While Miami, Ole Miss, Indiana and Oregon are two wins away from winning the College Football Playoff national championship, much of the sport’s focus is on the chaos of the transfer portal.
And Miami head coach Mario Cristobal believes that is the fault of the “adults” in the sport.
“If you don’t think it happens, we’re kidding ourselves,” Cristobal said when discussing the possibility of opponents contacting former players who are now in the transfer portal as a method of gamesmanship, per ESPN’s David Hale.
“But I blame the adults. We created this system, right? We’re supposed to be setting an example. We’re supposed to be setting the standard. When you create a system that has as many holes as it does, shame on you if you’re surprised by some of the results that come with it.”
The current college football schedule is a complete mess for teams competing in the CFP, as the one transfer portal window opened Jan. 2. That means coaches who are still competing for a national championship have to juggle game-planning, re-recruiting their own rosters to avoid the transfer portal, traditional recruiting and potential transfer portal additions.
What’s more, plenty of coordinators and assistants have accepted opportunities elsewhere so they can start building their own respective rosters.
No other school knows that better than the Hurricanes’ upcoming opponent in the CFP semifinals, as Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin left to take the LSU job. Since then, a number of assistants have balanced working for both schools as the Rebels chase a national title and the Tigers attempt to build next season’s roster.
“Taking over a program in this landscape,” Cristobal said of Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding, “I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for what his work has been. To be able to navigate all this and still have the success he’s having, it’s off the charts. It’s awesome.”
Ole Miss has spent time attempting to keep players such as quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy on the roster, while Hale noted Miami has “more than a half-dozen players in the transfer portal.”
It is the new world of college football, and programs and coaches will have to continue adjusting moving forward.
Cristobal knows that, even if he holds the adults responsible for letting it reach this point.
