Whenever a Group of 5 program bubbles up and starts cracking the Top 25, it's always exciting to see, especially in this current model, where a Group of 5 team can earn a bid into the College Football Playoff. The truth is that if you build a winner in the Group of 5 rather than having a succesful run, you're most likely looking at a rebuild next season.
Coaches have always taken a jump in levels whenever a better job becomes available, but they typically leave behind a roster filled with talent to set the next head coach up nicely. Now in the Transfer Portal era, if a team has success, almost every player is taking a jump to a new program, whether the coach leaves or not.
North Texas and JMU are becoming cautionary tales
This season, the two biggest stories out of the Group of 5 were North Texas and James Madison emerging. The Mean Green fielded the Nation's highest scoring offense, led by a trio of underclassmen. James Madison was able to go 11-1 in the regular season, making it to the College Football Playoff.
Before the season was over, North Texas head coach Eric Morris took the Oklahoma State job, signaling a mass exodus. After the season came to an end, freshman phenom running back Caleb Hawkins announced his plans to transfer, as did All-AAC WR Wyatt Young, while Drew Mestemaker is expected to follow.
BREAKING: North Texas star QB Drew Mestemaker is expected to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, @PeteNakos reports.
— On3 (@On3sports) December 16, 2025
Mestemaker led the country with 4,129 passing yards this season👀https://t.co/rudZLeQvTS pic.twitter.com/7WwORi5FeD
James Madison is in a similar position as Bob Chesney accepted the head coaching gig at UCLA. Leaving James Madison for the Transfer Portal are star QB Alonza Barnett, RB Wayne Knight, S Tyle Brown, and several more of the top players on the roster.
BREAKING: JMU star RB Wayne Knight is entering the @TransferPortal, he tells @On3Sports
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 27, 2025
He totaled 1,770 yards and 10 TDs this season
Knight was named an All-American, 1st Team All-Sun Belt, and was a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award https://t.co/RlUbB6Fk7q pic.twitter.com/UfqHryRyjl
Rather than being able to build on the success of the season, both programs now head into massive rebuilds likely knocking them out of the National picture for several seasons. There's almost nothing these Group of 5 programs can do as the Power 4 schools will always have more money to poach whichever players and coaches they'd like.
Building a sustainable program that can win every year is going to be harder than ever at the Group of 5 level. The success of Curt Cignetti has proven that the right Group of 5 head coaches can transform a program, and we're only going to see it happen more each season.