Pittman: Direction of college football "disturbing"
In today’s world of college football, just about anything goes.
Between immediate-eligbility transfers and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) being passed, it has felt like the wild west with no rules.
The Arkansas program has felt the impact of both of these factors since the season ended, losing 19 players so far to the transfer portal.
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said on Thursday he does not like the way things are heading in college football.
“The way of football going right now is disturbing a little bit,” Pittman said.
Regardless of whether Pittman likes it or not, until more regulations are put into place by the NCAA, he’ll have to play the game, and he said he knows that. He said the university has the resources to do that, too.
“Yes, we have resources here,” Pittman said. “There’s certainly universities out there that have a lot more than we do, some that have a lot less. But we do have the resources. I still don’t believe in buying players. I believe in somebody that wants to come to the university and then you talk about what they might be able to do in their name, image and likeness program.”
It’s not just the transfer portal and NIL that have caused problems for Arkansas, though. Pittman said NIL is a conversation they have with parents of high school recruits as well.
“It’s a thing of the world,” Pittman said. “Listen, I don’t want to sit here and act like we’re not prepared for that or that we don’t have anything here at Arkansas. We do. We have adjusted with that and those things. But yes, it’s a conversation in everyone that you recruit.”
The NCAA has instituted some kind of regulation regarding transfers, creating a 45-day window for current players to enter the transfer portal starting on Dec. 5, but with coaching changes, the early signing period, and a bowl game, Pittman said he doesn’t believe it is sustainable.
“I think some time frame from the NCAA has to change, I think, “Pittman said. “It's a lot right now, but everybody's having to deal with it…you're not only flying around the country trying to see guys. We went out and tried to hit all 23 commitments the first week, between the Friday of the first day out and the commitments the first week so we could fly around to different portal guys and make that a priority, as well.”
The next domino to fall in the wild month of December is Early Signing Day on Wednesday.