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Texas A&M football head coach Mike Elko made an honest request amid a chaotic transfer portal season. The NCAA set new rules for this year, opening the portal on December 9th and closing it on December 28th. These restrictions ushered in chaos for many programs and student-athletes. Plenty of teams are having to prioritize recruiting prospective transfers instead of focusing on their bowl games. Additionally, the schools that qualified for the College Football Playoff must multitask like never before.
In an interview with Texas A&M beat writer Carter Kareels, Elko commented on the state of the sport.
“It (the state of college football) is for sure crazier than it's ever been. I think now more than ever; this sport needs somebody to step in and create some type of rules and regulations. I'm all for the portal. I'm all for NIL. I have zero problems managing those things. But there is an awful lot of unregulated, bad stuff going on right now. And it will impact young people and their futures, so probably now more than ever, coaches are calling for someone to step in and regulate this thing at some level.”
Texas A&M has lost a ton of players to the portal already
Mike Elko's words are fair, and it's important to note that he favors student-athletes getting paid. For years, the NCAA and universities have left student-athletes out of making any money as they run away with all the profits from the players' hard work. NIL is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.
In addition, as part of a proposed settlement for the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit, universities will be allowed to share revenue with student-athletes. However, Without any regulation, college football programs' success could solely depend on how many billionaires are backing them. We've already seen the power of billionaires in this era with SMU's rebirth in 2024. In their first year in the College Football Playoff, the Mustangs made the twelve-team field from the ACC.
However, balancing parity while not limiting student-athletes from getting paid their fair share is another element that must be considered going forward. Additionally, the new portal situation must be changed so there is not this much chaos at a critical point in many program seasons. With that being said, Elko is also likely making this argument because the Aggies have been a victim of the transfer portal during this period.
The Aggies currently have 19 players who have put their names in the portal. Texas A&M is ultimately struggling a bit in this new, chaotic period. However, the Aggies have elite recruiting classes coming in, so they should be fine in 2025. The crux of Elko's statement is still accurate. Congress has additionally been moving at a snail's pace to make any NIL guidelines. Consequently, examples like the one of former UNLV QB Matthew Sluka will continue to pop up without any federal oversight of this process.
