The past few years have brought massive changes to the world of College Football as the landscape continues to shift. NIL and the Transfer Portal were the first dominos to fall as it allowed players to get paid which then brought a form of free agency as players would enter the transfer portal seeking the next big deal.
On Friday, Judge Claudia Wilken finally approved the NCAA House Settlement which brings even more changes to College sports. Colleges can now pay their players directly through revenue sharing, a clearinghouse now has to approve NIL deals over $600, and roster limits will soon be enforced.
All of the chaos and changes in College Football have been difficult to keep up with and the latest set of changes won't be the last changes we see in the years to come as College Football seeks a set format.
As the sport continues to change, legendary Head Coach Mack Brown appeared on "See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack" where he pitched several massive changes to College Football.
Mack Brown calls for the NCAA to adopt the NFL Model
On the show, Mack Brown gave his suggestions for where College Football should head next suggesting that a model similar to the NFL's may be the best route. The idea that Mack Brown likes the most from the NFL is the salary cap which he feels should come into effect in College Football.
"I think we should have a salary cap period, and we should definitely have a rookie salary cap. Coaches are calling around anyway and saying, ‘What’s the going rate for a quarterback, a great quarterback,’ so we’re kind of doing that anyway. But if the NFL can do it, then why can’t college do it? And it would be better for the players, it’d be better for the families"Mack Brown
Mack Brown later went on to talk about how a decision that once was made to benefit the rest of your life was being made to instead benefit the most in the short term which will likely hurt the players down the line.
"We always said it’s a 40 year decision. It’s not four. Well, the last few years, it’s been a one year decision. It’s been a six month decision."Mack Brown
The idea of a salary cap in College Football would be the best approach to ensuring that every program is on a level playing field. As things currently stand, programs can take an approach like Texas Tech has taken spending more than most programs could ever imagine in a single year to build a roster.
Where a salary cap may not work in College Football is with some of the issues we've seen before the NIL era even began. It's always been discussed that players have gotten paid under the table and if a salary cap came into place, it could once again bring back that dark area of the sport that is impossible to police.
The current model of College Football is certainly broken in some ways but, there also needs to be some time to get better insights into what the effects have been. Revenue sharing could prove to be a great solution to the issues and it comes with a salary cap in a way as programs have a limit on how much can be distributed to the athletes.
We're far from the end when it comes to changes to the sport but, with the House Settlement approved, College Football could finally be reaching a moment where the entire landscape isn't being changed.