My world revolves around tailwater fisheries. Dams are the source of my pleasure, cold water released through hydroelectric turbines that supply power.
You need a dam to make all of that happen. It stores the water and when it comes under the dam, it’s cold. Trout flourish.
I live in Norfork, two miles below the dam. I fish the tailwater.
So excuse me for my analogy as to what has happened in college football in the last couple of weeks with the implementation of name, image and likeness payments. The dam broke.
Most understand what happens when a dam breaks. The water goes everywhere. It wipes out homes, bridges, roads and anything else in its path.
The river you knew is forever changed, lowering the spillway gates when there has been too much rain can cause massive change. The river bottom is scoured. Vegetation is gone, along with it the aquatic bugs that feed the trout.
What we are going to have in college football is anyone’s guess, but it’s going to be like the dam broke. The game will be changed forever.
The older generation is in mourning. They don’t like it, refuse to embrace it and may turn away from the game altogether.
I’ve talked to some of the smartest men I know in business in the last couple of days to get some perspective and look into the future.
It’s clear that the younger generation likes what they see. The common refrain: it should have happened years ago. The man held down the little guy too long.
That take was highly predictable. David Cottrell, 67, is one of our nation’s top CEO coaches. He’s written a stack of books on leadership.
Of note, he’s also a University of Arkansas graduate and proud to call himself a Razorback fan. He lives just outside San Antonio, but returns to Fayetteville for games.
Clearly, the old model was the one Cottrell liked, not where the game is headed now.
“I cheer for the school, so I’m old school,” he said. “I prefer the idea of picking your school because that’s the team you want to represent.
“What we are going to have is players who are representing themselves. Quite frankly, I don’t like it.
“My first instinct is that it is a line that is very difficult to cross. But they already crossed it. I’m not sure it’s a bad line, but it’s definitely a line.”
Paying players through endorsements is definitely a line no one thought would be crossed.
“It’s evident already that it’s going to be strange,” he said. “You look at the first player to take advantage of an endorsement deal at our school, Trey Knox. He did some good things as a freshman and has potential, but he didn’t do anything last year.
“He’s the first one to get money? So where is it going from here?
“And if you get a guy like a Darren McFadden, can you even keep him because the transfer portal is an option? It’s confusing to say the least.”
The question posed to Cottrell, as a CEO coach: What is the advise for the schools and the coaches?
“It’s pretty simple, learn the rules,” Cottrell said. “You better do that and adjust or you will be left behind.
“That’s the first thing you tell any CEO. Find out how to turn something new into an advantage. I see that Arkansas is doing that. They seemed to have planned for it.
“When I tell a CEO they have to do things better or be left behind, that’s not a bad thing. It’s just the way it is in business.
“Walmart is an example in our own backyard. They had a plan. Some of their first stores were across the street from K-Mart. They did it better than K-Mart.”
Don’t sit still.
“No, you can’t sit around wishing for the way it was because it’s not coming back,” Cottrell said. “I loved what we had, but it’s clear where we are going is to lift the individual above the team.
“The young people are all in because in their view it was long past due. They were taken advantage of in the old way.”
Others are shaking their heads in disbelief at what happened. I reached out to a top-end Arkansas booster for another take.
“It’s scary stuff,” he said. “No way is this going to turn out well.
“But, the genie is out of the bottle. I do believe that eventually it will have to be reined in.
“You had the big money flowing directly to the school and now it’s going in a different direction, directly to athletes. There is only so much.
“I don’t see it changing the power of the game. The haves will still be haves and the have nots will still be have nots.”
A former Division I head coach said it could be that the Power 5 conferences leave the NCAA to form their own organization with distinct rules for paying players directly.
“There is a possibility of that,” he said. “It would sound like a pre-NFL organization using college facilities.”
A former top-end college coach said, “They probably will break away because the bottom line now is nothing but money.”
An athletics administrator at a Group of Five school fears just that.
“I do believe that’s coming, a Power 5 organization and they won’t play any one not in that group,” he said. “It’s going to be terrible, this paying endorsements directly to players.”
If you set up an organization that directly pays the players, what is the scale? Do quarterbacks get more than offensive guards? Do cornerbacks and offensive tackles get rich?
What about the Olympic sports? They may disappear altogether. That’s the fear of many.
The NCAA pays for all of the championships in those sports. It could be that the only sports that survive are football, basketball and baseball.
The devil is in the details. I have no answers.
But I’m not sure what is happening now is going to work or if fans will embrace the model.
As they say on my river, look out for sudden rises in the water. Always have an exit plan from the river. It can get bad in a hurry.
And, if the dam breaks, it’s all over. College football is not quite there yet, but it sure looks like pieces of the dam have fallen into the river.