The real question is, say someone enters the portal and doesn't get the interest they want, and they want to come back to UCD. Do they get welcomed back with open arms or is that a closed door? What sort of message does that send to the team?
Re: Pinnick trip to colorado
The MW is a decent target, but it may not look the same in 5-10 years (our window to move into it). Being methodical and cautious is what we will do, but having goals to play in higher quality conferences cannot hurt. Heck, we have comparable budgets to some MW teams currently. Why not shoot to get more revenue back from the conference?
I feel like it's gotta be roll with the young bucks because Plough's system is difficult to master at a championship level with only a spring and fall camp under the belt.
I think CFB could now be living through consequences of recruiting covid-era high school kids. They're just now phasing through the college ranks. I mean zooming into class, cheating on your tests with ChatGPT and graduating HS probably doesn't help the schools resonate with kids on "come here, play ball and graduate because your degree will actually mean something to you down the road"
The catch 22 of the portal is that if you pony up enough money to retain and recruit new players, they end up taking the money and trying to leverage that into more money on their way out the door, therefore making those cutting the checks much less likely to do so as they see their hard earned dollars leave as fast as they come... We'll see how long this all lasts. Troy Aikman's story is a good example. If I'm a big donor, I'm much more cautious moving forward.
What I find odd is why even declare for entering the portal if you'd already been receiving calls for interest and offers? Are these kids trying to start bidding wars over themselves via the portal or do they really have deals lined up? If you had an offer you couldn't refuse on the table, why not just take it and avoid the portal altogether?
I hate making all of these assumptions but when a player "signs" with an agency and announces it on socials, that's not a great indication of staying put...
I wonder if it is fair to assume that if a player doesn't enter the portal today, they won't at all. I mean IF you were going to utilize the portal it would make sense to get the full 16 days out of it.