hourly rate for practice time, etc. If my college education was covered, I had housing, food, clothes, travel and maybe some kind of stipend for daily expenses, I’d have been more than OK with that. Expectations have changed. Got it.

[Gatorbull325]

49 minutes ago, JTrue said:

When I was playing, I can remember multiple times us pitchers would be stuck shagging live BP at practice, 1+ hours per day... infielders would be doing drills, outfielders doing their thing, rotating out for cage work, tees, etc. and we'd be out there running around. In a 3 hour practice, but when I say 3 hours, keep in mind you only get a certain amount of practice hours a week. So, the 3 on the field counted, your weight room and conditioning/running was "volunteer" time. I'd warm up (volunteer time since no coaches were on the field), then we'd do drills, throw a bullpen, whatever, then shag for the rest of the time. You're putting in crazy hours. Football is the same. You get official hours, then "volunteer" hours, whatever. We'd be shagging and guys would say, "want to calculate what our per hour rate is for this?" It was minimum wage, to make a long story short. But, with baseball, you get 11.8 scholarships for 25+ guys on the roster. At least with football, everybody is on scholarship. A lot of the guys I was shagging fly balls with were 30%-50% scholarship. Playing college sports is a job. And no one gives a **** if it eats into your student or life time. 

40 hours a week at minimum wage in Florida is about $1600 a month. Times 12 months is the cost of a year or so at USF. Maybe a little more than minimum wage. Athletes more than pay off their tuition in hours. 

I've never played college sports but I could easily tell that you guys put in way more than the hours required for a full time job. It baffles me how people can still have the perception that athletes are getting a "free education". 

[Gatorbull325]

7 minutes ago, Dave_Glaser said:

I guess I’m old school. When I played ball, I did so because I loved it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have played. I wasn’t a collegiate athlete, but if I were, I can’t imagine I would have had an expectation of being paid or taken any time to calculate my hourly rate for practice time, etc. If my college education was covered, I had housing, food, clothes, travel and maybe some kind of stipend for daily expenses, I’d have been more than OK with that. Expectations have changed. Got it.

You said it right there - you wasnt a college athlete. Highschool and Collegiate sports are 2 different monsters. You are speaking about a lifestyle you have no idea about. I've seen some great athletes get humbled by the amount of work that needs 2 be put in to stay competitive at the collegiate level....in addition to your school work. 

[puc86]

1 minute ago, Gatorbull325 said:

I've never played college sports but I could easily tell that you guys put in way more than the hours required for a full time job. It baffles me how people can still have the perception that athletes are getting a "free education". 

Decades upon decades of marketing that message but it flew a little better when coaches stayed places for careers, cutting players from scholarships was seen as uncouth, a few games were on tv and the value was measured in the millions and not the billions. Every single other thing about the game and how things are handled has changed entirely, the athletes are the only ones left to some unreasonable level of purity and loyalty that no one else even pretends to try to hold themselves to.
 

If you are at a company that seems to be failing, everyone that brought you on has left via a golden parachute, new management has come on, you’ve never met any of them and they have zero history of success but are still going to be paid millions of dollars and there is no guarantee they are going to keep you, fit you into their system or simply pull your scholarship or take away your playing time to bring in “their guys” and you aren’t considering your options as well then that $16k in education isn’t going to be of much value to you because you probably aren’t going to Forrest Gump your way through life as these are all giant red flags to test the market sooner rather than later.

[Dave_Glaser]

2 minutes ago, Gatorbull325 said:

You said it right there - you wasnt a college athlete. Highschool and Collegiate sports are 2 different monsters. You are speaking about a lifestyle you have no idea about. I've seen some great athletes get humbled by the amount of work that needs 2 be put in to stay competitive at the collegiate level....in addition to your school work. 

Sure. So we’re not going to agree on this one. Yes, high school and college sports are two different things, and for the commitment to be a collegiate athlete, you get a college education, rent-free living, food, clothes, etc. It’s a trade off. Yep, everyone else who goes to college has their time to themselves. They also have to pay tuition, dorm, meal plan, books, etc. Again, totally not against extra benefits (stipend, etc.) for student-athletes, but the system that is now in place basically makes them free agents who are open to the highest bidder is not what collegiate sports should be. Make the NFL and NBA create minor league systems like MLB has instead of using the colleges for that purpose.

[Outlaw]

41 minutes ago, CousinRicky said:

Coach spoke briefly tonight and mentioned that with the portal he will just wish the guys that leave well.  Talked privately for a bit, mostly about an OCS, and said he's focused on the portal now.

We need quality players and production to replace the ones moving on. I dont think he would hold anu resentment or hard feelings because they were not really his guys. I am sure he would give everyone a chance to prove themselves if they wanted to come back. GOLESH will find guys that want to play for him  and I hope he becomes the most successful  usf coach ever. Until  then we know more and let it play out all we got is hope. I sure as hell hopes he starts off a lot better than the previous guy.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Outlaw

[hm101]

Let's put this in practical real world terms. 

I could hop employers any time. Probably (definitely) even get a raise. I literally had a recruiter reach out today on Linkedin. I dont hop because there's non monetary value in knowing the people, culture, etc where I am. And there's also personal satisfaction in seeing my duties through. Doesn't mean I'll never leave. But it took some hard knocks experience to learn the value of these things. 

I'm sure there are many students who do understand and we never hear about them because well they stay. 

So I support them moving but it's like watching me 15 years ago make these same mistakes. I wanna shake these kids. My guess is in most of these moves these kids will not find what they're looking for. Few will admit to that. And nothing will convince them other than the raw experience. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by hm101

[puc86]

1 minute ago, hm101 said:

Let's put this in practical real world terms. 

I could hop employers any time. Probably (definitely) even get a raise. I literally had a recruiter reach out today on Linkedin. I dont hop because there's non monetary value in knowing the people, culture, etc where I am. And there's also personal satisfaction in seeing my duties through. Doesn't mean I'll never leave. But it took some hard knocks experience to learn the value of these things. 

I'm sure there are many students who do understand and we never hear about them because well they stay. 

So I support them moving but it's like watching me 15 years ago make these same mistakes. I wanna shake these kids. My guess is in most of these moves these kids will not find what they're looking for. Few will admit to that. And nothing will convince them other than the raw experience. 

But what about our kids that left this year? They do not know a single person in management, have no idea what the culture will be like and if there was any duty to see through it’s still at the very ground level. They probably have a better understanding of what feels comfortable and right to them than you are giving them credit for. This isn’t the nice white collar environment you are familiar with as this is a Leviathanless state of nature where within your time here everyone in charge will either succeed and all be gone or fail and all be gone, while at the same time you are being compared to a new crop of 1/4 of your workforce that may need your office as there is a firm cap on how many people can work here at any one time, also you are an unpaid intern being paid fully in experience and boarding despite your duties being entirely necessary to the business. Life in college football is cruel, brutish and short and there is no level of success that will allow you to make a career in your company by moving up the ranks. So how did the players come to chase better opportunities for success, clout and money and not be not entirely loyal to a system that is entirely disloyal to everything including them in search of that next dollar and opportunity that may come at their expense?

[Outlaw]

8 hours ago, Gatorbull325 said:

I've never played college sports but I could easily tell that you guys put in way more than the hours required for a full time job. It baffles me how people can still have the perception that athletes are getting a "free education". 

I have no problem with players that transfer, but I do not like the games that come with it.  Some of the things that bother me changing teams multiple times, saying you are staying with your current team then entering the portal, entering the portal then finding no takers then coming back (probably) doesn't sit well with the coaches or players, players leaving just because they current team is losing yet they were part of the losing, and people leaving just for NIL money because the fans  are paying not the NCAA. There needs to be more governance on the transfer portal and NIL, but these are the rules we have to play by for now. I feel like every player deserves one free transfer that you can play immediately, you may get a second transfer if your coach has changed teams, grad transfers, and players that have used all of their 4 years of their scholarship and have a few years left of playing time due to redshirt and/or injuries but want to move down a level so p5 -->g5--->FCS--->D2 . I have no idea how to regulate the NIL , but it was sold as the NCAA and universities were going to split the money with the players, but really it is just fans, boosters, businesses, sport agencies, and marketing firms paying players while the NCAA rolling big money without giving one penny to the players that make the game fun to watch.

[Gatorbull325]

9 hours ago, hm101 said:

Let's put this in practical real world terms. 

I could hop employers any time. Probably (definitely) even get a raise. I literally had a recruiter reach out today on Linkedin. I dont hop because there's non monetary value in knowing the people, culture, etc where I am. And there's also personal satisfaction in seeing my duties through. Doesn't mean I'll never leave. But it took some hard knocks experience to learn the value of these things. 

I'm sure there are many students who do understand and we never hear about them because well they stay. 

So I support them moving but it's like watching me 15 years ago make these same mistakes. I wanna shake these kids. My guess is in most of these moves these kids will not find what they're looking for. Few will admit to that. And nothing will convince them other than the raw experience. 

Biggest mistake I made early in my career is being too loyal to companies I worked for. Once, I learned to keep looking for better opportunities (even while employed) I doubled my salary in 3 years and get to work from home 100%. Malik Willis could have stayed on Auburn's bench out of loyalty a few years ago. But he decided to transfer to Liberty and became a 3rd round draft pick in the NFL. Life is all about finding the right or better opportunity. We don't know why kids are transferring but to just write them all off as chasing NIL money is lazy thinking and disrespectful. In the end, these kids want to play football. I don't see many kids just taking money to go sit on somebody's bench and if they don't play, they will probably get cut off from the NIL deal.  

Edited January 5, 2023 by Gatorbull325