The landscape of college football has completely changed in recent years with the rise of NIL and the transfer portal. According to ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, this drastic change will lead to many head coaches at the college level leaving for NFL coaching opportunities.
The most notable example of this is former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh opting to take the head coaching gig for the Los Angeles Chargers instead of returning to Michigan, a team coming off a National Championship.
Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley only added to this trend on Wednesday, as he is expected to become the new defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Sources: Boston College coach Jeff Hafley is expected to become the new defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers. Hafley has brought BC to bowl eligibility in three of his four years. pic.twitter.com/TrcArWmiyb
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 31, 2024
Interestingly, Hafley did list the notable changes to the sport in his reasoning for leaving Boston College for an assistant coaching job in Green Bay.
“He wants to go coach football again in a league that is all about football,” an unnamed source told Thamel on Hafley’s departure from Boston College. “College coaching has become fundraising, NIL and recruiting your own team and transfers. There’s no time to coach football anymore.”
“He wants to go coach football again in a league that is all about football,” a source told ESPN. “College coaching has become fundraising, NIL and recruiting your own team and transfers. There’s no time to coach football anymore.”
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 31, 2024
This decision from Hafley prompted Kirk Herbstreit to take to social media, calling for “boundaries and regulation that make sense” in college football to control NIL and the transfer portal.
“CFB in its current state will be seeing more and more coaches heading to the NFL,” tweeted Herbstreit. “Without boundaries and regulation that make sense coaches that get real opportunities in the NFL will be gone. This trend will continue until there is a new governing body and it creates a CBA with a players entity or union that would include issues like NIL-Transfer Portal-and eventually revenue sharing. The sport is spiraling out of control as we know and many of these coaches are not sticking around and waiting. Just a new reality for the sport.”
No. CFB in its current state will be seeing more and more coaches heading to the NFL. Without boundaries and regulation that make sense coaches that get real opportunities in the NFL will be gone. This trend will continue until there is a new governing body and it creates a CBA… https://t.co/iNuaDU5lp7
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) January 31, 2024
College coaches leaving for NFL positions has obviously occurred far before NIL was ever implemented into the college game.
However, if college coaches either aren’t prepared to adapt to the new landscape of the sport or grow tired of it, Herbstreit could be correct in his assessment.
[Kirk Herbstreit on Twitter/X]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.