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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Feckless, Leaderless NCAA Ultimately Responsible for Marshall’s Bowl Opt-Out

The lack of NCAA structure cost Marshall a bowl berth after losing coach Charles Huff and numerous players

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By Rock Westfall

In normal times, a team that goes 10-3, wins a conference championship and goes to a bowl game goes down in the history books of the institution that it represents. Indeed, the Marshall Thundering Herd will go down in history. But they will do so for all of the wrong reasons.

Marshall went 10-3 and won the Sun Belt Conference championship in a 31-3 blowout over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. As a result, the Thundering Herd accepted an invitation to play in the Independence Bowl against the Army Black Knights. But on Saturday, Marshall was forced to opt-out.

Head coach Charles Huff departed after a contract dispute to become HC of the Southern Miss Eagles. Subsequently, a flood of Marshall players entered the transfer portal. Now, Marshall can’t field a team to compete in the Independence Bowl and was forced to opt-out. The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs will take Marshall’s place.

If there is anything that epitomizes how the NCAA leadership has failed college football, this bowl game opt-out by a conference champion is it.

No Rules, Just Wrong 

Player’s rights advocates have gotten what they wished for. Their argument was that if coaches can leave a team-high and dry on a whim, why can’t players? While there is some logic to that rationale, there are no reasonable rules to keep things within the rails. Instead, we have chaos to the point of no return and a conference champion without a team or bowl game.

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In June 2021, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the NCAA’s way of doing business was wrong and that players had the right to be compensated. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote an opinion that is celebrated in much of the media who has been consistently on the side of players, even to the passionate point of comparing them to “slaves.” Ironically, a Supreme Court justice who the media would otherwise despise is instead a hero to them for his written opinion on player’s rights.

In the aftermath of the 9-0 Supreme Court shutout win over the NCAA, the governing body took a fetal position that it has yet to emerge from. Current NCAA president Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts, took over from the hapless human shield, Mark Emmert, who lost all credibility and became an embarrassment who could no longer be justified.

Baker has been slow and deliberate in his tenure. Some would say Baker is being cautious because of potential legal landmines that would go off the moment the NCAA makes a policy change. Others would counter and say that Baker is hiding behind alibis of potential legal challenges and the fallout from the House case.

Regardless, Baker has not been assertive enough at developing workarounds to prevent what just happened to Marshall and the Independence Bowl. 

No Law, No Leadership, No Plan, No Team, No Bowl 

Regardless of which side of the aisle a college football fan is on, everyone agrees that the sport’s current lawless, Wild West nature threatens its existence. Certainly, players deserve more rights and compensation than they used to have. However, the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. The players now run the show.

These days, most coaches are scared of coaching too hard for fear of players leaving in a huff. There is virtually no such thing as a backup quarterback anymore, as almost anyone who is not the starter enters the transfer portal.

Competing programs constantly contact players on other teams with sweetheart NIL financial offers to transfer out. There is no salary cap and little constraint on player movement. The NCAA calendar is clinically insane and perhaps the best evidence yet of a leadership vacuum. As a result, we have mercenary players often transferring to multiple schools during a career.

The plodding Baker is on the clock. And if he can’t find a solution to the chaos, he should appoint a Power Four Football Czar to troubleshoot the chaos and create solutions.

The NCAA spends countless millions of dollars on lawyers. What do the NCAA lawyers do to justify their fees? Apparently, nothing.

It is often said to thank God for the last minute; otherwise, nothing would ever get done. If we are not at the last minute for college football’s sustainability, we are within seconds of a massive implosion.

Does college football have to destroy itself to be saved? It seems to be acting as if that is the case.

The time bomb ticks on…

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